Scotland name 12 uncapped players in revamped squad for Autumn Nations Series

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has named a 42-man squad. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

The national coach has also included the eight Scotland men selected for the British & Irish Lions’ tour of South Africa.

Among the dozen uncapped players is Dylan Richardson, the South African-born Sharks forward who can play at flanker or hooker.

Scotland kick off the series with a match against Tonga on October 30, then face Australia, South Africa and Japan. All the games are at BT Murrayfield

Four uncapped players who were named in last week’s training squad have dropped out; Edinburgh’s Matt Currie, Jack Blain and Charlie Savala, and Glasgow Warriors full-back Cole Forbes.

The extended group welcomes back Lions Stuart Hogg, Ali Price, Finn Russell, Chris Harris, Duhan van de Merwe, Hamish Watson, Zander Fagerson and Rory Sutherland following their involvement in the South African series.

A total of 11 new players have been added to the squad from the training group, including the English-based Ewan Ashman, Josh Bayliss, Matt Scott, Huw Jones and Adam Hastings.

In the pack, the uncapped players are Ashman, Bayliss, Richardson, Rory Darge, Luke Crosbie, Jamie Hodgson, Marshall Sykes and Pierre Schoeman.

Glasgow Warriors provide all the uncapped backs in Rufus McLean, Jamie Dobie, Ross Thompson and Sione Tuipulotu.

Townsend said: “It’s exciting to bring together a blend of highly experienced and uncapped players for our first week of the Autumn Nations Series campaign.

“There have been some notable performances from both our home-based players and those at clubs outside of Scotland, which has enabled us as coaches to select a group which are playing well and will be motivated across the four games.

“We also feel that this the right time to bring in some younger players given their early season form. They have created opportunities for themselves to represent their country and we believe that they will thrive in the Test match environment.

“We face four tough matches in four weeks and Tonga, Australia, South Africa and Japan each present a different challenge and an opportunity to perform in front of our people at BT Murrayfield. It’s great to hear that we will now play Australia in front of a capacity crowd at BT Murrayfield, and it means a huge amount to the players to have this level of support.”

Scotland squad for Autumn Nations Series

Forwards:

Ewan Ashman – Sale Sharks - uncapped

Josh Bayliss – Bath Rugby - uncapped

Jamie Bhatti – Glasgow Warriors – 18 caps

Fraser Brown – Glasgow Warriors – 54 caps

Luke Crosbie – Edinburgh Rugby – uncapped

Rory Darge – Glasgow Warriors – uncapped

Matt Fagerson – Glasgow Warriors – 13 caps

Zander Fagerson – Glasgow Warriors – 38 caps

Grant Gilchrist – Edinburgh Rugby – 45 caps

Nick Haining – Edinburgh Rugby – 8 caps

Rob Harley – Glasgow Warriors – 22 caps

Jamie Hodgson – Edinburgh Rugby – uncapped

Oli Kebble – Glasgow Warriors – 8 caps

Murray McCallum – Glasgow Warriors – 3 caps

Stuart McInally – Edinburgh Rugby – 40 caps

Dylan Richardson – Cell C Sharks – uncapped

Jamie Ritchie – Edinburgh Rugby – 27 caps

Sam Skinner – Exeter Chiefs – 12 caps

Pierre Schoeman – Edinburgh Rugby – uncapped

Rory Sutherland – Worcester Warriors – 16 caps

Marshall Sykes – Edinburgh Rugby – uncapped

George Turner – Glasgow Warriors – 17 caps

Hamish Watson – Edinburgh Rugby – 41 caps

Backs:

Mark Bennett – Edinburgh Rugby – 22 caps

Darcy Graham – Edinburgh Rugby – 19 caps

Jamie Dobie – Glasgow Warriors – uncapped

Chris Harris – Gloucester Rugby – 28 caps

Adam Hastings – Gloucester Rugby – 23 caps

Stuart Hogg – Exeter Chiefs – 85 caps

George Horne – Glasgow Warriors – 14 caps

Damien Hoyland – Edinburgh Rugby – 4 caps

Sam Johnson – Glasgow Warriors – 18 caps

Huw Jones – Harlequins – 31 caps

Blair Kinghorn – Edinburgh Rugby – 25 caps

Duhan van de Merwe – Worcester Warriors – 10 caps

Rufus McLean – Glasgow Warriors – uncapped

Ali Price – Glasgow Warriors – 42 caps

Finn Russell – Racing 92 – 55 caps

Matt Scott – Leicester Tigers – 39 caps

Kyle Steyn – Glasgow Warriors – 1 cap

Ross Thompson – Glasgow Warriors – uncapped

Sione Tuipulotu – Glasgow Warriors – uncapped

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