Glasgow scrumhalf Henry Pyrgos is set to make his first Scotland start after being named in the XV to play Tonga in Aberdeen this weekend.
Pyrgos was one of five changes announced by coach Andy Robinson on Wednesday in response to last weekend’s 21-10 defeat by South Africa at Murrayfield where the Warriors No.9 came off the bench to replace Mike Blair.
Blair, lock Jim Hamilton and hooker Ross Ford have been dropped from the matchday 23 completely as Scotland look to end their series with victory after defeats by world champions New Zealand (51-22) and the Springboks.
Scott Lawson starts in place of former captain Ford, with Alastair Kellock lining up in the second row alongside Richie Gray, who suffered concussion against South Africa and will continue to be monitored.
Alasdair Strokosch, a late withdrawal from the starting XV to play the Springboks due to a calf injury, returns in place of John Barclay, while in the backs Max Evans starts at outside centre, with Nick de Luca dropping down to the replacements’ bench.
Pyrgos’s promotion came after Blair’s intercepted pass allowed South Africa hooker Adriaan Strauss to score his second try on Saturday.
But moments later Pyrgos scored Scotland’s only try of the match.
Scotland’s back division will also feature a new centre partnership with Matt Scott lining up alongside Evans.
Defeat by the Springboks saw Scotland drop to 10th place in the world rankings and they now won’t be able to achieve a top eight position that will allow them to be in the leading two bands of seeds by the time of next month’s pool draw for the 2015 World Cup in England.
That position has freed up Robinson, a former England flanker and head coach, to make more changes than he might otherwise have done as the Scotland boss explained on Wednesday.
“We will not be among the top eight seeds for the 2015 Rugby World Cup draw, so this weekend I’m looking at giving a number of players an opportunity to put their hand up for selection for next year,” Robinson said.
“This weekend we have to put together an 80-minute performance and build on the positive parts of our games that we showed in the last 30 minutes against South Africa and the second-half against New Zealand.
“International rugby is about pressure and it’s important that you convert your pressure into points and when you are under pressure that you are able to absorb it as opposed to conceding points as cheaply as we have done.”
Scotland: Stuart Hogg; Sean Lamont, Max Evans, Matt Scott, Tim Visser; Greig Laidlaw, Henry Pyrgos; David Denton, Kelly Brown (capt), Alasdair Strokosch; Alastair Kellock, Richie Gray; Euan Murray, Scott Lawson, Ryan Grant. Res: Dougie Hall, Kyle Traynor, Geoff Cross, Grant Gilchrist, John Barclay, Rory Lawson, Tom Heathcote, Nick de Luca.
