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Scotland captain still undecided as Townsend waits on fitness battle
Gregor Townsend revealed he is still to decide whether Jamie Ritchie will captain Scotland for the upcoming Six Nations as the Edinburgh back-rower bids to prove his form and fitness ahead of the tournament.
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The 27-year-old flanker has led the national team since succeeding Stuart Hogg in the role for the 2022 summer tour of South America but has been hindered by injury since the World Cup last autumn.
It was notable when Townsend announced his 39-man squad for the tournament on Tuesday afternoon that nobody was listed as skipper.
Ritchie was sidelined for a month after the World Cup due to a shoulder injury sustained in the first half of the pool-stage defeat by Ireland in October. After returning in mid-November for six Edinburgh matches, the back-rower suffered a jaw injury in the win over Glasgow on 30 December.
Ritchie is due to return in Friday’s United Rugby Championship match away to Scarlets but, with intense competition among the Scotland flankers, Townsend indicated that he has a fight on his hands to ensure he starts the opening match away to Wales with the armband.
“Jamie’s got a challenge this week,” said Townsend. “I believe he’s going to be fit and available to play which is a bonus and he’s just got to put his best foot forward in the game on Friday night.
“He’ll be one of the favourites to be captain, but we’ll leave that decision until after the weekend.”
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Glasgow back-rower Rory Darge has been named in the squad despite a knee injury that could keep him out until the end of February.
“Friday will be the three-week mark since his injury and a series of tests will be conducted then so we’ll have a clearer picture of whether he has a chance for the opening couple of weekends, and let’s hope that’s the case,” said Townsend.
Former England prop Alec Hepburn is one of four uncapped players in the squad. The 29-year Exeter loosehead, who won six caps under Eddie Jones in 2018, has completed his three-year stand-down period to switch allegiance to the nation of his father’s birth.
“He’s a very good player,” said Townsend. “I spoke to him about 18 months ago and had a couple of really good conversations with him but at that time he wasn’t prepared to commit to Scotland.
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“But he’s always spoken about playing for Scotland and things have opened up for him now with the new law change.
“I’ve been really impressed with him the last two weeks. I was down at Exeter’s game against Northampton and he played really well off the bench and then he played very well at the weekend there against Glasgow.”
Leicester tighthead Will Hurd, Sale winger Arron Reed – both 24 – and 22-year-old Edinburgh back Harry Paterson are the other three new additions to Townsend’s squad.
Northampton back Rory Hutchinson, Edinburgh lock Glen Young, Gloucester stand-off Adam Hastings, Bath back-rower Josh Bayliss, and Glasgow backs Kyle Rowe and Stafford McDowall are among those who have been added who did not go to the World Cup.
The most notable absentees from the squad are experienced trio Hamish Watson, Rory Sutherland and Chris Harris – all of whom played for the British and Irish Lions in South Africa in 2021 – as well as hooker Dave Cherry, who departed the World Cup squad in September after falling down stairs at the team hotel in Nice on a day off.
Comments on RugbyPass
Big empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
34 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
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