Townsend Narrows Scotland Rugby World Cup Squad
Following the insane comeback win over France at the weekend, Scotland Rugby head coach Gregor Townsend has reduced the current Rugby World Cup training squad to 37 ahead of the return fixture in St Etienne this weekend.
Centre Stafford McDowall, standoff Adam Hastings, lock Cameron Henderson and utility back Kyle Rowe have returned to their clubs ahead of the return match against France in St. Etienne next Saturday.
McDowall and Henderson probably suffered from a lack of experience while in Hastings and Rowe’s cases a lack of match sharpness following long injury layoffs probably denied them the chance to clearly state their case for inclusion. External factors probably played a part too – Ben Healy having a decent debut, and the retirement of Stuart Hogg and Blair Kinghorn looking utterly at home in the 15 shirt have cleared matters up in the back three considerably.
The final Rugby World Cup squad will be named on Wednesday 16 August when it will be cut down by a further four names to the allowed number of 33.
The result of the disciplinary hearing for Zander Fagerson’s red card – the first upgraded from in-game yellow under the new TMO review process – will also have a bearing on the squad who might need to face the Springbok front row without their first-choice tighthead. The need to keep an extra prop around for that game and beyond might impact on who gets cut from the back row, especially with any ban hopefully not extending the full group stage. It maybe depends on the level of trust in the other tightheads in the group.
The hearing is today (Tuesday) and hopefully World Rugby will not take all week to announce the outcome.
The back row is going to be the area that likely sees the most dramatic choices made. Will Mish’s reputation be enough to keep him on board? Has Bayliss done enough with a late try against Italy? If Toony needs props, will he have to chop two from a very talented group?
Also in the pack, questions persist at hooker. Turner is comfortably first choice but there are arguments for both retaining or dropping any of the other three names in contention.
In the backs, things are fairly settled with perhaps one scrum-half set to be dropped, but Ben White’s injury might again play havoc with selection plans if he’s 50/50. With players mostly only allowed to swap out for injury Townsend, may opt to keep White in squad with Dobie available if a like for like replacement is needed.
Probably we’re looking at a scrum-half, a hooker, and possibly a prop and a back row or two back rowers with a nervy week ahead…
Updated Scotland training squad (4 to be cut):
Props
Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow Warriors) 31 caps, Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) 59 caps, WP Nel (Edinburgh Rugby) 54 caps, Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh Rugby) 22 caps, Javan Sebastian (Edinburgh Rugby) 4 caps, Rory Sutherland (Unattached) 24 caps, Murphy Walker (Glasgow Warriors) 3 caps
Hookers
Ewan Ashman (Edinburgh Rugby) 8 caps, Dave Cherry (Edinburgh Rugby) 9 caps, Stuart McInally (Edinburgh Rugby) 48 caps, George Turner (Glasgow Warriors) 36 caps
Lock
Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors) 27 caps, Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby) 63 caps, Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors) 74 caps, Sam Skinner (Edinburgh Rugby) 26 caps
Back Row
Josh Bayliss (Bath Rugby) 4 caps, Luke Crosbie (Edinburgh Rugby) 5 caps, Rory Darge (Glasgow Warriors) 9 caps, Jack Dempsey (Glasgow Warriors) 10 caps, Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) 35 caps, Jamie Ritchie (Edinburgh Rugby, Captain) 41 caps, Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby) 58 caps
Scrum-half
Jamie Dobie (Glasgow Warriors) 2 cap, George Horne (Glasgow Warriors) 21 caps, Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) 62 caps, Ben White (RC Toulon) 15 caps
Standoff
Ben Healy (Edinburgh Rugby) 2 caps, Finn Russell (Bath Rugby) 70 caps
Centre
Chris Harris (Gloucester Rugby) 43 caps, Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors) 37 caps, Cameron Redpath (Bath Rugby) 7 caps, Sione Tuipulotu (Glasgow Warriors) 17 caps
Wing/Fullback/Utility
Darcy Graham (Edinburgh Rugby) 35 caps, Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh Rugby) 45 caps, Ollie Smith (Glasgow Warriors) 4 caps, Kyle Steyn (Glasgow Warriors) 11 caps, Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh Rugby) 29 caps
