Gregor Townsend has made three changes to his Scotland starting XV for the trip to Twickenham to face England in Round Three of the Six Nations.

Finn Russell has successfully progressed through the World Rugby protocols following his concussion against Ireland and will co-captain the team from fly-half.

However, Darcy Graham has not recovered in time and has been replaced in the Scotland starting line-up by Kyle Rowe, with the two other changes seeing replacements being promoted to the run-on team.

Gregor Townsend makes small tweaks

Blair Kinghorn is retained at full-back for the clash, having impressed on attack in the opening two matches, leading the way for carries and metres made in the tournament. He is joined in the back three by Rowe, while Duhan van der Merwe is named on the left wing.

Tom Jordan, who shifted to fly-half when Russell was forced off against Ireland, starts at inside centre once again, with Huw Jones linking up with him in the midfield.

Ben White keeps his spot at scrum-half, partnering Russell, while the other two tweaks come in the forward pack.

Jamie Ritchie switches roles with Matt Fagerson as the latter starts from the bench while co-captain Rory Darge is retained in the number seven jersey and Jack Dempsey at number eight.

Grant Gilchrist and Jonny Gray continue their partnership in the second-row while Pierre Schoeman returns to the starting front-row with Rory Sutherland moving to the bench. Schoeman is joined by hooker Dave Cherry and tighthead prop Zander Fagerson.

England squad: Winners and losers as Steve Borthwick hands Fin Smith the ‘keys to the castle’ but fullback who ‘can’t catch a break’ misses out again

Townsend sticks with 6-2 split

Ex-Scotland head coach Matt Williams slammed Townsend for selection a 6-2 split on the bench against Ireland, a ploy that backfired with Russell and Graham being forced off early in the encounter.

“Townsend is the only one so far to get bitten by this,” he said.

“But that’s what happens it ruins the game as a spectacle and it cost Scotland any chance of competing in the end, not just losing Russell’s brilliance but not having someone that could conduct the team as they needed to when playing a top side like Ireland.

“Scotland believed that they were right in the Championship but as soon as that injury occurred and didn’t have a suitably trained player, I thought it was all over and it proved to be correct.”

‘It ruined the game’ – Matt Williams slams World Rugby after Scotland utilised Springboks-esque tactics with ‘not suitably trained’ Tom Jordan

Despite the criticism, Townsend has selected the same bench set-up with Ewan Ashman and Will Hurd providing front-row cover with Sutherland. Sam Skinner, Gregor Brown and Fagerson will look to make an impact in the back-five roles while Jamie Dobie and Stafford McDowall are two backline replacements.

Scotland team v England

Scotland: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Kyle Rowe, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Tom Jordan, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Finn Russell (cc), 9 Ben White, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge (cc), 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Jonny Gray, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Dave Cherry, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Gregor Brown, 21 Matt Fagerson, 22 Jamie Dobie, 23 Stafford McDowall

Date: Saturday, February 22
Venue: Allianz Stadium, Twickenham
Kick-off: 16:45 GMT
Referee: Pierre Brousset (FFR)
Assistant Referees: Andrew Brace (IRFU), Luc Ramos (FFR)
TMO: Tual Trainini (FFR)

READ MORE: ‘Fin Smith is Scottish’ – Kenny Logan stirs the pot as Scotland chase history against England side ‘very lucky’ to beat France

Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/scotland-team-finn-russell-fit-but-no-darcy-graham-as-gregor-townsend-risks-being-bitten-with-risky-tactic-for-england-showdown