Magnus Bradbury will go straight into the Scotland line-up for Monday’s vital World Cup clash with Samoa after coach Gregor Townsend reacted to his side’s thrashing from Ireland by changing his entire loose forward trio.
The Edinburgh flanker was a late call-up to the squad after replacing Hamish Watson, who has travelled home early after suffering a serious knee injury in Scotland’s disastrous World Cup opener in Yokohama.
Bradbury will start on the blindside flank at Kobe’s Misaki Stadium.
Watson’s slot on the openside goes to Jamie Ritchie while vice captain John Barclay and Ryan Wilson have also lost their places in the starting XV after being out-muscled by Joe Schmidt’s men in a galling 27-3 defeat.
New Zealand-born Blade Thomson, a replacement against Ireland, is now starting at No.8 against the Pacific Islanders.
Townsend has also made two changes in the backline, with centre Chris Harris and winger Darcy Graham taking over from Tommy Seymour and Duncan Taylor.
The defeat to Ireland means Scotland cannot afford to lose any of their three remaining Pool A fixtures but Townsend is confident his side will bounce back.
“The players have responded well in training, know what is required of them and are hungry to deliver the kind of performance that keeps us in the World Cup,” he said.
“The reality is we now have to win our next three games to make it out of our pool, so the knockout stages for us begin this Monday night.
“I firmly believe this group are ready to take on that challenge,” said Townsend, who was wary of the threat posed by Samoa after they opened their campaign with a 34-9 win over Russia.
“Samoa are a team capable of scoring points from anywhere on the field. They play an ambitious brand of rugby and their team is full of skilful and powerful players,” Townsend said.
Scotland:
Stuart Hogg, Darcy Graham, Chris Harris, Sam Johnson, Sean Maitland, Finn Russell, Greig Laidlaw, Blade Thomson, Jamie Ritchie, Magnus Bradbury, Jonny Gray, Grant Gilchrist, Willem Nel, Stuart McInally (capt), Allan Dell. Res: Fraser Brown, Gordon Reid, Zander Fagerson, Scott Cummings, Ryan Wilson, George Horne, Adam Hastings, Duncan Taylor.