Scotland freshen up back three for Australia clash as Wallabies boosted by Carter Gordon return

Blair Kinghorn and Darcy Graham have been brought into the starting Scotland back three as Gregor Townsend looks for a response to defeat to New Zealand.

Scotland faded in the second half against the All Blacks in a disappointing start to their November Nations Championship fixtures, but Townsend keeps faith with much of the side that featured.

Kinghorn and Graham do come in, though, as Jamie Dobie and Kyle Rowe drop out – with the former showcasing his versatility as scrum half cover on the bench.

There is a potential debutant in the form of Newcastle Red Bulls flanker Ollie Leatherbarrow among the replacements, too.

“The disappointment was that I’ve got huge expectations of them,” Townsend said of the performance against New Zealand. “I believe they can fulfil them and we have fulfilled them, the France game was up there at the top of my expectations.

“I know it was the first game of the season and we were asking a lot against New Zealand but we were better than that performance and the players know that.

“It was just a reminder that you’ve got to keep working to strive to be your best.

“Having eight days (between games) has been good, to be able to have more conversations with the players about why we didn’t deliver what we set out to deliver and how we right that wrong this week.

“We played South Africa and New Zealand in recent months and they’re the top two teams in the world and we played much better against South Africa than we did against New Zealand.”

Australia freshen up their side, meanwhile, after a below-par performance against England, with Carter Gordon a welcome returnee at fly half. Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii moves into midfield following an injury to Isaac Henry, with Harry Potter brought in on the wing.

Rob Valetini is promoted from the bench as Jeremy Williams reverts to a regular second row role. Brandon Paenga-Amosa and Tom Hooper are fit enough to make the replacements.

Scotland XV: 1 Rory Sutherland, 2 Ewan Ashman, 3 Zander Fagerson; 4 Gregor Brown, 5 Scott Cummings; 6 Matt Fagerson, 7 Rory Darge, 8 Jack Dempsey; 9 Ben White, 10 Finn Russell; 11 Darcy Graham, 12 Sione Tuipulotu (capt.), 13 Huw Jones, 14 Kyle Steyn; 15 Blair Kinghorn.

Replacements: 16 Gregor Hiddleston, 17 Pierre Schoeman, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Max Williamson, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Ollie Leatherbarrow; 22 Jamie Dobie, 23 Tom Jordan.

Australia XV: 1 Angus Bell, 2 Billy Pollard, 3 Allan Alaalatoa; 4 Josh Canham, 5 Jeremy Williams; 6 Rob Valetini, 7 Fraser McReight, 8 Harry Wilson (capt.); 9 Ryan Lonergan, 10 Carter Gordon; 11 Harry Potter, 12 Len Ikitau, 13 Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, 14 Max Jorgensen; 15 Tom Wright.

Replacements: 16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17 Isaac Kailea, 18 Taniela Tupou, 19 Lachlan Shaw, 20 Tom Hooper; 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Ben Donaldson, 23 Filipo Daugunu.