Darcy Graham returns to Scotland’s starting line-up for Wales clash

Darcy Graham is back in Scotland’s starting XV for Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations showdown with Wales at Murrayfield.

The Edinburgh wing missed the 16-15 defeat against England last time out after suffering a concussion in the home defeat to Ireland almost four weeks ago.

Graham passed his HIA before the match at Allianz Stadium on February 22 but Scotland coaches and medics opted to take a precautionary approach and give him more time to ensure he was fully recovered given the severity of his collision with team-mate Finn Russell.

Having trained this week, the 27-year-old – Scotland’s second-highest try-scorer of all-time – has been selected to start against Wales in place of Kyle Rowe in the only change to the side that started the Calcutta Cup match.

Head coach Gregor Townsend reverts to a 5-3 bench after going with a 6-2 split against England, with forward Sam Skinner and back Jamie Dobie dropping out of the 23, and scrum-half George Horne joining Rowe on the bench.

Scotland, aiming to recover from back-to-back championship defeats against Ireland and England, are aiming to make it three wins in a row over Wales for the first time in the Six Nations era.

Scotland team to face Wales on Saturday: B Kinghorn (Toulouse), D Graham (Edinburgh), H Jones (Glasgow), T Jordan (Glasgow), D Van der Merwe (Edinburgh), F Russell (Bath), B White (Toulon); P Schoeman (Edinburgh), D Cherry (Edinburgh), Z Fagerson (Glasgow), J Gray (Bordeaux), G Gilchrist (Edinburgh), J Ritchie (Edinburgh), R Darge (Glasgow), J Dempsey (Glasgow).

Replacements: E Ashman (Edinburgh), R Sutherland (Glasgow), W Hurd (Leicester), G Brown (Glasgow), M Fagerson (Glasgow), G Horne (Glasgow), K Rowe (Glasgow), S McDowall (Glasgow).