Analysis by BBC Scotland’s chief sports writer Tom English<\/p>\n
Outside Scotland, this selection is going to cause sharp intakes of breath. Maybe inside Scotland, or in parts of it, this selection is going to cause sharp intakes of breath. <\/p>\n
It really shouldn’t. <\/p>\n
Yes, Blair Kinghorn has been a shoo-in at 15 for the longest time, but there are mistakes in his game that tend to come tumbling out when Scotland are under the pump.<\/p>\n
The inclusion of Tom Jordan – playing his in his third-best position after 10 and 12 – is a nod to having a more mentally robust outfit when the heat comes on. Kinghorn will get plenty of game-time in this Six Nations, but not in week one.<\/p>\n
Yes, again, Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe are record-breaking mainstays, but the pair of them have been dragged down by Edinburgh’s malaise and, quite honestly, it would have been a shock had Kyle Steyn and Jamie Dobie not started.<\/p>\n
They’re both in flying form and are both leaders in their own way. Mental fortitude has been a problem for Scotland, but not for Glasgow. <\/p>\n
Steyn and Dobie were nailed on to start if form over reputation was any sort of guide.<\/p>\n
Grant Gilchrist survives the challenge of a battalion of second rows, but there are two seriously impressive operators to come off the bench. <\/p>\n
Gregor Brown is in at cover at six but he’s just as good at lock. And Max Williamson is the size of a house. You’re getting great impact there. Williamson was injured this time last year and missed the entire tournament. Big chance for the big man.<\/p>\n
With three games in three weeks and five in six weeks, Gregor Townsend is going to use his squad more than ever, I suspect. <\/p>\n
There are a lot of top-notch players turning out for the A team on Friday night or not turning out at all this weekend. <\/p>\n
We’ll be seeing some of them down the track for sure. The schedule and the inevitability of injuries within that schedule will demand it. <\/p>\n
That bench looks good. George Horne is having a whale of a season and what an impact he might have in Rome. Graham, if at his best, gives you massive X-factor. Adam Hastings deserves to be back in the frame. <\/p>\n
It’s encouraging on paper. Now for the reality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Analysis by BBC Scotland’s chief sports writer Tom English Outside Scotland, this selection is going to cause sharp…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-409201","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}