Stuart Hogg to make 100th appearance for Scotland against Ireland

Scotland fullback Stuart Hogg will make his 100th appearance for the Dark Blues as Gregor Townsend has confirmed the matchday squad for the fourth round clash against Ireland.

Having made his debut in 2012, the fullback is set to become the fourth player for Scotland to achieve the milestone.

The absence of Grant Gilchrist due to a red card suspension will see Jonny Gray joining Richie in the second row. It will also be a 76th Test appearance for Jonny as he breaks into top 10 most capped player for Scotland.

The second change sees Jack Dempsey coming at number eight with Jamie Ritchie and Matt Fagerson making positional changes to blindside and openside respectively.

"I was part of the Scotland set-up as an assistant coach as Stuart won his first cap in Wales and did really well," said Townsend on Hogg's milestone.

"He's always had a great all-round skill-set and his basics have been at a high level since he was 18 or 19.

"I remember watching him as a 16-year-old for Hawick in the Gala Sevens, then playing Scotland Under-18s, then scoring a brilliant try for Scotland A - and he's gone on to have a wonderful international career."

Scotland XV: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Kyle Steyn, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben White, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Jamie Ritchie, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 George Turner, 1 Pierre Schoeman

Reserves: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Hamish Watson, 21 Ali Price, 22 Blair Kinghorn, 23 Chris Harris