Pyrgos Earns First Start For Scotland

Glasgow Warriors scrum-half, Henry Pyrgos, will make his first start for Scotland on Saturday against Tonga at Pittodrie.With a lively performance from the bench and outstanding set-piece try against South Africa last week, the 23 year-old scrum-half is promoted to the number 9 jersey in only his third cap.Pyrgos said: Im absolutely delighted to make my first start for Scotland. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind with getting selected for the squad, then getting my first cap and then my first try. I hope we can put in a big performance on Saturday and beat Tonga.Also starting from the Glasgow Warriors fold are full-back Stuart Hogg, winger Sean Lamont, prop Ryan Grant and lock Al Kellock. _Head coach, Andy Robinson, said: ‘this weekend we have to put together an 80 minutes performance and build on the positive parts of our games that we showed in the last 30 minutes against South Africa and the second half against New Zealand.International rugby is about pressure and it’s important that when you are under pressure that you are able to absorb it as opposed to conceding points as cheaply as we have done.Robinson noted that Tonga have selected a strong side and praised the support from Scotland fans this month. It’s great we are here in Aberdeen and that there’s likely to be a sell-out crowd._ Thanks to all supporters for their backing._ The atmosphere at Murrayfield over the last fortnight has been the best that Ive seen.Scotland team (sponsor RBS) to play Tonga in the EMC Test at Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen on Saturday 24 November, kick-off 3pm15 Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors) 9 caps, 1 try, 5 points14 Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors) 70 caps, 8 tries, 40 points 13 Max Evans (Castres) 31 caps, 3 tries, 15 points12 Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby) 6 caps11 Tim Visser (Edinburgh Rugby) 4 caps, 4 tries, 20 points10 Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh Rugby) 12 caps, 2 tries, 11 conversions, 17 penalties, 83 points 9 Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors) 2 caps, 1 try, 5 points1 Ryan Grant (Glasgow Warriors) 5 caps2 Scott Lawson (London Irish) 35 caps, 2 tries, 10 points3 Euan Murray (Worcester Warriors) 48 caps, 2 tries, 10 points 4 Richie Gray (Sale Sharks) 26 caps, 1 try, 5 points5 Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors) 46 caps, 1 try, 5 points6 Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan) 29 caps, 1 try, 5 points 7 Kelly Brown (Saracens) CAPTAIN 51 caps, 4 tries, 20 points8 David Denton (Edinburgh Rugby) 8 capsSubstitutes16 Dougie Hall (Glasgow Warriors) 38 caps, 1 try, 5 points 17 Kyle Traynor (Bristol Rugby) 3 caps 18 Geoff Cross (Edinburgh Rugby) 16 caps, 1 try, 5 points 19 Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby) uncapped20 John Barclay (Glasgow Warriors) 40 caps, 2 tries, 10 points 21 Rory Lawson (Newcastle Falcons) 30 caps 22 Tom Heathcote (Bath Rugby) uncapped23 Nick De Luca (Edinburgh Rugby) 37 caps, 1 try, 5 pointsReferee: Mathieu Raynal (France)._ Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland) and Marius Mitrea (Italy). TMO: Gareth Simmonds (Wales).