Gregor Townsend has challenged his Scotland A side to use Friday’s match with Tonga as an opportunity to force themselves into the full squad for the November tests.

The match will be played at Netherdale, Galashiels and the SRU have confirmed that admission will be free to see the IRB Nations Cup champions take on the big hitting south-sea islanders.

And Scotland attack coach Townsend, who won 82 international caps, is tipping the hosts to put on a show.

He said: “This is a really important game for the Scotland A players to stake a claim for the Scotland game against Argentina at Murrayfield the following week.

“We’ve great strength in depth in a number of positions and it will be fascinating to see our players get that opportunity to play at that level.

“The Border crowd are in for a high quality international match and I’m sure they’ll give both teams a rousing welcome.”