Depleted Scots to face Australia

Scotland will have to make due without first choice forwards Ross Ford and Jonny Gray for their quarter-final fixture against the Wallabies on Sunday. The pair were suspended for three weeks for a dangerous double-tackle on Jack Lam in the final pool match against Samoa. An appeal will be heard later today, but the current judiciary trends suggest they could be out of luck.

In their place come Fraser Brown at hooker and Tim Swinson in the second row. With Grant Gilchrist already injured and out of the tournament, Scotland are paper thin at lock, with no specialist reserve named and emergency alternatives Al Strokosch with very limited experience at the position.

Other changes see Blair Cowan come in on the flank in place of Ryan Wilson, and Peter Horne replacing injured Matt Scott at inside centre. Richie Vernon comes in on the bench with Horne covering flyhalf in the absence of usual backup Duncan Weir.

Scotland have not faced Australia in two years but have enjoyed surprising success against them, winning two of their previous three outings. Their last meet-up was a mere six point win for the Wallabies at Murrayfield, preceded by back-to-back Scotland wins in November 2009 and June 2012.

SCOTLAND
1 Alasdair Dickinson 2 Fraser Brown 3 WP Nel 4 Tim Swinson 5 Richie Gray 6 Blair Cowan 7 John Hardie 8 David Denton 9 Greig Laidlaw (capt.) 10 Finn Russell 11 Tommy Seymour 12 Peter Horne 13 Mark Bennett 14 Sean Maitland 15 Stuart Hogg

16 Kevin Bryce 17 Gordon Reid 18 Jon Welsh 19 Alasdair Strokosch 20 Josh Strauss 21 Henry Pyrgos 22 Richie Vernon 23 Sean Lamont