Scotland's elements of risk in Fiji - why changes have been made and selection of new stand-off

Burke, the Saracens stand-off, came off the bench in the 29-26 win over the Maori All Blacks last weekend in the non-cap international in Whangarei. He is now given the opportunity to start for Scotland for the first time in what is the second game of their three-match tour.

The New Zealand-born fly-half was part of Scotland’s Six Nations squad but didn’t feature during the championship. A former Junior All Black, he qualifies through his Edinburgh-born grandfather and will become Scotland men’s cap number 1235.

Burke, 25, replaces Adam Hastings at 10 and is one of 14 changes made by Townsend to his starting XV. The head coach admitted there was “an element of risk” in such a radical overhaul.

“There are a lot of things to like about Fergus’ game,” said Townsend. “I think the most important element is how physical he's been, both with carrying the ball, but in particular his defence. He's been excellent this year for Saracens, and he's shown that on tour.

“And we're going to need our backs to defend really well on Saturday. His game management, his game understanding, is up there with the best 10s. He knows why you would play a certain shape, why you might play a certain tactic against a different opposition, and he's got the technical skills to execute that.”

Didn’t front up physically

Scotland lost to Fiji on their last visit to Suva during the early days of Townsend’s reign in 2017, a week after beating Australia in Sydney, and the coach admitted they were outmuscled by their hosts.

“We didn't win the physical battle, and that was really disappointing,” he recalled. “We'd had a great win the week before in Sydney and it would have been a brilliant way to end the tour. But we just didn't front up physically.

“It's rare to see that in a Scotland team. Every now and again if you have that performance you know that can never happen again. That was the biggest learning..”

One survivor from Maori game

Scotland go into the Fiji game without eight senior players who are with the British and Irish Lions in Australia but Townsend has still been able to call upon seasoned campaigners such as tour captain Rory Darge, Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie, Rory Sutherland, Matt Fagerson, Ewan Ashman, Darcy Graham and Kyle Steyn who were all rested for the Maori game.

Only Marshall Sykes, the Edinburgh lock forward, retains his place from the side that started in Whangarei.

“We'd planned to mix it up in the first two games, which is an element of risk, in that with two different teams you don't get the continuity between games,” said Townsend.

“But what I believe works well for us, and has worked in the past, is you get that cohesion with that team. The team that is going out against Fiji have trained together now for the last two or three weeks - they've trained against the team that played against the Maori.

“And what we'll have is a fresh team too. Not many of them played against the Maori, and they've been raring to go.”

Matt Fagerson, selected at No 8, is returning from a serious ankle injury sustained playing for Glasgow Warriors against Leinster in the Champions Cup quarter-final in Dublin on 11 April.

Scotland team to play Fiji

Scotland (v Fiji, HFC Bank Stadium, Suva, Saturday, 4am BST): 15. Kyle Rowe; 14. Darcy Graham, 13. Cameron Redpath, 12. Tom Jordan, 11. Kyle Steyn; 10. Fergus Burke, 9. Jamie Dobie; 1. Rory Sutherland, 2. Ewan Ashman, 3. Elliot Millar Mills, 4. Marshall Sykes, 5. Grant Gilchrist, 6. Jamie Ritchie, 7. Rory Darge, (capt), 8. Matt Fagerson. Replacements: 16. George Turner, 17. Alec Hepburn, 18. Will Hurd, 19. Max Williamson, 20. Josh Bayliss, 21. George Horne, 22. Adam Hastings, 23. Ollie Smith.