Scotland scrum-half Henry Pyrgos has said that he is not surprised at being named captain for his country's Rugby World Cup warm-up game against Ireland.
The Glasgow Warriors nine will lead a group of fringe players and youngsters when they face off against Ireland, who trounced Wales last week, in Dublin on Saturday.
"I don't know about surprised," Pyrgos told reporters. "I've had opportunities with Glasgow a few times. It's been mentioned. I've been put in this position in training a few times."
Pyrgos replaces fellow scrum-half and Six Nations captain Greig Laidlaw, while positional rival Sam Hidalgo-Clyne will start on the bench.
"It's how it's going to go - Greig's been starting and Sam's come off the bench," said Pyrgos when asked about the scrum-half competition. "I won the Pro12, but I wasn't there with Scotland.
"Ultimately, we're probably all starting from scratch at the moment - the competition in training's pretty fierce."
Cotter will name his lineup for Saturday's fixture on Thursday.
Calum Gillon
