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Six Nations

Gregor Townsend backs Warriors as big guns miss out for Scotland

British and Irish Lions' Blair Kinghorn (C) talks to his teammate Duhan Van Der Merwe during the Captain’s Run in Brisbane on July 1, 2025, ahead of the team's rugby match against the Queensland Reds. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)

Gregor Townsend has selected 14 players from the in-form Glasgow Warriors to take on Italy in round one of the Guinness Six Nations on Saturday in Rome.

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With the Warriors sitting at the top of the United Rugby Championship ladder and unbeaten in the Investec Champions Cup, Townsend has turned to those from Glasgow across the field at the expense of some Scottish stalwarts.

Kyle Steyn and Jamie Dobie have both been given the nod on the wing, meaning Darcy Graham has to settle for the bench and his Edinburgh team-mate Duhan van der Merwe has missed out entirely as he searches for form.

VIDEO

A fellow British & Irish Lions tourist last year, Toulouse’s Blair Kinghorn, has also missed out, with Bristol Bears’ Tom Jordan being preferred at full-back.

Pierre Schoeman, Ewan Ashman and Grant Gilchrist are the three forwards who have not hailed from Scotstoun.

Fixture
Six Nations
Italy
18 - 15
Full-time
Scotland
All Stats and Data

Scotland XV
15. Tom Jordan – Bristol Bears (12)
14. Kyle Steyn – Glasgow Warriors (28)
13. Huw Jones – Glasgow Warriors (58)
12. Sione Tuipulotu – Glasgow Warriors (33) – Captain
11. Jamie Dobie – Glasgow Warriors (17)
10. Finn Russell – Bath Rugby (89) – Vice-Captain
9. Ben White – Toulon (31)
1. Pierre Schoeman – Edinburgh Rugby (44)
2. Ewan Ashman – Edinburgh Rugby (32)
3. Zander Fagerson – Glasgow Warriors (76)
4. Scott Cummings – Glasgow Warriors (45)
5. Grant Gilchrist – Edinburgh Rugby (84)
6. Matt Fagerson – Glasgow Warriors (59)
7. Rory Darge – Glasgow Warriors (34) – Vice-Captain
8. Jack Dempsey -–Glasgow Warriors (29)

Replacements
16. George Turner – Harlequins (50)
17. Nathan McBeth – Glasgow Warriors (5)
18. Elliot Millar Mills – Northampton Saints (11)
19. Max Williamson – Glasgow Warriors (9)
20. Gregor Brown – Glasgow Warriors (12)
21. George Horne – Glasgow Warriors (40)
22. Adam Hastings – Glasgow Warriors (35)
23. Darcy Graham – Edinburgh Rugby (50)

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Related

'The most Scottish thing we could do this year... a horrible mentality'

Former Scotland captain Andy Nicol has said that there is no evidence to suggest Scotland can look beyond Italy in round one of the Guinness Six Nations amid talk of them being in title contention. 

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Comments

1 Comment
E
Eric Elwood 45 days ago

First match for Scotland, It makes sense to go for ‘greater than sum of the parts’ cohesion over strictly best player per position. That means cohesion established early and other players can be added to strenghten the collective as the tournament progresses.

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Comments on RugbyPass

L
Ludovici 9 minutes ago
Jeff Wilson on why Ardie Savea must fill All Blacks bench role

Love it, everyone following the Springboks recipe.

3 Go to comments
H
Hammer Head 11 minutes ago
Johann Ackermann's Bulls gore Cardiff in Pretoria

Nah. Just straight up the middle, garden variety, kants.

11 Go to comments
I
Icefarrow 1 hour ago
Wallabies appoint former All Blacks defence coach as assistant

Wallabies going all out on ex-NZ coaches. Must be desperate to end their losing streak against us. Kidding, good appointment though.

1 Go to comments
I
Icefarrow 1 hour ago
Jeff Wilson on why Ardie Savea must fill All Blacks bench role

We don’t need a 6-2 split. Almost every team we’ve beaten in the past two years went with one, and lost. It doesn’t add the impact many think it does. And why would you want a playmaker like Christie to come on and slow down the game? You need pace in the last twenty, in which case Hotham is your man.

3 Go to comments
B
BH 1 hour ago
Elliot Dixon: 'When I got to the line, I knew the ball had landed on the boot'

Great read. Dixon was a champ of a player.

All a try needs is to touch a single blade of grass. It did. So the try was awarded and history was made.



...

1 Go to comments
c
cnw 2 hours ago
Jeff Wilson on why Ardie Savea must fill All Blacks bench role

I like the thought process. Thats a powerful bench. Would like to see the starting bench to see how the spread of mass works. Curious too about how he would use this bench. I dont know that it is the last 20 thats key. If the Bok game in Wellington, the Autumn series and the 6N is anything to go by - the key period for momentum is between minute 30 and minute 65. It seems teams are playing a super high intensity first 25-30 minutes and the team that can keep accelerator down from minute 30 through to 65 will take control of the game. While orthodoxy suggests a 50 / 30 split - reversing that and going 30 / 50 so the ABs get say Sititi or Lakai going mad for the first 30 and Ardie comes on minute 30 could do exactly that while having him on the field in the finish too.

3 Go to comments
J
Jono 4 hours ago
Petaia et Perpignan : pourquoi ça ne prend pas

Une analyse sévère qui passe complètement à côté de l'essentiel. Petaia a débarqué dans un club en plein chaos et a été tranquillement l'un des joueurs les plus fiables de l'effectif dans les domaines qui comptent vraiment — son travail défensif a été le meilleur de l'équipe, son jeu au pied levé est de classe mondiale, et juger un arrière uniquement sur le nombre d'essais dans une équipe qui peine à produire du jeu vers l'avant est une analyse paresseuse.

Zéro essai ne veut pas dire zéro contribution. Regardez ce qu'il fait dans les phases de construction, les passes décisives, le travail qui met ses coéquipiers à l'essai. Rien de tout cela n'apparaît dans les statistiques.



...

1 Go to comments
J
JW 4 hours ago
The five performers of the week from Super Rugby Pacific round six

I think you need to give Brumbies their due, they’ll push the top four this year and continue to be a threat at home.

7 Go to comments
J
JW 4 hours ago
The five performers of the week from Super Rugby Pacific round six

He’s a lot smaller than Parker, two different styled 6/8’s, so depends what you’re after.

7 Go to comments
S
Spew_81 4 hours ago
Jamie Joseph’s simple take on where the Highlanders are struggling

I thought that Kidwell would prepare a better defense.

10 Go to comments
J
JW 4 hours ago
Jamie Joseph’s simple take on where the Highlanders are struggling

Thats the Canes third 50 the thing to stand out of this game was their defense, or at least the lack of points conceded.

That scoreline partly to blame with what Joseph about not staying calm when getting behind. I think they did make it worse for themselves and this is represented in what you highlighted with the amount of errors/handling. If they hold onto the ball and score then you are also not seeing one or two, maybe even three, of those Canes tries, so upto four try swing in that one area alone.



...

10 Go to comments
J
JW 5 hours ago
Damian McKenzie weighs in on NZR's approach to eligibility after departures

Thats what he’s describing happens now.

11 Go to comments
J
JW 5 hours ago
Damian McKenzie weighs in on NZR's approach to eligibility after departures



How about if you don’t think they will fit back in then don’t pick them.

But now you’re having to pick someone who wasn’t as good as DMac when he needed to play in SR.



...

11 Go to comments
E
Ed the Duck 5 hours ago
'There's always a lot of chat with them. They're quite mouthy'

“There’s always a lot of chat with them. They’re quite mouthy.”

Arrogant team. Arrogant players. Arrogant fans.



...

4 Go to comments
J
John Breslin 5 hours ago
What The Rugby Championship needs to do to rival the Six Nations

Yep. Japan in 2015 - still the only team to win 3 pool games and not progress. Shafted by the scheduling

Tonga beat France in 2011 but still got trapped in the pool, scheduling didn't exactly help them



...

61 Go to comments
N
NH 5 hours ago
Aussie Super Rugby takes: Don't doubt the Brumbies, Hurricanes the joker in the pack

Nice one john, i made a similar point elsewhere about the table and the run the brumbies vs the canes have had. Brumbies will need to make sure they don’t get complacent and bank their next few games which are against bottom 6 teams. Impressed with reds D and composure in fiji where they usually come unstuck. I thought the forwards in particular looked fit and hungry in D, plugging any gaps the drua tried to find. Hunter and Henry firming as a very solid partnership, hunter had a number of key involvements in that 2nd half. Only real blip was their exit kicking, drua had a bunch of attacking lineouts 25-30m out, it was just lucky for the reds they were able to disrupt their lineout. Almost all kickers seemed to shank the ball i assume because it was so wet, with it coming off the side of their boot. Drua much better at knowing to just hoof it as far as you can down the other end. HMP realised this in the second half.

1 Go to comments
J
John Breslin 5 hours ago
Ben Kay: 'I’d put my money on Ollie Chessum being the next England captain.'

He's a humble big lad and Leinster, the humble heroes, got humbled on the day

It's fine. It happens in sport. Still only March. Fear not, Ed - he'll be there when they're giving out the prizes 👌



...

62 Go to comments
D
DC 6 hours ago
Jamie Joseph’s simple take on where the Highlanders are struggling

injuries and player selection thats where a player pool would be helpful jamie is a good coach and the highlanders have played quite well in some games but almost lack the finishing tough

10 Go to comments
G
GS 6 hours ago
Damian McKenzie weighs in on NZR's approach to eligibility after departures

Just looking at how some of the players who are leaving, you would think:

AJ Lam



...

11 Go to comments
B
Bazzallina 6 hours ago
Damian McKenzie weighs in on NZR's approach to eligibility after departures

75 tests and or 150 combined Super and or NPC games

11 Go to comments
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