Townsend will not have Rory Darge or Kyle Steyn for this one, both are injured and will now disappear for some well-earned rest at the end of what must have felt like two seasons rolled into one.
The coach has promised changes but past experience will have taught him to approach Fiji with caution.
Given the depth in Scotland’s squad these days, those alterations don’t come with a whole lot of risk, though. It is not as if Townsend would be bringing in kids.
There might, for instance, be the return of Scotland’s greatest-ever wing combination – in terms of tries.
There was a time, a blink of an eye ago, when Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham were certainties to start in every big Test. Now they are playing second fiddle to Kyle Rowe and Kyle Steyn.
Van der Merwe, with his injuries and his general lack of form, has been miles off it. Times have changed dramatically.
Gregor Hiddleston, so dynamic off the bench against the Boks, will surely start. Max Williamson was immense when he made his appearance in Pretoria.
Williamson’s breakthrough game at this level was against South Africa at Murrayfield two years ago and Saturday’s battle might be deemed his comeback game, after a quiet enough season.
Townsend might be missing Darge but he’s got other likely lads to turn to – Liam McConnell at six and Freddy Douglas at seven. Both should make it into the 23. Scotland will look very different against Fiji, but it should still look like an impressive team.
Dalziel is respectful of Fiji, as he must be.
“I think we’ve all seen Fiji over the last couple of years as a team that got very far in the last World Cup and that have beaten us,” he said.
“They beat us over in Fiji last year, by a decent margin as well. We had a few players away [with the Lions] but we know their quality.
“They’ll be disappointed that their game didn’t click last week against England, but we haven’t seen many performances like that from them, so we’re fully ready for a backlash.”
