Scotland head coach Vern Cotter has named a close to full strength starting XV to launch their 2015 Rugby World Cup campaign against giantkillers Japan in Gloucester on Wednesday.
With just 17 days covering Scotland’s four matches in Pool B the head coach is likely to have to rest some of his regulars at some point, but not for the opening match against Japan, who provided the biggest shock in the history of the World Cup when they defeated twice-champions South Africa in Brighton on Saturday.
There’s no debut from the start for new recruit Josh Strauss, who is only on the bench, while Sean Lamont edges closer to a century of caps with his 98th on the wing in preference to Sean Maitland.
Grant Gilchrist gets the nod to start over Richie Gray, but otherwise it’s the team that most observers would regard as Scotland’s strongest.
Cotter claims that Japan’s astonishing result on Saturday didn’t change Scotland’s plan or tactical approach to selection or their first game, which kicks off at 2.30 pm at Gloucester’s Kingsholm ground.
“They will have taken a lot of confidence from their opening win over South African but that doesn’t change our approach to this game or the pool,” he said.
Team: Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors); Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors), Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors), Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby), Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors); Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors)Greig Laidlaw (Gloucester, capt); Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh Rugby), Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby), Willem Nel (Edinburgh Rugby); Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby), Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors); Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors), John Hardie (unattached), David Denton (Edinburgh Rugby).
Replacements: Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors), Ryan Grant (Glasgow Warriors), Jon Welsh (Newcastle Falcons), Richie Gray (Castres), Josh Strauss (Glasgow Warriors), Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors), Peter Horne (Glasgow Warriors), Sean Maitland (London Irish).