Darge named skipper as Scots pick two new caps for warm-up test

EDINBURGH : Rory Darge will captain Scotland for the first time as they take on Italy in a Rugby World Cup warm-up test at Murrayfield on Saturday with coach Gregor Townsend naming two new caps in the matchday squad.

Uncapped Glasgow Warriors centre Stafford McDowall starts while Leicester Tigers second row Cameron Henderson is on the bench as Scotland begin a series of four warm-up matches that includes two tests against World Cup hosts France and a home match against Georgia.

The 23-year-old Darge is a former skipper of Scotland’s under-20 team and leads an experimental selection, without regular captain Jamie Ritchie, Finn Russell and Duhan van der Merwe.

Saturday’s team sees Ollie Smith come in at fullback following the sudden retirement of Stuart Hogg and McDowall paired with British and Irish Lion Chris Harris, who lost his place in the team during the Six Nations championship earlier this year.

New Edinburgh signing Ben Healy, who made his first appearance for Scotland against Italy earlier this year, starts at flyhalf alongside Ali Price at scrumhalf.

Team: 15. Ollie Smith, 14-Darcy Graham, 13-Chris Harris, 12-Stafford McDowall, 11-Kyle Steyn, 10-Ben Healy, 9-Ali Price, 8-Matt Fagerson, 7-Rory Darge (capt.), 6-Luke Crosbie, 5-Scott Cummings, 4- Sam Skinner, 3-Murphy Walker, 2-George Turner, 1-Rory Sutherland

Replacements: 16-Stuart McInally, 17-Jamie Bhatti, 18-Javan Sebastian, 19-Cameron Henderson, 20-Josh Bayliss, 21-Jamie Dobie, 22-Blair Kinghorn, 23-Cameron Redpath.

(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Toby Davis)