| Venue: Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Date: Saturday, 5 August Time: 15:15 BST |
| Coverage: Live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app |
Finn Russell will captain Scotland for the first time against France at Murrayfield on Saturday, with Jamie Ritchie absent due to a minor injury.
Darcy Graham and Matt Fagerson are the only players retained from the starting XV in last weekend’s win over Italy.
Fagerson switches to blindside flanker, with Jack Dempsey coming in at number eight.
Hooker Ewan Ashman is the least-established player chosen to face the World Cup hosts.
For the second of four tournament warm-up matches, head coach Gregor Townsend has recalled most of the frontline stars who performed well in the Six Nations, with fly-half Russell linking up with scrum-half Ben White and the centre partnership of Huw Jones and Sione Tuipulotu restored.
Blair Kinghorn takes over from Ollie Smith at full-back as the search to find a successor to the retired Stuart Hogg continues.
Smith is among the replacements, along with Rory Darge, who led the team in the 25-13 victory over Italy.
Russell’s promotion to captain comes less than 10 months after Townsend left the 30-year-old out of his initial squad for the 2022 autumn series.
The fly-half shone against New Zealand and Argentina when brought back into the fold last November and carried that form into the Six Nations, with Scotland finishing third.
Scotland open their World Cup campaign against reigning champions South Africa in five weeks’ time.
Scotland: Kinghorn, Graham, Jones, Tuipulotu, Van der Merwe, Russell (captain), White; Schoeman, Ashman, Z Fagerson, Gray, Gilchrist, M Fagerson, Watson, Dempsey.
Replacements: Cherry, Bhatti, Nel, Cummings, Darge, Horne, Redpath, Smith.
