McDowall to lead Scotland against Maori All Blacks

Stafford McDowall will lead Scotland against the Maori All Blacks

Glasgow Warriors centre Stafford McDowall will captain Scotland in their match against the Maori All Blacks, the first on their Pacific tour.

McDowall led Scotland in November against Portugal and featured in all five of their Six Nations matches in the absence of the injured Sione Tuipulotu.

His Warriors team-mate George Horne is one of two vice-captains and starts at scrum-half, the other being Bath back-row Josh Bayliss.

Horne is the most experienced player in Gregor Townsend's starting 15 with 36 caps, although the match in Whangarei is not an official Test match.

Adam Hastings is at fly-half and Northampton Saints centre Rory Hutchinson is outside McDowall having initially been left out of the squad, but was called up following an injury to Edinburgh's Matt Currie.

The Maori All Blacks defeated a Japan XV 53-20 in their last outing.

"The New Zealanders, and the Maori in particular, bring a physicality and a real quality in terms of the contact area," Townsend said.

"But they've got very talented players throughout their team, in particular in the backs, where they look to express themselves.

"We watched the Japan game, they put 50 points on a Test nation away from home, and they grew into the game."

Scotland XV: Smith, Paterson, Hutchinson, McDowall (c), Reed, Hastings, Horne; McBeth, Harrison, Richardson, Sykes, Henderson, Bayliss, Onyeama-Christie, Muncaster.

Replacements: Turner, Hepburn, Hurd, Williamson, Brown, Masibaka, Burke, Dobie.

In the forwards, Glasgow prop Fin Richardson is named in a senior Scotland side for the first time alongside his club team-mate Nathan McBeth, and Edinburgh's Patrick Harrison is at hooker.

George Turner will make his Scotland return from the bench, having only recently come back from a spell with the Kobe Steelers in Japan to sign for Harlequins.

Uncapped Saracens fly-half Fergus Burke, who was born in New Zealand but qualifies through Scottish grandparents, is also among the replacements as is Montpellier number eight Alexander Masibaka.

Sale's Arron Reed and Edinburgh's Harry Paterson start on the wings, with the latter playing for Scotland for the first time in a year.

Full-back Ollie Smith also has not played internationally since the 2023 World Cup and has battled back from a knee injury, while second-row Cameron Henderson and openside flanker Andy Onyeama-Christie are both back from lengthy lay-offs as well.

Darcy Graham, Tom Jordan, Kyle Steyn, Grant Gilchrist and tour captain Rory Darge are among the more experienced players not in the squad with two matches still to come.

"The evidence is there from our last summer tour - I think we had 11 new caps on that tour and a number of those players went on to play Tests in November and then featured in the Six Nations, so the opportunity is there for them," Townsend said of his selection.

"The opportunity is there in the short term to go out and play well this weekend and put pressure on selection for the Fiji game, the Samoa game, but also make the most of this time together, so they leave a really good impression on our minds as coaches for when next season comes around."

Scotland take on the Maori All Blacks on Saturday (04:35 BST), before facing Fiji in Suva the following week and finishing their tour at Eden Park in Auckland against Samoa on 18 July.