Head Coach Vern Cotter named uncapped props Zander Fagerson and Rory Sutherland in a 35-man Scotland squad for the 2016 RBS 6 Nations.
Glasgow Warriors’ tighthead prop Fagerson turned 20 yesterday (Tuesday 19 January) meaning he could become the 4th youngest prop in Scottish history, and the youngest to represent Scotland for more than half a century (since Bill Black debuted against France at Murrayfield 1948).
Fellow propping prospect Sutherland (23) plies his trade at the opposite end of the M8 and earns selection through his increasingly impressive showings for Edinburgh since signing from Gala last season.
The young pair are among 4 changes to Scotland’s front row options originally named for Rugby World Cup 2015, with 29-times capped Exeter Chiefs tighthead, Moray Low, and 6-times capped Glasgow Warriors hooker, Pat MacArthur, earning selection for the 1st time since the summer of 2014.
Scotland Head Coach Vern Cotter, said: “We’ve selected a mixture of experience with some exciting young players coming through, some of whom have experienced the Rugby World Cup and are eager to move forward, take the RBS 6 Nations head on and show that we can develop our game and be competitive.”
“I think there should be confidence. The guys have worked hard and improved. There are positive signs that we can compete, and this Championship will give us another opportunity to measure ourselves against very good opposition in a tough competition.
“The guys believe that we can compete, dominate and secure victories in these games.”
Some 23 players capped during Rugby World Cup 2015 have earned reselection – 6 missing out, at this juncture, through injury (Fraser Brown, Grant Gilchrist, Henry Pyrgos, Jon Welsh, Richie Vernon) and retirement (Alasdair Strokosch) – while Cotter has rewarded the form of loose forwards John Barclay (Scarlets), Adam Ashe and Chris Fusaro (both Glasgow Warriors), and versatile Wasps back Ruaridh Jackson, with selection.
Other notable inclusions see centres Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors) and Duncan Taylor (Saracens) recover from the injuries that ruled them out of last year’s international opportunities, despite winning Guinness PRO12 and English Premiership titles respectively.
Scotland will once again be captained by Gloucester scrumhalf Greig Laidlaw, who requires the same number of appearances (4) to mark a half-century caps and to equal David Sole’s record as most-times as Scotland captain (25).
Lock Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh) and scrumhalf Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors) have been invited to train with the squad when it convenes for a pre-Championship camp in St Andrews this Sunday, before returning to their clubs to continue their recovery from groin and wrist injuries respectively.
Scotland’s RBS 6 Nations campaign gets underway with the sold-out fixture against England at BT Murrayfield on Saturday 6 February (kick-off 16:50 UK Time) – live on BBC.
SCOTLAND SQUAD FOR THE 2016 RBS 6 NATIONS:
Forwards:
Hooker
- Ross Ford (Edinburgh) – 94 caps
- Pat MacArthur (Glasgow Warriors) – 6 caps
- Stuart McInally (Edinburgh) – 2 caps
Props
- Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh) – 52 caps
- Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – uncapped
- Moray Low (Exeter Chiefs) – 29 caps
- WP Nel (Edinburgh) – 8 caps
- Gordon Reid (Glasgow Warriors) – 15 caps
- Rory Sutherland (Edinburgh) – uncapped
Lock
- Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) – 19 caps
- Richie Gray (Castres) – 51 caps
- Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors) – 17 caps
- Ben Toolis (Edinburgh) – 1 cap
Loose Forwards
- Adam Ashe (Glasgow Warriors) – 6 caps
- John Barclay (Scarlets) – 45 caps
- Blair Cowan (London Irish) – 15 caps
- David Denton (Bath) – 32 caps
- Chris Fusaro (Glasgow Warriors) – 4 caps
- John Hardie (Edinburgh) – 5 caps
- Josh Strauss (Glasgow Warriors) – 5 caps
Backs:
Scrumhalf
- Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Edinburgh) – 8 caps
- Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN (Gloucester) – 46 caps
Flyhalf
- Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors) – 15 caps
- Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors) – 21 caps
Centre
- Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors) – 13 caps
- Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors) – 14 caps
- Peter Horne (Glasgow Warriors) – 15 caps
- Matt Scott (Edinburgh) – 33 caps
- Duncan Taylor (Saracens) – 12 caps
Wing
- Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors) – 101 caps
- Sean Maitland (London Irish) – 20 caps
- Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) – 22 caps
- Tim Visser (Harlequins) – 23 caps
Fullback
- Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors) – 38 caps
- Ruaridh Jackson (Wasps) – 27 caps
Head Coach Vern Cotter discussing the Squad:
thescotlandteam
Congratulations to Zander Fagerson and Rory Sutherland on their first call ups. Zander is really good for such a young tighthead prop is a hard worker and quite mobile and is getting stronger all the time in the scrums, just hope they are not pushing him too quickly only turned 20 yesterday, but he has already played 22 games for Glasgow Warriors, starting in 6 of them. With WP Nel and Moray Low there they should be the regular match day choices and maybe this will be more about Fagerson learning and getting used to the national set up and maybe getting a game or two from the bench, unless there are injuries. Pity Jon Welsh who is now with Newcastle got injured as he would probably have made the squad.
Quite a lot of players that are in the squad were listed as injured last weekend they must be expecting them to be fit for the 6 Nations, although the problem is that they may not be match fit. Particular concern must be at wing where Tommy Seymour missed Glasgow’s game against Northampton due to knee/hamstring injury. Harlequins Tim Visser is injured and may be out a while yet and apparently Sean Maitland is also injured. Two centres also injured – Peter Horne (foot) and Mark Bennett (shoulder) although with Matt Scott, Duncan Taylor and Alex Dunbar there this is position of strength for Scotland, only concern would be around match fitness of Dunbar who returned from injury last weekend but he should play this weekend against Racing so will gain a bit more there. Josh Strauss was still out last weekend after picking up concussion a few weeks before.
They will also be sweating on the disciplinary hearing of lock Tim Swinson today, if he gets a lengthy ban it will makes this difficult as lock could also be a problem with Grant Gilchrist coming back from long term injury, not sure what the status is with Gilchrist as he is listed as training with the squad but don’t know how much physical training this will involve. If Swinson is out then maybe Ben’s twin brother Alex Toolis will get a call up.
CJ Stander is in Ireland 6 Nations squad. Rory Best is the captain of it.
This is all about Europe rugby. What about local rugby.
All the warm-up matches leading up to the expanded 18-team tournament.
Friday, 29 January
Kings vs NMMU (NMMU, Port Elizabeth, Kick-off: TBC)
Saturday, 30 January
Stormers vs SWD Eagles (Venue TBC, Kick-off: TBC)
Wednesday, 3 February
Force vs Hurricanes (Central Coast Stadium, Gosford, Kick-off: 09:50 SA time)
Thursday, 4 February
Blues vs Rebels (Pakuranga Rugby Club, Auckland, Kick-off: 6:30 SA time)
Friday, 5 February
Toulon vs Sharks (Stade Mayol, Toulon, Kick-off: TBC)
Saturday, 6 February
Reds vs Crusaders (Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane, Kick-off: 11:30 SA time)
Waratahs vs Brumbies (McDonalds Park, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, 10:00 SA time)
Highlanders vs Racing 92 (Siu Sai Wan Stadium, Hong Kong, Kick-off: TBC)
Bulls vs Cheetahs (Harare, Zimbabwe, Kick-off: 17:00)
Lions vs Leopards & Valke (Venue TBC, Kick-off: TBC)
Kings vs Stormers (George, Kick-off: TBC)
Thursday, 11 February
Toulouse vs Sharks (Le Stade Toulousain, Toulouse, Kick-off: TBC)
Highlanders vs Crusaders (Fred Booth Park, Waimamu, Kick-off: 7:00 SA time)
Friday, 12 February
Reds vs Brumbies (Ballymore, Brisbane, Kick-off: 11:30 SA time)
Chiefs vs Waratahs (Rotorua International Stadium, Rotorua, Kick-off: 4:00 SA time)
Kings vs Cheetahs (Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth, Kick-off: 19:00)
Saturday, 13 February
Force vs Asia Pacific Dragons (nib Stadium, Perth, Kick-off: TBC)
Blues vs Hurricanes (Eketahuna Rugby Club, Eketahuna, Kick-off: TBC)
Bulls vs Lions (Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane, 17:00)
Thursday, 18 February
Rebels vs Manu Samoa (AAMI Park, Melbourne, 09:30 SA time)
Friday, 19 February
Crusaders vs Hurricanes (Lansdowne Park, Blenheim, New Zealand, Kick-off: 5:30 SA time)
Highlanders vs Waratahs (Queenstown Recreation Ground, Queenstown, New Zealand, Kick-off: 7:00 SA time)
Chiefs vs Blues (Pukekohe, New Zealand, Kick-off: TBC)
Lions vs Jaguars (Ellis Park, Johannesburg, Kick-off: TBC)
4 @ dWeePer:
Hi dWeePer yeah quite right, was thinking yesterday that it was time to try and get some Super Rugby news up again, thing is do this on a voluntary part time basis in between family and work commitments and as am based up north have tended to post mostly about some of the happenings up here with the other content covered by the others. Am sure once our webmonster gets back to things from a well earned break the news will follow more freely. Will try and get some news from the Southern Hemisphere up later. However, please keep on putting up/discussing developments down there in the comments, much appreciated.
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