Ireland vs. Scotland rugby world cup preview - Ruck

Ireland vs. Scotland rugby world cup preview

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has made 10 changes to his side for their World Cup opener against Ireland at the International Stadium, Yokohama.

The starting team – of which two-thirds have previous World Cup experience – features a total of 630 Test caps for the fixture on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Rory Best will captain Ireland in their Rugby World Cup opener against Scotland, with eight of the starting XV making their tournament bow.

Appearing at his fourth global showpiece event the Ireland hooker will win his 121st cap, his 12th at a Rugby World Cup.

Only two of the back-line have played at the Rugby World Cup before, scrum-half Conor Murray and fly-half Jonathan Sexton featured at the 2011 and 2015 tournaments.

The eight players named in the replacements are all featuring at their first Rugby World Cup. Niall Scannell, David Kilcoyne and Andrew Porter cover the front-row with Tadhg Beirne and Jack Conan the other forward substitutes.

Luke McGrath, Jack Carty and Chris Farrell are the replacement backs.

Ireland vs. Scotland team news

Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Duncan Taylor, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 John Barclay, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Willem Nel, 2 Stuart McInally (c), 1 Allan Dell
Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Blade Thomson, 21 Ali Price, 22 Chris Harris, 23 Darcy Graham

Date: Sunday, September 22
Venue: International Stadium, Yokohama
Kick-off: 16:45 local (08:45 BST, 07:45 GMT)
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant Referees: Pascal Gaüzère (France), Alexandre Ruiz (France)
TMO: Graham Hughes (England)