Six Nations spots in tourists' hands, insists Townsend

GREGOR TOWNSEND sent out a clear message to the inexperienced players he has selected for Scotland's Pacific tour match against the Maori All Blacks tomorrow morning - impress me now and you could become regulars next season.

- By Stuart Bathgate

Head coach Townsend, inset, is already without some of his senior internationals for the three-game tour.

Eight are with the British & Irish Lions in Australia and a few more have been rested or injured.

And some key men who are on tour, such as Rory Darge and Jamie Ritchie, will sit out this non-cap match in New Zealand ahead of the coming Tests against Fiji and Samoa.

Townsend's starting lineup to face the Maori at the Semenoff Stadium in Whangarei only has four players with ten caps or more.

And three of the squad - starter Fin Richardson plus subs Alex Masibaka and Fergus Burke - will be representing their country for the first time.