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Stuart Hogg shakes off injury to be named in experimental Scotland side to play Argentina

Rugby

Stuart Hogg has shaken off injury concerns to be named in Scotland's team to face Argentina at Murrayfield on Saturday.

The Glasgow full-back sparked fears he might have aggravated an old ankle injury when he limped off in the narrow defeat to South Africa at the weekend.

But Hogg has since been given the all-clear by team doctors and takes his place in an otherwise experimental Scotland side to face the Pumas.

Head coach Townsend has made eight changes to the side that started against South Africa, with Finn Russell shifting to inside centre and Adam Hastings coming in at fly-half.

Allan Dell, Fraser Brown and Simon Berghan form a new-look front row, with lock Grant Gilchrist and back-row duo Jamie Ritchie and Josh Strauss also restored to the side.

There is again no place in the 23 for Newcastle Falcons flanker Gary Graham, who was controversially called up by Townsend this autumn after being named in England's Six Nations squad last season.

Scotland face another tough assignment against the Pumas after their defeat to South Africa -- just the second loss in their last 11 tests at Murrayfield.

Argentina have made just two changes to their team with Rodrigo Bruni getting his first start at flanker in place of Guido Petti, who moves to the second row.

Bruni, 25, came on as a replacement in recent friendlies against Ireland and France but has never started a match for the Pumas,as the Argentina Rugby Union announced their team on a day later on Thursday. 

Matias Moroni also returns as centre in place of Matias Orlando, who drops to the bench.

Martin Landajo and Sebastian Cancelliere feature as replacements for the first time since the Rugby Championship.

With Petti moving to second row, there is no place in the starting line-up for Matias Alemanno, who will start on the bench.

Argentina will be aiming to finally notch up a win on what has been a disappointing tour so far. The Pumas lost 28-17 to Ireland in Dublin on Nov. 10 and went down 28-13 against France in Lille last weekend.

They have a decent record against Scotland, with 10 wins in 20 games and four victories out of eight appearances at Scotland's home ground.

The South Americans round out their four-match tour with a final match against the Barbarians at Twickenham on Dec. 1

Scotland team to play Argentina

15. Stuart Hogg, 14. Sean Maitland, 13. Huw Jones, 12. Finn Russell, 11. Blair Kinghorn, 10. Adam Hastings, 9. Greig Laidlaw; 1. Allan Dell, 2. Fraser Brown, 3, Simon Berghan, 4. Grant Gilchrist, 5. Johnny Gray, 6. Jamie Ritchie, 7. Hamish Watson 8. Josh Strauss,

Replacements: 16. Stuart McInally, 17. Alex Allan, 18. WP Nel, 19. Sam Skinner, 20. Hamish Wilson, 21. George Horne, 22. Alex Dunbar, 23. Byron McGuigan. 

Argentina team to play Scotland

15. Emiliano Boffelli, 14. Bautista Delguy, 13. Matias Moroni, 12. Jeronimo de la Fuente, 11.Ramiro Moyano, 10. Nicolas Sanchez, 9. Gonzalo Bertranou; 1. Santiago Garcia Botta 2. Agustin Creevy, 3. Santiago Medrano, 4. Guido Petti, 5. Tomas Lavanini 6. Pablo Matera (captain), 7. Rodrigo Bruni 8. Javier Ortega Desio

Replacements: 16. Julian Montoya, 17. Juan Pablo Zeiss, 18. Lucio Sordoni, 19. Matias Alemanno, 20. Tomas Lezana, 21. Martin Landajo, 22. Matias Orlando, 23. Santiago Cancelliere.

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