Gregor Townsend faces two major Scotland calls for South Africa - and simple fix for one may not be possible

Gregor Townsend will announce on Friday his team to play South Africa and the main intrigue is likely to be around the backline.

It’s hard to see too many - or indeed, any - changes being made to the pack of forwards which started against Fiji last week. If all are fit, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see the same eight lining up against the world champions at Murrayfield.

It’s a different story behind the scrum where the availability this week of Blair Kinghorn, Finn Russell and Ben White and the absence of Darcy Graham gives the Scotland coach some thinking to do.

Blair Kinghorn has started four matches on the wing for Toulouse this season. | AFP via Getty Images

While not everything clicked against the Fijians, Scotland started and ended well and ran in eight tries in what was eventually a very convincing victory. Graham scored half of them and his finishing prowess will be sorely missed against the Springboks on Sunday.

A simple fix would be to move Kyle Rowe from full-back to Graham’s wing slot and restore Kinghorn to the 15 jersey but there is uncertainty around the former’s fitness after he had to come off early against Fiji with a hamstring issue. Scan results were not as bad as originally feared but Townsend will be reluctant to take risks with this type of injury which has a habit of recurring.

If he does miss out, it will be a real shame for Rowe who has started the season extremely positively for Glasgow Warriors and scored the first try in the 57-17 win over Fiji, showing lovely footwork to finish a nice move. Quick, alert and confident, he is also excellent with the ball at his feet.

Scotland's Kyle Rowe celebrates his first half try against Fiji. | SNS Group / SRU

While the Scottish backline were able to feast on the opportunities they got against Fiji, chances are likely to be few and far between on Sunday. Duhan van der Merwe, a stick-on to start on the opposite flank, showed plenty of appetite last weekend and should be suitably fired up against the country of his birth, particularly in light of Andre Esterhuizen’s rather pointed comments this week. Van der Merwe has heard it all before but the former junior Bok has a lot of responsibility this week as Scotland’s senior winger

If Rowe doesn’t make it, Townsend has other options. Arron Reed was blooded on the summer tour and marked his Test debut with a double against Canada and also played in the win over Chile. In terms of pace, he is perhaps the closest Scotland have to a like for like replacement for Graham but this would be a significant step up of the Sale Sharks winger who has never played at Murrayfield before.

Jamie Dobie is primarily a scrum-half but twice started on the wing on the summer tour and is arguably the best wide man in the squad under the high ball, an area in which Townsend expects Scotland to be challenged on Sunday. The coach may decide to deploy Kinghorn on the wing, a position in which he has started four of his eight matches for Toulouse this season. That could mean a call-up for Harry Paterson at full-back, which would be a bold move given that he has played only once for Edinburgh this season due to injury. Alternatively, he could leave Tom Jordan there. The versatile Glasgow man came off the bench to make his Scotland debut when he replaced Rowe on Saturday and did a sterling job in an unaccustomed role. But it’s one thing doing it against a Fiji team missing its leading lights, quite another when you are facing the best team in the world.

Kinghorn at 15 would seem to the obvious choice, with Rowe, Reed or Dobie on the wing.

Barring any unforeseen issues, the centres will be Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones, and Russell is likely to return at stand-off even though Adam Hastings played with some panache against Fiji.

Who will play at scrum-half seems less certain. Ali Price was a surprise pick against Fiji and performed decently without being outstanding. Dobie replaced him in the second half and, again, did what was required. White was Townsend’s go-to man last season, starting four of the five Six Nations games and the World Cup opener against South Africa, but the Toulon nine has had a so-so season, playing only four times in the Top 14 where he vies with Baptiste Serin for a starting slot. George Horne is also available but Townsend seemed slightly cool on the Warriors scrum-half’s start to the season which was surprising.

Ben White in action for Toulon against Montpellier in the Top 14 last month. | AFP via Getty Images

While hard to second guess the coach’s thinking, White probably just edges this one.

As mentioned earlier, there is little to suggest that much tinkering is required up front. Zander Fagerson’s wife Yasmine gave birth to twins on Monday and the prop has rejoined the squad and will be available to face the Boks. D’Arcy Rae provided back-up at tighthead from the bench against Fiji and has impressed Townsend this season but faces competition from Will Hurd and Elliot Millar-Mills to retain his place among the replacements. It is in Rae’s favour that he has had far more game-time than his two English-based squad-mates across the current campaign.

Josh Bayliss and Alex Craig are also in contention for a place among the subs after both were unavailable for the Fiji match and it will be intriguing to see the balance of forwards and backs on the Scotland bench. South Africa tend to favour a six-two split but seven-one is not unheard of. The Boks pushed their team announcement back from Thursday to Friday so Scotland will not have the luxury of knowing their opponents’ team a day in advance.

Speaking earlier this week, Townsend was giving little away except to stress the importance of “getting our game out”.

“We’re aware of how good they are,” he said. “But it’s about us, where can we play to our strengths? And that might be 6-2, it might be 5-3, we’ve still got to finalise that decision.”