Three new caps for Scotland’s Test with Samoa

Scotland will field three new caps in their team for Saturday’s international against Samoa in Durban.They are 24-year-old Edinburgh Rugby full-back Greig Tonks and the Glasgow Warriors duo, centre Alex Dunbar, 23 and hooker Pat MacArthur, 26.In addition there are a further three uncapped players on the bench, Stevie Lawrie, Peter Horne and Duncan Taylor, while two players in the starting line-up have won a solitary cap each, Bath Rugby’s Tom Heathcote at stand-off and Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby) at lock.All in, there are five changes of personnel and one positional switch from Scotland’s last game – the narrow defeat away to France, which rounded-off the RBS 6 Nations Championship in March.And there are eight survivors from the starting line-up that defeated Samoa in the sweltering heat of Apia last June.In an interview with www.scottishrugby.org Scotland head coach Scott Johnson said: “We want to broaden the base and it (selection) gives us the perfect opportunity to see how these guys stand up in Test footy.”Johnson ranked Scotland’s win in Samoa last year as a tremendous achievement and expects a fierce encounter this weekend.”They have all the artillery coming for our game and we’re going out to compete on all fronts,” he said.  “We have 25 Test matches available to us prior to the World Cup. I’ve said regularly that we’re not going to give Test jerseys away but we cannot be exposed to injury issues (come RWC) and the best way to prevent that is to give players opportunities.”Scotland team to play Samoa in the Castle Lager Test Series at King’s Park, Durban on Saturday 8 June, kick-off 2.15pm local time (1.15pm BST)15 Greig Tonks (Edinburgh Rugby) uncapped14 Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors) 76 caps, 9 tries, 45 points13 Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors) uncapped12 Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby) 12 caps, 1 try, 5 points11 Tim Visser (Edinburgh Rugby) 10 caps, 6 tries, 30 points10 Tom Heathcote (Bath Rugby) 1 cap9 Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh Rugby) 18 caps, 2 tries, 16 conversions, 39 penalties, 159 points1 Ryan Grant (Glasgow Warriors) 10 caps2 Pat MacArthur (Glasgow Warriors) uncapped3 Euan Murray (Worcester Warriors) 53 caps, 2 tries, 10 points4 Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby) 1 cap5 Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors) 52 caps, 1 try, 5 points6 Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan) 32 caps, 1 try, 5 points7 Kelly Brown (Saracens) CAPTAIN 57 caps, 4 tries, 20 points8 Johnnie Beattie (Montpellier) 21 caps, 3 tries, 15 pointsSubstitutes16 Stevie Lawrie (Edinburgh Rugby) uncapped17 Alasdair Dickinson (Sale Sharks) 24 caps, 1 try, 5 points18 Geoff Cross (Edinburgh Rugby) 21 caps, 1 try, 5 points19 Jim Hamilton (Gloucester) 46 caps, 1 try, 5 points20 Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors) 2 caps21 Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors) 6 caps, 1 try, 5 points22 Peter Horne (Glasgow Warriors) uncapped23 Duncan Taylor (Saracens) uncapped.Referee: John Lacey (Ireland).  Assistant referees Marius Jonker and Sindile Mayende (both South Africa).  TMO: Johann Meuwesen (South Africa)