Gregor Townsend names 10 debutants in Scotland squad to face Canada

Gregor Townsend has named five uncapped players in his starting XV in Scotland’s first summer tour game against Canada and could feature up to 10 debutants by the end of the game on Saturday.

Edinburgh centre Matt Currie, wing Arron Reed and his Sale team-mate, scrum-half Gus Warr, second-rower Max Williamson and his Glasgow Warriors back-row team-mate Gregor Brown, all start the game at the TD Place Stadium, Ottawa.

Northampton hooker Robbie Smith, Glasgow prop Nathan McBeth, Leicester prop Will Hurd, Oyannax second row Ewan Johnson and Edinburgh wing Ross McCann will hope to make their debuts off the bench.

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Glasgow centre Stafford McDowall is named as co-captain alongside Edinburgh flanker Luke Crosbie, who led a Scotland A team, which also featured Currie, against Chile in 2022.

Reed and Manchester-born Warr, who qualifies for Scotland through his mother – she hails from Strathaven – have impressed for Sale this season, while wing Reed was involved in the Guinness Six Nations squad.

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Canada

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Williamson and Brown have been rewarded for their performances with the Warriors, who recently won the United Rugby Championship when they beat the Bulls 21-16 in the final in Pretoria, South Africa.

Fellow team-mates Jamie Dobie – selected on the wing – and fly-half Ross Thompson are also selected from the start.

Harry Paterson will make his second Scotland appearance at full-back, while Sharks’ hooker Dylan Richardson will start the match having previously made his Scotland debut in the back row against Japan at Scottish Gas Murrayfield in 2021.

He is joined in the front row by Rory Sutherland, the most-capped player in the starting line-up, along with Elliot Millar-Mills, who recently won the Gallagher Premiership with Northampton.

In the second row, Williamson is joined by Edinburgh’s Glen Young, who will make his third Scotland appearance, and in the back row, Bath’s Josh Bayliss will start at number eight along with Crosbie at openside and Brown on the blindside.

On the bench, Glasgow captain Kyle Steyn can offer experience along with Matt Fagerson and Edinburgh stand-off Ben Healy.

After taking on the Canadians in Ottawa, the Scots face the United States in Washington on July 12, then meet the challenge of Chile in Santiago on July 20 before finishing off the tour against Uruguay in Montevideo seven days later.