Under pressure Townsend names Scotland team to face England

Glasgow prop Nathan McBeth is set for his first Guinness Six Nations start after head coach Gregor Townsend made four changes to his pack for Saturday’s Calcutta Cup showdown with England at Murrayfield.

Hooker Ewan Ashman, loosehead Pierre Schoeman, second-rower Grant Gilchrist and back-rower Matt Fagerson all drop out from the side that started last weekend’s dismal 18-15 defeat by Italy.

The experienced quartet are replaced in the XV by George Turner, McBeth, Gregor Brown and Jamie Ritchie.

Townsend has kept faith with the same back-line that started in Rome, meaning there is no place in the XV for the high-profile back-three trio of Blair Kinghorn, Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe.

Wing Graham is on the bench as part of a 5-3 split, with the other two again omitted from the squad entirely.

The absence of Ashman, Schoeman and Gilchrist means, remarkably, there are no Edinburgh players in the starting XV.