Six Nations 2023: Zander Fagerson returns for Scotland against Wales

Zander Fagerson will earn his 55th cap against Wales at Murrayfield

Scotland prop Zander Fagerson will return for Saturday's Six Nations meeting with Wales at Murrayfield.

The Glasgow Warriors tighthead has recovered from a hamstring injury sustained in early December.

Veteran WP Nel drops to the bench in the only change from the side that started last weekend's 29-23 win over England at Twickenham.

"We believe Zander is more than ready to perform," said head coach Gregor Townsend.

"When we saw how well he trained last week, we did think about involving him, but we wanted to back WP and Simon Berghan who both played really well for us."

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Hamish Watson is not in the matchday 23 despite recovering from concussion.

The flanker suffered a head knock against New Zealand in November and made his Edinburgh return on the weekend before the Six Nations started.

Townsend has stuck with Luke Crosbie at openside and Berghan is the only player missing from the squad at Twickenham to make way for Fagerson.

"We actually delayed the (internal) team announcement because we had a few selections that we had to sleep on," explained the head coach.

"I believe they've earned the right to get a second opportunity to build on that win but the performance wasn't at our best level. We've got players on the bench and outside the 23 who are quality players that have played very well for us in the past or are itching for that opportunity, so it wasn't an easy decision."

Scotland are aiming to make it two wins from two in the tournament for the first time since 1996, having suffered narrow defeats by Wales on the second week in each of the past two years.

"Referencing last year has been something both our players and coaches have done but really last year is irrelevant," said Townsend. "This year, this week is most important.

"We have to improve from what we did last week because in large parts of that game, we weren't at our best. I saw better performances in Argentina in the summer and in our games in November. That's the internal standards we set.

"The good thing was we took our opportunities and we showed resilience into that final quarter and that makes us tough to beat. But we're not at our potential and that's what we're striving towards.

"We know Wales are a quality side and they're as motivated as ever to get a win after starting with a defeat. They've picked a team that is going to come after us."

Scotland: Hogg, Steyn, Jones, Tuipulotu, Van der Merwe; Russell, White; Schoeman, Turner, Fagerson; R Gray, Gilchrist; Ritchie (capt), Crosbie, M Fagerson.

Replacements: Brown, Bhatti, Nel, J Gray, Dempsey, Horne, Kinghorn, Harris.