Gregor Townsend urges Scotland players to take their chance as Stafford McDowall named captain

Gregor Townsend has challenged his inexperienced Scotland players to use Saturday’s non-cap international against Maori All Blacks as a catalyst to establish themselves in the squad.

The head coach has selected a largely experimental team to face a New Zealand representative side open to only those with Maori heritage.

With senior players like Grant Gilchrist, Matt Fagerson, Jamie Ritchie, Rory Darge, Darcy Graham, Kyle Steyn and Tom Jordan rested ahead of full Test matches against Fiji and Samoa later in the month, stand-off Adam Hastings and scrum-half George Horne are the only players in the starting XV with more than 15 caps to their name.

Glasgow centre Stafford McDowall will captain the side in Whangarei, while Townsend has opted for a front-row trio with just five caps combined in Nathan McBeth, the uncapped Fin Richardson and Edinburgh hooker Paddy Harrison. Similarly, Cam Henderson and Marshall Sykes form a second-row pairing with just three caps between them.

There are two uncapped players on the bench in Montpellier back-rower Alexander Masibaka and Saracens fly-half Fergus Burke, and they are joined among the replacements by experienced hooker George Turner, who returns to the fray after more than a year of international exile due to his stint in Japan.

“They’ve got an opportunity to play Test matches now in the summer, but also be involved when we play the likes of the All Blacks and Argentina in November and then our Six Nations,” said head coach Townsend, speaking to media in Whangarei.

“The evidence is there from our last summer tour, I think we had 11 new caps on that tour and a number of those players went on to play Tests in November and then featured in the Six Nations.

“The opportunity is there to go out and play well this weekend and put pressure on selection for the Fiji game, the Samoa game, but also make the most of this time together, so they leave a really good impression on our minds as coaches for when next season comes around. These are players we want in our squad.”

Townsend is delighted to have Glasgow full-back Ollie Smith, plus back-rowers Andy Onyeama-Christie and Josh Bayliss – who is named vice-captain – back in his XV after their respective injury struggles. Smith has not played since the World Cup defeat by Ireland in October 2023, while Christie last featured in the Six Nations defeat by the same opponents in March 2024.

“It’s great to see Ollie now getting that chance to play for Scotland, getting a chance just to play rugby again, having been out for so long,” he said. “Both Ollie and others in our squad, when they were fit, were in the 23, in the 15. I remember Ollie scoring a great try against Australia a couple of seasons ago.

“You’ve got Andy Onyeama-Christie, who was probably the best player on the field when we played Ireland in Dublin last year. And even someone like Josh Bayliss, who’s just had a bad time with injury, he’s shown his quality in the last few weeks with Bath, and in training with us over the last few weeks.”

Maori All Blacks defeated a Japan XV 53-20 in Tokyo last weekend, and Townsend is eager to ensure his side do not allow their hosts to build up a head of steam.

He said: “They’ve got very talented players throughout their team, in particular in the backs, where they look to express themselves. We saw that last week.

“We watched the Japan game, they put 50 points on a Test nation away from home, and they grew into the game. They were playing heads-up rugby. We’ve got to make sure they’re not able to do that.”