Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has made five changes to his wider training squad for their upcoming Autumn Nations Series Test against the All Blacks.
Townsend’s side secured a huge 85-0 win over the USA in their November opener last weekend, but face an entirely different challenge this Saturday against the three-time world champions.
Scotland make five changes to squad ahead of All Blacks Test
While the manner of the victory might have given him food for thought ahead of the clash with the All Blacks, who come to Scotland off the back of a 26-13 win over Ireland in Chicago, Townsend has instead trimmed his wider training squad down.
Debutants Harri Morris and Liam McConnell have both been sent back to their clubs, as has Ross Thompson. The decision to send McConnell back would have raised a few eyebrows too, with Townsend full of praise for his efforts last weekend.
“He was excellent,” Townsend said of McConnell in his post-match press conference. “It’s very difficult to do that in your first cap. The first 10 minutes of my first cap were a nightmare, I missed tackles and I was all over the place.
“To deliver your strengths, of which Liam has many, it was an excellent performance. He showed his fitness by being one of our best players in the last 10 minutes and the first 10 minutes too.
“He’s confirmed what we thought around his potential growth and how he can bring more than just one aspect of the game, which is now what we expect of our forwards.”
Elsewhere, Alexander Masibaka has been ruled out of the remaining November Tests with an elbow injury, while Will Hurd is also unavailable with a shoulder injury.
Glasgow Warriors prop Fin Richardson has been drafted into the squad after making his Scotland debut against Samoa earlier this year.
Updated Scotland squad in full
Forwards: Ewan Ashman, Josh Bayliss, Magnus Bradbury, Gregor Brown, Scott Cummings, Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey, Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson, Grant Gilchrist, Patrick Harrison, Nathan McBeth, Elliot Millar Mills, Andy Onyeama-Christie, D’Arcy Rae, Dylan Richardson, Fin Richardson, Jamie Ritchie, Alex Samuel, Pierre Schoeman, Rory Sutherland, Marshall Sykes, George Turner, Murphy Walker, Max Williamson
Backs: Fergus Burke, Jamie Dobie, Darcy Graham, Adam Hastings, George Horne, Rory Hutchinson, Tom Jordan, Blair Kinghorn, Stafford McDowall, Arron Reed, Kyle Rowe, Finn Russell, Ollie Smith, Kyle Steyn, Sione Tuipulotu (c), Duhan van der Merwe, Ben White