Chris Paterson
Former Scotland international on BBC Sportsound

Tom English
BBC Scotland's chief sports writer on BBC Sportsound

Newly-qualified Edinburgh wing Duhan van der Merwe makes his Test debut this evening.

At 6ft, 4in and weighing in at over 16st, the South Africa-born 25-year-old is hard to stop once he gets going.

Since his Pro14 debut in November 2017, nobody in the competition has scored more tries, made more metres and clean breaks, gained more metres per carry or beaten more defenders.

"If he can get up to double-figure carries, that's going to be good for us as a team," said Townsend this week.

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Levan Maisashvili has retained just six players in the starting line-up from the side that lost their final World Cup pool match to Australia.

“We are currently preparing a new team that has the opportunity to gain experience by playing against strong teams," he said. "We will try to show everyone that we can have the ability to be competitive, and we can play good rugby."

There is some serious grunt in the Georgia team, with some of their heavyweights starring in France and England.

But there is a problem with how deep the squad goes and they don't often get a crack at the big boys on the international stage. Replacing Japan in the Autumn Nations Cup presents them with three tough away games against England, Wales and Ireland.

The World Cup was a disappointment, with just one group win against Uruguay, while they were pretty much brushed aside by Wales, Fiji and Australia.

Since taking over, head coach Levan Maisashvili has overseen wins against Romania, Spain, Belgium and Portugal in the 2020 Rugby Europe Championship.

Tom English
BBC Scotland's chief sports writer on BBC Sportsound

Scotland first met Georgia at the 2011 World Cup, kicking their way to a stodgy 15-6 success.

In 2016, the Scots ran in six tries at Kilmarnock's Rugby Park for a 43-16 victory.

There were two warm-up games before last year's World Cup, with Gregor Townsend's side prevailing 44-10 in Tbilisi before a 36-9 win in Edinburgh.

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Peter Wright
Former Scotland prop on BBC Radio Scotland

Gregor Townsend was doing his best to downplay the return of Finn Russell this week, but the head coach was asked about little else.

"We want him to bring his strengths, get back integrated into the group," he said. "It's been a year since he's played for Scotland and a year since he's worked with these players and coaches.

"In training you see his skill level and it's probably moved on a couple of notches since last time he was in the group. He'll get up to speed pretty quickly and it's exciting to see him back in the squad."

Tonight's commentary from the stadium is just starting and it's ONLINE ONLY, so don't be fiddling around with your radio. It can be accessed at the top of this page.

Stuart McFarlane will be describing the action, with assistance and analysis from former internationals Peter Wright and Chris Paterson.

Finn Russell is back in the fold after February's storm in a pint glass.

The star fly-half has not played for Scotland since last year's World Cup.

There was a breach of team discipline before the Six Nations opener with Ireland and then came an newspaper interview in which he detailed the breakdown of his relationship with Townsend.

Mercifully, the men have patched things up since Russell has been tearing it up in the Top 14 for Racing 92.

Adam Hastings deputised well at number 10 and starts again this evening, but Russell is sure to make his 50th international appearance from the bench and will want to press his case for starting against Wales.

Some more from the always engaging Fraser Brown, who described taking on the captaincy as an "enormously proud moment".

He said: "It's the first chance we've had to play for Scotland for seven months, which is a big thing.

"It's a Test match against a really good team who will pose us a lot of challenges up front from a physicality point of view.

"And running into the conclusion of the Six Nations, it's important that we hit the ground running and continue developing where we left off in March."

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Regular captain Stuart Hogg is missing as he and Exeter team-mates Jonny Gray and Sam Skinner aim to add the Premiership title to their European crown.

In Hogg's absence, hooker Fraser Brown will lead the team out for the first time.

Glasgow's Brown has edged ahead of Edinburgh's Stuart McInally in the pecking order but acknowledges the competition is fierce for that starting number two jersey.

"It annoys me and I'm sure it annoys Stuart when you're not getting picked or someone else is picked ahead of you because it forces you to look at things you're doing or things you're not doing quite so well and try to develop them," he said.

"It focus you more as it makes you realise the more you push yourself and enjoy what you do, the more you'll find yourself in a better position to play well."

Scotland: Blair Kinghorn, Darcy Graham, Chris Harris, James Lang, Duhan van der Merwe, Adam Hastings, Ali Price; Rory Sutherland, Fraser Brown, Zander Fagerson, Ben Toolis, Scott Cummings, Jamie Ritchie, Hamish Watson, Matt Fagerson.

Replacements: Stuart McInally, Oli Kebble, Simon Berghan, Rob Harley, Nick Haining, Cornell du Preez, George Horne, Finn Russell.

Georgia: Soso Matiashvili, Akaki Tabutsadze, Deme Tapladze, Merab Sharikadze, Sandro Todua, Tedo Abzhandadze, Vasil Lobzhanidze; Mikheil Nariashvili, Jaba Bregvadze, Lexo Kaulashvili, Nodar Cheishvili, Grigol Kerdikoshvili, Otar Giorgadze, Beka Saghinadze, Beka Gorgadze.

Replacements: Shalva Mamukashvili, Guram Gogichashvili, Giorgi Melikidze, Giorgi Javakhia, Giorgi Tkhilaishvili, Gela Aprasidze, Giorgi Kveseladze, Tamaz Mchedlidze.

It's been seven months since Scotland last played.

What can you recall from the Six Nations matches back in February and March?

There was a frustrating 19-12 loss in Dublin, with that ugly knock-on from Stuart Hogg when a try looked certain and a few other good chances butchered.

Then came an almost farcical 13-6 loss to England at Murrayfield, played in a howling gale and torrential rain, with mistakes galore.

A solid, if unspectacular, 17-0 win followed in Rome, with Hogg running in a splendid solo score.

France arrived Edinburgh on the back of three wins but Scotland got the better of them in a thrilling 28-17 victory. A first-half red card for Mohamed Haouas helped and Sean Maitland bagged two of the three tries that day.

Then came Covid-19...

International rugby is back... Scotland complete their delayed Six Nations campaign away to Wales next weekend and then we have the new Autumn Nations Cup to get stuck into.

As a prelude, we have Georgia at Murrayfield this evening.

The national stadium may be empty but head coach Gregor Townsend will be licking his lips at the prospect of six Tests over the next seven weeks.

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