Harley’s Scotland call as injury ends Wilson’s tour

Harley, who made a try-scoring debut off the bench for Scotland in the final minutes of last year’s tour, clinching victory in Samoa, was surprisingly left out of the squad this time. Interim head coach Scott Johnson indicated form as a reason, but Harley’s experience of all three back row positions for Glasgow, and four Tests, made it a controversial call.

After skipper Kelly Brown was injured against Samoa, the 23-year-old seemed odds-on to join, but instead Johnnie Beattie was asked to start against South Africa despite having an injured shoulder and Wilson handed a Scotland debut in the unfamiliar seven jersey. Both Beattie and Wilson played well alongside a contender for man-of-the-match Alasdair Strokosch, but Wilson suffered a painful arm/shoulder injury before half-time and has been forced to return home.

Due to arrive this morning in Johannesburg, Harley becomes the fourth Glasgow player to join the Scotland squad on tour, following Jon Welsh, Gordon Reid and Fraser Brown in leaving pre-season at Scotstoun for South Africa, and he is likely to go straight to the bench, if not the team, for Saturday’s final match with Italy.

Harley said: “It’s amazing to be called up to the Scotland tour. I came in last week for pre-season training with Glasgow and wasn’t expecting to get the call so it’s a bit of a shock but very exciting.

“I’ve never been out to South Africa before so it’ll be good to go over there and hopefully I’ll be able to make the squad for the game on Saturday.

“The game against Italy in the Six Nations was my first start for Scotland so I know a little about them but I’m sure it’ll be a different game over in South Africa with different conditions. I’m excited about the challenge and I hope I get the chance to show what I can do.”

Scotland lock Jim Hamilton has also returned to the UK as his wife Rebecca is expecting their second child this week.