Finn Russell will not feature in Scotland’s opening Nations Championship match of the summer series against Argentina.

But Russell could feature next time out against South Africa, says head coach Gregor Townsend, who welcomes back Jonny Gray.

Fly-half Russell, 33, has not fully recovered from the calf injury that kept him out of the latter part of Bath’s domestic campaign and was not considered for the match at Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes in Cordoba on Saturday (20:10 BST).

The Scots face the Springboks in Pretoria on 11 July, then Fiji at Murrayfield on 18 July.

Tom Jordan starts at 10 in Russell’s absence against Argentina, with Fergus Burke among the replacements.

Townsend said: “We’re blessed with the 10s that we have on this tour. Tom’s played all season, really, at 10. He’s a Test match animal. He brings so much energy. He’s able to bring his own game when he plays for Scotland.

“Fergus Burke on the bench has probably been the form 10 in England over the last two months of the season. He’s in great physical shape. He’s full of confidence so we expect him to play a part at the weekend too.”

Gray returns against the Pumas, having missed this year’s Six Nations, while fellow lock Scott Cummings, 29, and prop Pierre Schoeman, 32, will win their 50th caps.

“Great for [Jonny Gray] to be back in the squad,” said Townsend. “Since his move to Perpignan, he’s played very well so his form’s been rewarded with this opportunity. It’s nice obviously nice that him and Scott Cummings are playing together.

“Jonny was at Glasgow when Scott came through as an 18-year-old. It will be great to see them both back int he second row again.”

The starting XV in Cordoba shows eight personnel changes to the team that finished the Six Nations with defeat to Ireland in Dublin in mid-March.

Full-back Kyle Rowe, centre Rory Hutchinson, wing Jamie Dobie, fly-half Jordan, hooker George Turner, prop Elliot Millar-Mills and Cummings are the players joining Gray in coming in to the side.

Kyle Steyn moves from left to right wing to accommodate Dobie. Prop Zander Fagerson and wing Darcy Graham, who started in Dublin, drop to the bench and fellow replacement Gregor Hiddleston could make his Scotland debut.

Scotland have lost two of their past three meetings with Argentina, most recently last November when they blew a 21-0 lead to suffer a 33-24 defeat at Murrayfield.

“We’ll have to gel quickly,” Townsend said.

“It’s our first game since we played in Dublin. We’ve got a lot of evidence in the Six Nations and November that when we get our game in place in attack and defence, we can cause problems to any team in world rugby and do more than that, convert opportunities.

“I believe that our squad now is much deeper and we use that bench to continue what the starters are doing or actually raise the energy.”

Scotland: Rowe, Steyn, Hutchinson, Tuipulotu (capt), Dobie, Jordan, White; Schoeman, Ashman, Millar-Mills, Gray, Cummings, M Fagerson, Darge, Dempsey.

Replacements: Hiddleston, Sutherland, Z Fagerson, Samuel, Brown, Horne, Burke, Graham.