Laidlaw pays the Price – Scotland captain benched for Wales clash

Stuart McInally will captain Scotland for the third time on Saturday after Greig Laidlaw was dropped to the bench for their Six Nations showdown with Wales.

Laidlaw’s place in the side had been called into question following back-to-back defeats to Ireland and France and head coach Gregor Townsend has wielded the axe for the clash with the leaders at Murrayfield.

Ali Price replaces the skipper at scrum-half as Townsend makes four changes following the loss to Les Bleus, Finn Russell recovering from a head injury to return at fly-half.

Pete Horne moves to inside centre at the expense of Sam Johnson, while wing Darcy Graham will make his first start in the absence of Sean Maitland (foot).

Prop WP Nel returns from a calf injury, with Simon Berghan named among the replacements as Scotland bid to derail Wales’ bid for a Grand Slam in the penultimate round.

Jonny Gray and Tommy Seymour will win their 50th caps. 

BREAKING | Jonny Gray and Tommy Seymour will make their 50th appearance in a Scotland side – that features four changes – against Wales in the Guinness Six Nations this Saturday at BT Murrayfield (kick-off 2.15pm) – live on BBC.

Russell, Price, Graham & Nel all start pic.twitter.com/BflNT5FtNp

— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) March 7, 2019

Scotland: Blair Kinghorn, Tommy Seymour, Nick Grigg, Pete Horne, Darcy Graham, Finn Russell, Ali Price; Allan Dell, Stuart McInally (captain), WP Nel, Grant Gilchrist, Jonny Gray, Magnus Bradbury, Jamie Ritchie, Josh Strauss.

Replacements: Fraser Brown, Gordon Reid, Simon Berghan, Ben Toolis, Hamish Watson, Greig Laidlaw, Adam Hastings, Byron McGuigan.

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