Erasmus dropped a few bombshells of his own, naming seven forwards and one backline player on his bench for the showdown at Murrayfield, a tactic they have not used since the Rugby World Cup victory over New Zealand.

He also named Springbok captain Siya Kolisi on the bench for the first time since the 2019 Rugby World Cup pool stage match against Namibia.

Meanwhile, Kwagga Smith starts at number eight as he celebrates his 50th cap for his country and is joined by Elrigh Louw and Marco van Staden also in the back row.

Many have been surprised by Erasmus' selection but his counterpart Townsend has caught the Bok boss by surprise too as he was not expecting Glasgow Warriors flyhalf Tom Jordan to be selected at fullback.

Jordan has been a standout for Glasgow and enjoyed a bright cameo off the bench against Fiji which included a brilliant try-saving tackle.

Still, Erasmus knew that Scotland would need to make changes with Darcy Graham ruled out but did not predict that Jordan would get a crack.

The Bok boss addressed the media after naming his team and had not seen the Scotland team that had been announced shortly after South Africa. Erasmus admitted that he had a "funny feeling" that Adam Hastings would start, which was not the case before commenting on the full-back call.

"We thought that they would play Blair Kinghorn on the wing," Erasmus said.

"But I didn't see the full-back selection coming. We thought that when Darcy Graham got injured that they might put the best guy under the high ball on the wing - Kinghorn - which they did, so we will need to do some homework in the next 34 hours on Tom Jordan specifically."

Erasmus added that he is expecting a tough challenge from the Scotland pack particularly at the lineouts with the Scottish pack featuring several Glasgow Warriors players.

There URC champions are renowned for their brilliance come maul time and Erasmus is expecting no different.

"Our players have told us and so has our analysis on Glasgow and Edinburgh that they very competitive at the lineouts and it is difficult to get the ball on your terms," he said.

"It's difficult to stop them as well and they have a special way in defending mauls as well."

Scotland: 15 Tom Jordan, 14 Blair Kinghorn, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu (c), 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben White, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman

Replacements: 16 Dylan Richardson, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 Max Williamson, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Jamie Ritchie, 22 Jamie Dobie, 23 Stafford McDowall

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