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Townsend rewards Scots for England clash

Edinburgh - Scotland flyhalf Finn Russell kept his place as coach Gregor Townsend named an unchanged starting side on Wednesday for this weekend's Six Nations international against England at Murrayfield.

Russell was taken off by Townsend in the 65th minute of Scotland's 32-26 win at home to France last time out, with experienced scrumhalf Greig Laidlaw moving across to flyhalf. Ali Price, Russell's house-mate, came off the bench to take over from Laidlaw at scrumhalf.

But Townsend, a bold playmaker in his time as a Scotland international, has retained the mercurial Russell in his XV for a match against Six Nations champions England, who remain on course for a Grand Slam after wins over Italy and Wales.

Townsend has, however, made changes on the bench with prop WP Nel, a renowned scrummager, and Glasgow lock Tim Swinson back among the replacements.

Meanwhile, Glasgow centre Nick Grigg has been rewarded for his man-of-the-match display against Cheetahs last Friday with a place on the bench.

England coach Eddie Jones is due to name his side on Thursday.

Teams:

Scotland

15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Pete Horne, 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 John Barclay (captain), 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Simon Berghan, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Gordon Reid

Substitutes: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Willem Nel, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 David Denton, 21 Ali Price, 22 Nick Grigg, 23 Blair Kinghorn

England

TBA

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