Following last weekend's heavy defeat at Sale Sharks, six international players have been recalled to the Glasgow Warriors side for tonight's meeting with English Premiership side Exeter Chiefs.
Five of them; John Barclay, Rob Harley, Moray Low, Tom Ryder and Duncan Weir were involved in Scotland's Southern Hemisphere summer tour which produced Test wins over Australia, Samoa and Fiji, while DTH van der Merwe, who was on duty with Canada during the summer, also returns. Another of Scotland's tourists, Ryan Grant, will start the match – which takes place at Ayr's Millbrae, kick-off 7.30pm – on the bench.
It will be Gregor Townsend's first home match in charge since he was appointed head coach earlier this year, and he is still looking for his first win at the club following the 49-27 defeat by Sale coming on the back of a loss at his former club Castres earlier in the month.
To that end he welcomed the return of those who have served the club so well in the past.
"It's great to welcome back half a dozen of our international players who have proven their quality time and again down the years," said Townsend. "Others will follow next week at Ravenhill, to complement the efforts of the core group who have worked so hard and productively since the start of pre-season training in June.
"There are a number of areas that we know need to be better than was the case against Sale, and the players are determined to give our crowd a positive performance and result to whet their appetite for the new campaign."
Team: GLASGOW WARRIORS (v Exeter Chiefs, Millbrae, Ayr, tonight, 7.30pm)
F Thomson; T Seymour, B McGuigan, P Horne, DTH van der Merwe; D Weir, H Pyrgos; G Reid, F Gillies (capt), M Low, T Ryder, N Campbell, R Harley, J Barclay, R Wilson
Substitutes: A Ashe, M Cusack, G Hunter, J Eddie, A MacDonald, C Fusaro, G Morrison, P Murchie, S Wight, S Kennedy, R Grant
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