RECAP: Scotland v Russia

READERS’ FORUM: Welcome to the World Cup pool match between Scotland and Russia in Shizuoka.

Scotland are targeting a bonus-point victory, and nothing less, over Russia on Wednesday to set up a Pool A showdown with hosts Japan for a spot in the quarterfinals.

*To read the match report, CLICK HERE! 

Coach Gregor Townsend made wholesale changes to the team that beat Samoa 34-0 last week, bringing in 14 players as he attempts to manage his 31-strong squad with only a four-day turnover before the game against Japan, in Yokohama on Sunday.

Prediction: There is plenty on the line for Scotland. They will take this one by 20 points or more and they will get a bonus point.

* To read our full preview, CLICK HERE!

* Our live blog will appear below, it might take a little while to load, please be patient. We apologise for the inconvenience!

Teams:

Scotland: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Duncan Taylor, 12 Pete Horne, 11 Darcy Graham, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 George Horne, 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 Fraser Brown, 6 John Barclay (captain), 5 Ben Toolis, 4 Scott Cummings, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 George Turner, 1 Gordon Reid.

Replacements: 16 Stuart McInally, 17 Simon Berghan, 18 Willem Nel, 19 Grant Gilchrist, 20 Magnus Bradbury, 21 Jamie Ritchie, 22 Henry Pyrgos, 23 Chris Harris.

Russia: 15 Vasily Artemyev (captain), 14 German Davydov, 13 Vladimir Ostroushko, 12 Dmitry Gerasimov, 11 Vladislav Sozonov, 10 Ramil Gaisin, 9 Dimitry Perov, 8 Nikita Vavilin, 7 Tagir Gadzhiev, 6 Vitaly Zhivatov, 5 Evgeny Elgin, 4 Andrey Ostrikov, 3 Kirill Gotovtsev, 2 Stanislav Selskii, 1 Valery Morozov.

Replacements: 16 Sergey Chernyshev, 17 Azamat Bitiev, 18 Vladimir Podrezov, 19 Bogdan Fedotko, 20 Andrey Garbuzov, 21 Sergey Ianiushkin, 22 Anton Sychev, 23 Yury Kushnarev.

Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)

Assistant referees: Wayne Barnes (England), Federico Anselmi (Argentina)

TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)