Scotland to face Portugal without injured forwards Dempsey, Williamson and Brown

EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Scotland forwards Jack Dempsey, Max Williamson and Gregor Brown were ruled out of playing Portugal at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Dempsey and Williamson suffered respective hand and shoulder injuries in the 32-15 home loss to South Africa on Sunday.

Brown played against Fiji the week before and not South Africa, but had a rib injury.

Scotland called up Glasgow hooker Johnny Matthews and Scarlets loosehead prop Alec Hepburn.

Matthews was a surprise omission from the original squad because of his form. He’s been around the squad since 2022 but played only once, against Romania as emergency cover in the Rugby World Cup last year.

Hepburn, the former England prop, received all four of his Scotland caps off the bench this year in the Six Nations.