Gregor Townsend keeps the faith in WP Nel

WP Nel may be turning 35 this year, but Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend believes the tighthead still has plenty to offer the national side.

Nel has been named in the starting line-up for today’s Round 4 Six Nations clash with Ireland at Murrayfield while regular starter Zander Fagerson is forced to sit out due to a ban.

It will be the first time Nel has started since the 2019 World Cup.

“I think he’s in great physical condition just now,” Townsend said. “There was a game in the autumn against Scarlets when he had to come on after 5-10 minutes after having trained with us during the week, and he got man of the match. Getting the man of the match at 35 years old is going some.

“But there’s a lot more to come from WP. When you play tighthead prop age becomes something that helps you because you come across various looseheads and types of scrums that you know how to scrum against. But you’ve got to make sure that you look after yourself physically and keep performing at the highest level, and WP is doing that.

“He trains at a high level, and he loves his scrum sessions. He gets to 95 to 100 per cent of his match speed in almost every session.

“So as much as we’ll miss not having Zander, who’s been outstanding over the last couple of seasons and brings so much to our forward pack, having WP there - and Simon Berghan, who’s been in really good form – gives us two very good replacements.”