Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has named his starting side to face England in the Six Nations opener (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has named his starting side to face England in the Six Nations opener (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has named his starting side to face England in the Six Nations opener (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

Scotland triple injury blow revealed as Gregor Townsend names team to face Wales in Six Nations clash at Murrayfield

Scotland have been hit by a triple injury blow ahead of their Guinness Six Nations match against Wales.

Gregor Townsend's side are looking to build on last weekend's stunning 11-6 win over England at Twickenham in the opening round of the Championship.

But the head coach has been forced into three changes for the match on Saturday at BT Murrayfield.

Flanker Jamie Ritchie, centre Cameron Redpath and winger Sean Maitland are all unavailable through injury.

Scarlets back-row Blade Thomson replaces Ritchie at blindside; Harlequins back James Lang comes in for Redpath at inside centre and Edinburgh wing Darcy Graham slots in for Maitland.

In the absence of Ritchie, stand-off Finn Russell takes on vice-captaincy duties with lock Jonny Gray.

Stuart Hogg will captain the side.

The match against Wales kicks off at 4:45pm and will be shown live on BBC 1.

Townsend said: “It was a very encouraging performance at Twickenham and the squad performed to a level which has to be the benchmark throughout the tournament. Wales are also coming into this game after a win [against Ireland] and will have the same objective, so it will be a tough challenge as always."

Here is the Scotland starting XV:

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