Stand-in captain Stafford McDowall vowed Scotland are on a mission to finish the season on a high by defeating Fiji at Murrayfield.
Gregor Townsend’s side bring the first half of the Nations Championship to a close this afternoon following matches away to Argentina and South Africa.
Another victory in front of a crowd of more than 50,000 would continue the progress made over recent months and McDowall says a much-changed line-up are determined not to let the supporters down.
The Glasgow centre said: ‘You don’t want to leave a sour taste in your mouth for the end of the season. It’s been such a strong season for a lot of the boys, for club and country.
‘You want to finish it on a high, especially with over 50,000 people, mainly Scotland fans, having bought tickets to come here and watch. You want to put on a good performance for them.
‘You represent the country and you never want to let that opportunity go by and not give it your all. It’s been really good this week being back home.
‘At this point last year we were still in Auckland and getting ready to play Samoa. So, it’s been really nice.
Centre Stafford McDowall is set to replace regular captain Sione Tuipulotu this weekend
Head coach Gregor Townsend is expecting Fiji to provide a stern test despite recent results
‘The boys have had chances to reconnect with their families and get home for a couple of days on Monday and Thursday. It’s been a bit of a different end to the season, but it’s been good.’
McDowall admits it’s an honour to lead the team again with regular captain Sione Tuipulotu named among the replacements. He added: ‘I’m really excited. I’ve been here a couple of times before and it’s been really fun.
‘It’s a massive honour for me and my family so I’m really excited to get another shot at it. I captained against Portugal and USA, co-captained versus Canada and then against the Maori.
‘So this is either the fourth or fifth time, depending on how you look at it. This is the first Tier 1 side I’ve faced as captain so I’m really looking forward to getting another chance to do it, particularly at Murrayfield in the sunshine.’
Fiji have had to play all three of their “home” games in the UK due to tournament regulations regarding minimum stadium sizes. Townsend admitted that was a harsh arrangement but felt there was no real alternative.
The head coach said: ‘Yeah, it’s maybe unfair. I think it would be great if they were able to host games. But most of their players play in Europe so there are positives and negatives with it.
‘I think it would be very difficult otherwise to work this tournament. Having to go to Argentina, South Africa and Fiji in three weeks would have been very challenging. I’m not saying it was impossible, but I know that would have been challenging for every team.’
Townsend, however, expects Fiji to make it tough for Scotland even without home advantage. He added: ‘We saw how well they played in the first 20 minutes of the Wales game.
‘I know they’ve not played their best after that but that’s what we’re expecting this weekend.
‘We’re expecting the Fiji team to play like they played against us last summer — where they were excellent.’
