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Only three uncapped players in strong Scotland squad for July tour

Fergus Burke of Saracens runs out prior to the kick off during the Gallagher Premiership Rugby match between Harlequins and Saracens at The Stoop on October 13, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Gaspafotos/MB Media/Getty Images)

Gregor Townsend has not opted to experiment with his squad ahead of their tour of the Pacific in July, only naming three uncapped players in his 36-man squad.

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A year after naming 10 uncapped players in his squad for their tour of the Americas, Townsend has refrained this year, despite being short of eight of his regulars who have been selected for the British and Irish Lions.

All three of his uncapped players – Saracens’ Fergus Burke, Soyaux Angoulême XV Charente No.8 Alexander Masibaka and Glasgow Warriors tighthead prop Fin Richardson – have been involved in Scotland camps, with the prop represented Scotland A in November.

Harlequins-bound George Turner has returned to the squad following a stint in Japan, while Andy Onyeama-Christie has been selected again after overcoming a gruesome ankle injury.

Fixture
Internationals
Fiji
22:00
11 Jul 25
Scotland
All Stats and Data

The squad, led by flanker Rory Darge, will take on the Maori All Blacks, Fiji and Samoa in July.

“All three games will be big challenges, they’re going to be physical challenges,” Townsend said. “We’re going to play against dynamic, powerful players that want to move the ball around. So a real test for our defence, but an opportunity for us to bring our strengths too.”

With Scotland placed only two places ahead of Fiji in the world rankings, Townsend said: “This more is even more relevant as the World Cup draw gets made after the November Tests, so we have two campaigns now to make sure we’re as higher placed as possible to give ourselves a draw where we’re seeded in the top six.”

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Scotland squad
Backs (15)
Fergus Burke – Saracens (uncapped)
Matt Currie – Edinburgh Rugby (4)
Jamie Dobie – Glasgow Warriors (12)
Darcy Graham – Edinburgh Rugby (46)
Adam Hastings – Glasgow Warriors (32)
George Horne – Glasgow Warriors (36)
Tom Jordan – Glasgow Warriors (8)
Cameron Redpath – Bath Rugby (14)
Stafford McDowall – Glasgow Warriors (13)
Harry Paterson – Edinburgh Rugby (3)
Arron Reed – Sale Sharks (3)
Kyle Rowe – Glasgow Warriors (12)
Ollie Smith – Glasgow Warriors (9)
Kyle Steyn – Glasgow Warriors (23)
Ben White – Toulon (29)

Forwards (21)
Ewan Ashman – Edinburgh Rugby (27)
Josh Bayliss – Bath Rugby (10)
Gregor Brown – Glasgow Warriors (9)
Matt Fagerson – Glasgow Warriors (55)
Rory Darge (c) – Glasgow Warriors (30)
Grant Gilchrist – Edinburgh Rugby (80)
Patrick Harrison – Edinburgh Rugby (3)
Cameron Henderson – Leicester Tigers (1)
Alec Hepburn – Scarlets (4)
Will Hurd – Leicester Tigers (8)
Alexander Masibaka –Soyaux Angoulême XV Charente (uncapped)
Nathan McBeth – Glasgow Warriors (2)
Elliot Millar Mills – Northampton Saints (7)
Ben Muncaster – Edinburgh Rugby (2)
Andy Onyeama-Christie – Saracens (8)
Fin Richardson – Glasgow Warriors (uncapped)
Jamie Ritchie – Edinburgh Rugby (59)
Rory Sutherland – Glasgow Warriors (41)
Marshall Sykes – Edinburgh Rugby (2)
George Turner – Kobelco Kobe Steelers (45)
Max Williamson – Glasgow Warriors (6)

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Comments

1 Comment
G
GP 8 days ago

Great to see former Canterbury and Crusaders 10 Fergus Burke, ( now playing for Saracens), get in the Scotland squad. I rate Fergus highly as a footballer and he is a good guy as well. May well play against some of his team mates when he comes out here.

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f
fl 2 hours ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

I ultimately don’t care who the best club team in the world is, so yeah, lets agree to disagree on that.


I would appreciate clarity on a couple of things though:

Where did I contradict myself?

Saying “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” is entirely compatible with ranking a team as the best - over an extended period - when they have won more games and made more finals than other comparable teams. It would be contradictory for me to say “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” and then completely ignore Leinster record of winning games and making finals.


“You can get frustrated and say I am not reading what you write, but when you quote me, then your first line is to say thats true (what I wrote), but by the end of the paragraph have stated something different, thats where you contradict yourself.”

What you said (that I think trophies matter) is true, in that I said “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.”. Do you understand that Leinster won more games and made more finals than any other (URC-based) team did under the period under consideration?


“Pointless comparison on Blackburn and Tottenham to this discussion as no-one includes them on a list of the best club. I would say that Blackburns title season was better than anything Tottenham have done in the Premier League. My reference to the league was that the team who finished second over two seasons are not better than the two other teams who did win the league each time. One of the best - of course, but not the best, which is relevant to my point here about Leinster, not comparing teams who won 30 years ago against a team that never won.”

I really don’t understand why you would think that this is irrelevant. You seem to be saying that winning trophies is the only thing that matters when assessing who is the best, but doesn’t matter at all when assessing who is 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.


“What I referred to in my Leinster wouldn’t say the were the best is your post earlier where you said Leinster were the best overall. You said that in two separate posts. Seasons dont work like that, they are individual. Unless the same team keeps winning then you can say they were the best over a period of time and group them, but thats not the case here.”

Well then we’ve just been talking at cross purposes. In that my position (that Leinster were the best team overall in 2022-2024) was pretty clear, and you just decided to respond to a different point (whether Leinster were the best team individually in particular years) essentially making the entire discussion completely pointless. I guess if you think that trophies are the only thing that matters then it makes sense to see the season as an individual event that culminates in a trophy (or not), whereas because I believe that trophies matter a lot, but that so does winning matches and making finals, it makes it easier for me to consider quality over an extended period.

24 Go to comments
M
MT 2 hours ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

As I said in one of my first replies to you - we can agree to disagree. If you want to leave it no problem. I completely disagree with your ranking of Leinster as the best team in the world. Now you have said you will change it if Bordeaux win the Top 14. Well as Leinster themselves prioritise the CC over the URC and Bordeaux won the CC, how are they not ranked higher by you? Are Leinster one of the best teams, yeah - never said they weren’t. But not the very best team, as the very best team have trophies to show for their seasons. They matter when you discuss the very best.


You can get frustrated and say I am not reading what you write, but when you quote me, then your first line is to say thats true (what I wrote), but by the end of the paragraph have stated something different, thats where you contradict yourself. Just so we are clear, you said you would too on my statement that I would rather be a fan of a team that won a trophy over the three seasons, but end the paragraph saying you would rather be a fan of the team that won the most matches but didn’t win a trophy. Both cant be true. Thats one example of where you contradict yourself.


Pointless comparison on Blackburn and Tottenham to this discussion as no-one includes them on a list of the best club. I would say that Blackburns title season was better than anything Tottenham have done in the Premier League. My reference to the league was that the team who finished second over two seasons are not better than the two other teams who did win the league each time. One of the best - of course, but not the best, which is relevant to my point here about Leinster, not comparing teams who won 30 years ago against a team that never won.


What I referred to in my Leinster wouldn’t say the were the best is your post earlier where you said Leinster were the best overall. You said that in two separate posts. Seasons dont work like that, they are individual. Unless the same team keeps winning then you can say they were the best over a period of time and group them, but thats not the case here.

24 Go to comments
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