Scotland centre braced for battle with 'the most physical 12 in world rugby'

Inside centre McDowall will captain the Scots and will be in direct opposition to the experienced Josua Tuisova who revels in nicknames such as ‘Human Bulldozer’ and ‘The Bus’.

Now 32, the Racing 92 player has already helped Fiji beat Scotland twice, in Suva in 2017 and 2025. He has spent over a decade in the French Top 14 with Toulon, Lyon and Racing and, at international level, he helped Fiji win gold in the sevens at the 2016 Olympics in Rio and was part of the side that reached the quarter-finals at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

“I’d say he’s probably the most physical 12 in world rugby at the moment,” said McDowall who also highlighted the threat posed by his centre partner Virimi Vakatawa who will make his Fiji debut on Saturday having been capped over 30 times by France earlier in his career and is a former team-mate of Finn Russell’s at Racing.

“Finn's been talking about him during the week, how much of a special player he is and what he can produce. He's obviously been back with the Drua, so he'll know these boys pretty well.”

Vakatawa, who was born in New Zealand and grew up in Fiji, played for France on residency grounds but was able to switch allegiance after a three-year standdown period.

McDowall, who will have Ollie Smith alongside him, is not underestimating the task they will face.

“Me and Smithers have played together a bit at Glasgow at 12 and 13, so it's not like we're new together,” he said. “It's definitely our biggest challenge.”

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Fiji come into the match on the back of a heavy defeat by England and a narrower loss to Wales and McDowall hopes Scotland can learn from what the English did against them in the 73-8 win at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

“We thought England defended really well against them, tried to take a lot of their space and time away and not let them get up ahead of steam, which was really effective. We'll be trying to replicate some of that, but you saw in that Wales game how destructive they can be, Jiuta Wainiqolo and those guys. Salesi Rayasi was unbelievable in that Wales game as well.”