Chris Harris and James Lang surprise centre partnership for Scotland's team to face Georgia

Scotland coach Gregor Townsend long ago demonstrated a penchant for springing surprise selections, so Wednesday's announcement of the team to play Georgia on Friday night did not come as a complete shock.

The starting selection of Edinburgh’s South African-born wing Duhan van der Merwe, who recently qualified for Scotland on the grounds of residency, was certainly not a surprise, nor was the presence of uncapped compatriot, loosehead prop Oli Kebble, on the bench. The selection of Finn Russell among the replacements was also expected, given that Townsend could not be seen to ditch Adam Hastings and draft Russell straight back into the starting line-up after their very public falling-out earlier this year.

If handing the captaincy to the in-form Fraser Brown was also foreseeable, the selection of a centre partnership of two England-based centres in Gloucester’s Chris Harris and Harlequins’ James Lang was from way out on the outer reaches of left field. Harris may be a well-known member of the squad who has won 18 caps and featured in the last World Cup, but Lang’s only appearances for Scotland were caps against Canada and Argentina on the summer tour of 2018.

The 25-year-old Quins playmaker regularly plays at fly-half, where he understudies Marcus Smith at the Stoop, but he can also play at 13 or 15, carries strongly and has a well-developed kicking game. Sam Johnson, who had established himself as Scotland’s starting 12 before injury, has been released to his club Glasgow, where he will this weekend play his first game since the lockdown.

Townsend denied that there is any sense that this is an experimental squad selection. He may be missing the squad’s Exeter Chiefs contingent – Stuart Hogg and second rows Jonny Gray and Sam Skinner are all taking part in Saturday’s Premiership final – while Grant Gilchrist and Damien Hoyland have picked up injuries that will sideline them until the end of the autumn tests. But with those exceptions he says that he has a fully fit squad from which to choose.

“I’d have hoped people will see by the squad we’ve picked that there is no development here – the only development is how we improve as a team,” Townsend said. “We believe we’ve picked our strongest squad available in terms of training, the games played, the cohesion. And partly it’s about respecting the opposition, who are a very tough team to break down. We are also looking ahead and the best way to build cohesions is getting team-mates to play together as well as training together.”

Although the prospect of Russell’s return has dominated the build-up to Scotland’s team selection, the presence of Van der Merwe is likely to be the main focus on Friday. The 6ft 4in wing was last season’s Pro14 player of the season and, if he can transfer his destructive ball-carrying to the international arena, then the 25-year-old could make the left-wing berth his own for seasons to come.

“He’s impressive, very committed and receptive on what we’re trying to do in attack and defence,” Townsend said. “He’s a really good man and has integrated well into the group off the field. If he can get up to double figure carries, that’s going to be good for us as a team.”

Scotland (v Georgia, BT Murrayfield, Friday, 7.30pm, ITV4): B Kinghorn (Edinburgh); D Graham (Edinburgh), C Harris (Gloucester), J Lang (Harlequins), D van der Merwe (Edinburgh); A Hastings (Glasgow), A Price (Glasgow); R Sutherland (Edinburgh), F Brown (Glasgow, capt), Z Fagerson (Glasgow), B Toolis (Edinburgh), S Cummings (Glasgow), J Ritchie (Edinburgh), H Watson (Edinburgh), M Fagerson (Glasgow). Replacements S McInally (Edinburgh), O Kebble (Glasgow), S Berghan (Edinburgh), R Harley (Glasgow), N Haining (Edinburgh), C du Preez (Worcester), G Horne (Glasgow), F Russell (Racing 92)