Ben White is back in the Scotland XV to face Georgia at Murrayfield on Saturday – just three weeks after fearing injury might rule him out of the Rugby World Cup.
The scrum-half limped off in clear distress in the first half of the home win over France earlier this month and looked exasperated as he made his way up the tunnel with his ankle heavily strapped. He missed the subsequent match away to France and later revealed that he was “really concerned” when the injury first happened.
However, White – Gregor Townsend’s first-choice scrum-half – has now been deemed fit enough to return to the No 9 jersey for Scotland’s last warm-up match before heading to France for the World Cup at the start of September.
In a further boost for supporters, Edinburgh wing Duhan van der Merwe, who suffered a minor ankle injury in the last match in Saint-Etienne, is also fit enough to start against Georgia.
Despite Scotland’s first game of the tournament against South Africa being only three weeks away and the 33-man squad having been finalised, head coach Townsend has opted to send out a strong XV.
Ollie Smith, with five caps to his name, is the least experienced player in the team as he stands in for Blair Kinghorn at full back, but the backline is otherwise arguably as strong as it could possibly be.
In the forward department, Glasgow prop Jamie Bhatti starts along with Edinburgh veteran WP Nel, with Pierre Schoeman rested and Zander Fagerson suspended. Richie Gray is another likely starter at the World Cup who has been given the weekend off, with Sam Skinner taking his place alongside Grant Gilchrist in the second row.
Dave Cherry starts ahead of George Turner and Ewan Ashman at hooker, while the back row is comprised of captain Jamie Ritchie, Rory Darge and Jack Dempsey.
Scotland XV: 15. Ollie Smith, 14. Darcy Graham, 13. Huw Jones, 12. Sione Tuipulotu, 11. Duhan van der Merwe, 10. Finn Russell, 9. Ben White; 1. Jamie Bhatti, 2. Dave Cherry, 3. WP Nel, 4. Sam Skinner, 5. Grant Gilchrist, 6. Jamie Ritchie, 7. Rory Darge, 8. Jack Dempsey
Replacements: 16. Ewan Ashman, 17. Rory Sutherland, 18. Javan Sebastian, 19. Scott Cummings, 20. Matt Fagerson, 21. George Horne, 22. Ben Healy, 23. Chris Harris.
