Duncan Taylor can be a big player for Scotland at Rugby World Cup - Gregor Townsend

Scotland coach Gregor Townsend views Saracens centre Duncan Taylor as a “big player” as the build-up to the World Cup starts to get serious with a first warm-up Test against France in Nice on ?Saturday evening.

Scotland centre Duncan Taylor: tough time with injury. Picture: SNS

Taylor has been chosen to start his first Scotland game in two years, and first competitive one for over 12 months, and Townsend is excited to see a player he clearly views as a potentially crucial one for the tournament in Japan, which starts next month, take to the field.

“I was delighted Duncan got through last week’s training game [behind closed doors] against Edinburgh,” said Townsend after naming his first Scotland team since the epic 38-38 draw against England at Twickenham, which closed the Six Nations.

Taylor has endured a tough couple of years with a concussion lay-off being followed by a knee-ligament injury which wrecked the whole of last season.

It is a testament to the regard the centre, who plays for English and European champions Saracens, is held in that lack of game time has not been a barrier to his being seen as a potentially vital cog in Scotland’s World Cup hopes. He will start alongside Huw Jones in the midfield at the Allianz Riviera on Saturday evening.

“He’s trained really well for the last two months with us and he’s obviously had a season of coming back from that injury and was in full training with Saracens at the end of the season,” added Townsend. “So he’s ready to go. He could be a big player for us over the next few weeks and months, but it’s now up to him to grab that opportunity.”

The upcoming four games, away then home against both France and Georgia, gives Townsend the chance to appraise what is currently a 40-man squad before he makes the final cut to 31 on

3 September ahead of the last match of the series against the east Europeans at BT Murrayfield.

French-based half-backs Finn Russell and Greig Laidlaw won’t feature this weekend, with Adam Hastings handed the No 10 jersey and Edinburgh hooker Stuart McInally retaining the captaincy.

“Stuart was captain in our last two Six Nations games. He lifted the Calcutta Cup and we believe there is good continuity there,” said the coach.

“We are aware John Barclay was the captain the previous season but with John not playing as many games and no international games for 12 months we feel his position this week as vice-captain will be to focus on his game and also support Stuart alongside Stuart Hogg in that strong leadership group.”

Townsend said he was particularly looking forward to seeing how the Taylor-Jones centre combination shapes up.

“It could be [exciting], and so could other centre combinations that we have ready to go in the following games, and based on what we’ve seen in training,” said the coach.

“We’ve got a lot of competition in that area. Sam Johnson finished the Six Nations in great form and although he is not available just now [with a minor ankle injury] he should be back within a week or two.

“And you’ve got Peter Horne, who is a very experienced player for us, and Chris Harris, who’s been training really well. And Rory Hutchinson, who’s an exciting player who’s on the bench this week – he can cover any three of those midfield positions, and that’s what he’ll be doing this weekend.”

Townsend revealed that the current pool of players will now stay in place until that final World Cup squad is announced early next month.

“We made the decision last week to make that cut earlier,” he explained. “We felt it was fair to the group of players that ended up leaving the squad that we didn’t just have them here for another week to see if we did pick up any injuries after the first game.”