McDowall relishing Scotland captaincy chance

Stafford McDowall says he never thought he'd get to captain Scotland

Autumn Test: Scotland v Portugal

Venue: Murrayfield Date: Saturday, 16 November Kick-off: 15:10 GMT

Coverage: Listen on BBC Radio Scotland and follow live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app

Stafford McDowall is determined to make the most of his chance to lead Scotland against Portugal on Saturday, and says captaining his country is something that may never come along again.

The Glasgow centre leads a much-changed Scottish team, with Tom Jordan the only survivor in the starting side from last week's defeat by South Africa.

Over 60,000 fans are expected to attend the match at Murrayfield, and McDowall is relishing the opportunity to lead the team out.

"It's something that I didn't think I'd have the chance to do," said the 26-year-old.

"It is a dream come true to play for Scotland and start a game at Murrayfield, never mind lead the team out. So it's hopefully something I'll be able to take in and remember for the rest of my life.

"I think the closer we get to the game the more it'll probably hit me and I'll get a bit more nervous. It hit me a bit more when I had to do a bit more talking and stuff like that than the last couple of weeks.

"It's something that I might never get a chance to do again, lead a Scotland team out at Murrayfield, so I'll try and embrace and enjoy the moment."

Portugal lost to the United States last weekend, but McDowall expects to see a performance at Murrayfield closer to what they produced at last year's World Cup when they beat Fiji, drew with Georgia and ran Wales close in defeat.

"I know they may have been a bit disappointed with the result last week, but we're fully expecting a team that beat Fiji and pushed all the other teams in their group so close to rock up here," McDowall said.

"Obviously it's a big occasion for a lot of us, but it's a big occasion for them as well, getting to play here. So, we're expecting a really tough test, a team that throws the ball around a lot with a lot of confidence, is good defensively as well.

"We're under no illusion on how tough this is going to be. It's a big opportunity for a lot of the guys coming in with some debuts as well."