Hogg to captain as Scotland extend band of brothers

Head Coach Gregor Townsend has changed all but three of the starting team to face USA in Scotland’s second summer tour Test this Saturday at the BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, Texas (16 June, kick-off 8pm local time; Sunday 2am UK time) – live on BBC.

Glasgow Warriors full-back Stuart Hogg will captain the side that features two starting debutants – Glasgow Warriors pair Matt Fagerson (back-row) and George Horne (scrum-half) – both of whom will make their first international appearances alongside elder brothers Zander and Pete.

Lock Ben Toolis, wing Blair Kinghorn (both Edinburgh) and Sale Sharks wing Byron McGuigan are the three players to retain their places in a side that will see a further five players make their first start for Scotland at the home of the Houston Dynamos.

They are Glasgow Warriors trio Jamie Bhatti (prop), George Turner (hooker) and Adam Hastings (stand-off), as well as Edinburgh lock Lewis Carmichael and back-row Luke Hamilton.

Scotland Head Coach, Gregor Townsend, said: “We always planned to play as much of the squad as possible on this tour, and we also deliberately picked more Edinburgh players in the first game because their season finished earlier.

“Now we welcome most of the Glasgow Warriors contingent into the team. On top of that there are seven players making their first starts for the country, which is really exciting, and we are looking forward to them going out and grabbing this opportunity.

“The USA have won their last six games and scored a lot of points in the process. They’ve beaten two teams that have already qualified for the Rugby World Cup – Uruguay and Russia – and put 60 points on both of them. They are definitely improving as a team and are playing with a lot of confidence.

“You can see in the way they attack and defend that they are well coached, added to which there are some exceptional individuals that offer running threats throughout their side, so this will be a real test for us on Saturday.”

Saturday’s match will see the Fagerson [left] and Horne [right] brothers become the 48th and 49th brothers to play for Scotland, and the 22nd and 23rd pair of brothers to play together in the same Test match.

It will be only the eighth time in close to 700 Scotland Tests when two sets of brothers have been on the field at the same time, joining the Evans and Lamont brothers (2010), Bulloch and Leslie brothers (2001), Milne and Hastings brothers (1990), and the Neilson and Orr brothers, who did so four times (1891-1892).

The starting changes are completed by the selection of Glasgow Warriors forward Tim Swinson in the back-row with Hamilton and Matt Fagerson, while Glasgow Warriors centre Nick Grigg forms the midfield with clubmate Pete Horne.

Scotland will complete the 2018 Summer Test campaign against Argentina in Resistencia on Saturday 23 June (kick-off 4.40pm, 8.40pm UK time), which will be shown live on Channel 4.

Scotland team to play USA, BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, Texas

Saturday 16 June, kick-off 8pm local time (Sunday 2am UK time) – live on BBC

15. Stuart Hogg CAPTAIN (Glasgow Warriors) – 60 caps

14. Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh) – 3 caps

13. Nick Grigg (Glasgow Warriors) – 4 caps

12. Pete Horne VICE CAPTAIN (Glasgow Warriors) – 33 caps

11. Byron McGuigan (Sale Sharks) – 4 caps

10. Adam Hastings (Glasgow Warriors) – 1 cap

9. George Horne (Glasgow Warriors) – uncapped

1. Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow Warriors) – 9 caps

2. George Turner (Glasgow Warriors) – 3 caps

3. Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – 16 caps

4. Lewis Carmichael (Edinburgh) – 1 cap

5. Ben Toolis (Edinburgh) – 10 caps

6. Tim Swinson VICE CAPTAIN (Glasgow Warriors) – 36 caps

7. Luke Hamilton (unattached) – 2 caps

8. Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – uncapped

Substitutes

16. Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors) – 32 caps

17. Allan Dell (Edinburgh) – 11 caps

18. Murray McCallum (Edinburgh) – 2caps

19. Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh) – 23 caps

20. David Denton (Leicester Tigers) – 40 caps

21. Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Scarlets) – 10 caps

22. Mark Bennett (Edinburgh) – 21 caps

23. Dougie Fife (Edinburgh) – 6 caps

2018 SUMMER TOUR

Saturday 9 June: Canada 10-48 Scotland

Commonwealth Stadium

Saturday 16 June: USA v Scotland

BBVA Compass Stadium (kick-off 8pm, Sunday 2am UK time) – live on BBC

Saturday 23 June: Argentina v Scotland

Estadio Centenario (kick-off 4.40pm, 8.40pm UK time) – live on Channel 4

Bands of brothers (pairs of pairs):

Scotland v Wales in 2010 – Max/Thom Evans and Rory/ Sean Lamont

Scotland v England in 2001 – Alan/Gordon Bulloch and John/Martin Leslie

Scotland v New Zealand in 1990 – Iain/Kenneth Milne and Gavin/Scott Hastings

Scotland v Wales and England in 1891; Wales and England in 1892 – William/George Neilson and Jack/Charles Orr