Taylor replaces Scott in Scotland Six Nations team against Wales
Saracens centre Duncan Taylor replaced Edinburgh's Matt Scott in the only change to the Scotland team announced on Thursday for Saturday's Six Nations showdown with Wales in Cardiff. Scott has been ruled out with a thigh muscle injury sustained in training on Wednesday, enabling Taylor to come in for his first start since 2014 following two injury-hit seasons. Scotland are bidding to bounce back from their 15-9 defeat by England at Murrayfield last weekend. "This group have worked exceptionally hard this week to improve their accuracy under pressure after a frustrating opening game against England," said head coach Vern Cotter. "We created opportunities that could have been capitalised upon and converted into points. As a team we know we can perform better and believe we're capable of making improvements all over the park. "We know that Wales in Cardiff will not be easy, but our focus is on improving our attacking and defensive mindset." Taylor, 26, won the last of his 13 Scotland caps during the 2014 tour of the United States, but he has impressed for Saracens in the time since, helping them to glory in the English Premiership last season. In an otherwise unchanged back division, Stuart Hogg, Sean Maitland and Tommy Seymour make up the back three, with Finn Russell at fly-half and skipper Greig Laidlaw at scrum-half. The pack retains its all-Edinburgh front three of Alasdair Dickinson, Ross Ford and Willem Nel, with brothers Jonny and Richie Gray at lock and John Barclay, John Hardie and David Denton in the back row. The only other change to the match-day 23 sees experienced Glasgow wing Sean Lamont take Taylor's place among the replacements. Scotland got a hiding on their last trip to the newly renamed Principality Stadium, crashing to a 51-3 defeat in 2014. Wales won 26-23 when the teams last met at Murrayfield last year. Scotland team (15-1) announced on Thursday to play Wales in Saturday's Six Nations match at Cardiff's Principality Stadium (1650 GMT kick-off): Stuart Hogg; Sean Maitland, Mark Bennett, Duncan Taylor, Tommy Seymour; Finn Russell, Greig Laidlaw (capt); David Denton, John Hardie, John Barclay; Jonny Gray, Richie Gray; WP Nel, Ross Ford, Alasdair Dickinson Replacements: Stuart McInally, Gordon Reid, Zander Fagerson, Tim Swinson, Blair Cowan, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Duncan Weir, Sean Lamont
