Gregor Townsend concedes it will be more difficult for Scotland’s fringe players to break into his plans with the World Cup only a year away, after naming just five Edinburgh players in his Nations Championship squad.
Nineteen Glasgow Warriors players feature in the 37-man selection, while Newcastle back-rower Ollie Leatherbarrow is the only uncapped member of the group. He has earned his first call-up for fixtures against New Zealand, Australia, Japan and a subsequent finals play-off in London.
Edinburgh have made an impressive start to the campaign and lead the United Rugby Championship after winning all four of their matches. However, experienced forwards Grant Gilchrist and Magnus Bradbury have been overlooked, as have emerging talents Freddie Douglas, Ollie Blyth-Lafferty and Hector Patterson.
Duhan van der Merwe has been included despite his ongoing injury problems. Glasgow’s New Zealand-born full-back Josh McKay, who is now eligible through residency, has not been selected at this stage but could be added later in the series.
Townsend says he has been encouraged by Edinburgh’s resurgence but believes he must remain loyal to the players who have delivered consistently for him over recent seasons.
With no autumn Test against a lower-ranked opponent such as Portugal or the USA, and the World Cup now just 12 months away, Scotland’s head coach feels the emphasis has shifted away from experimentation.
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has overlooked several in-form Edinburgh players
He said: ‘It’s been great to see the young guys at Edinburgh performing so well. But breaking into the national team is more difficult when you have a settled squad. We had a good season and there aren’t many changes from the summer.
‘The players coming back in — Jamie Ritchie, Blair Kinghorn and Huw Jones — are all 50-plus-cap internationals who have performed extremely well for us in the past. We want our strongest squad competing for places ahead of the New Zealand and Australia matches, while also putting themselves forward for the World Cup.
‘We’ve spent a lot of time building depth and using tours to assess different players. We also usually have a fourth game in the November series against a team outside the top 10. That has changed now. These are quality sides. I don’t think there will be much experimenting; it will be about managing the group.
‘Now we have to build on the cohesion the players are showing so we can go to the World Cup with a settled squad. You would have to ask which Glasgow players should be left out to make room for players from other teams. This group has been settled for a reason.
‘The cohesion that comes from players regularly playing together also makes things easier for the coaching team, because we are working with players who train alongside each other week after week.
‘There are Glasgow players who are unfortunate to miss out as well. It’s a good situation to be in, with more Scottish players emerging through both professional teams and performing strongly.’
Newcastle’s Ollie Leatherbarrow has received his first Scotland call-up from Townsend
Leatherbarrow’s selection was the most notable inclusion. Townsend, who says his Red Bull connection played no part in the decision, explained why the 24-year-old has been brought into the squad now.
‘Hopefully he’ll have opportunities over the next few weeks because he’s playing very well. We know he can cover all three back-row positions and he’s an excellent ball carrier. He is naturally an open-side, but he has also played plenty of rugby at six and eight. His form at the end of last season, and particularly at the start of this one, gives us the opportunity to assess someone new.’
Van der Merwe’s first appearance of the season on Friday lasted only 18 minutes before he left Edinburgh’s victory over the Lions with a hand injury. Townsend has eased concerns over the problem, however, and expects the winger to be available this weekend.
‘It was a much better outcome than it appeared at the time,’ he added. ‘I think it was initially diagnosed as a compound dislocation, which would mean the bone was protruding when he went to hospital, but it turned out not to be as serious as that.
‘We expect him to train on Tuesday. I won’t reveal any secrets, but he’ll probably be playing this weekend.’
Gilchrist has also recently returned from injury. The 36-year-old has been omitted from the squad for this series, but Townsend insists the veteran lock’s hopes of making the World Cup have not been ruled out.
Duhan van der Merwe has returned to the squad after Townsend dismissed injury concerns
‘Grant played in some of our best games last year,’ he added. ‘He’s still playing some of his best rugby, off the bench against France, 80 minutes away in Ireland. We know what he can bring. We’ve talked about that position for a number of years. It’s a real strength of our game. On this occasion, Grant misses out.’
McKay isn’t eligible until the Japan game and Townsend revealed the Glasgow full-back could be called up before then.
‘We’ve not made that decision yet. Josh is going to be with Glasgow this week as they prepare for a game but we’ll have another think after next weekend. He’s very, very keen. I spoke to him a few months ago. That was in a pub so it was quite a relaxed chat! Then we had a more formal chat a few weeks ago.
‘Obviously, he’s not in the current squad, but he’s aware that we enjoy what he does on the field, how hard he works with his teammates and what he brings at 15. We’ll see how things progress over the next few weeks.’
Scotland squad and fixtures for Nations Championship – Forwards: Ewan Ashman, Josh Bayliss, Gregor Brown, Scott Cummings, Alex Craig, Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey, Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson, Jonny Gray, Gregor Hiddleston, Will Hurd, Ollie Leatherbarrow, Nathan McBeth, Liam McConnell, Elliot Millar Mills, Jamie Ritchie, Pierre Schoeman, Rory Sutherland, Seb Stephen, Max Williamson. Backs: Fergus Burke, Jamie Dobie, Darcy Graham, George Horne, Rory Hutchinson, Huw Jones, Tom Jordan, Blair Kinghorn, Stafford McDowall, Kyle Rowe, Finn Russell, Ollie Smith, Kyle Steyn, Sione Tuipulotu (captain), Duhan van der Merwe, Ben White.
Saturday, November 7: Scotland v New Zealand
Sunday, November 15: Scotland v Australia
Saturday, November 21: Scotland v Japan
