New British & Irish Lions Stuart Hogg and Sean Maitland are on the bench alongside a number of regular starters like Josh Strauss and Ryan Grant.
Peter Murchie was enjoying a fine season at full-back but hasn't featured as much since Stuart Hogg returned from Six Nations duty. Tonight's start in Ireland will give Pete, who picked up an award for Most Improved Player at the recent awards dinner, an opportunity to put himself in the selection mix for next weekend.
"I’m delighted for Hoggy and Sean that they’ve been chosen, but I’ve been disappointed not to have been playing. It’s been a few weeks now but I can’t wait to play again,” said Pete in the Courier.
“It’s also given me the challenge to put in a pretty good performance to try to put some pressure on Gregor for the semi.
“There’s probably more than 30 guys who will be expecting to be in the 23-man squad for the semi-final so there’s going to be a lot of disappointment, and this is a big opportunity to put in a good performance and make life difficult for the coaches.
“There’s obviously also going to be a gap in the Scotland squad this summer with Stuart and Sean being away so I would imagine there will be a few guys who have their eye on their jerseys.”