Scottish Rugby academy players for 2022-23 announced, with 13 new additions

Scottish Rugby has released the names of its 30 academy players for 2022-23.

Boroughmuir Bears' Liam McConnell is one of the new players to win a FOSROC Scottish Rugby Academy contract. (Photo by Simon Wootton / SNS Group)

Seventeen have been retained from last season and there are 13 new additions. All will be aligned to either Edinburgh or Glasgow Warriors and split evenly between the two teams where they will train daily with professional players, coaches and support staff.

All 30 have also been allocated to one of the Super6 teams and will get regular game time in the Super6 Championship which kicks off on August 5.

Many are part of the Scotland Under-20 squad currently having a tough time of it in the Six Nations U20 Summer Series in Treviso and 12 of the 30 will be young enough to play in the 2023 Under-20 Six Nations.

Kenny Murray, Scottish Rugby’s head of player transition, said: “It’s a really exciting time of the year for these players, and especially for the 13 new boys who will be immersed into the professional rugby environment for the first time, benefiting from all the support that the academy provides.”

Six from the 2021-22 group graduated from the academy to sign Scottish pro-team contracts, with Matt Currie joining Edinburgh and Murphy Walker, Max Williamson, Gregor Brown, Angus Fraser and Alex Samuel joining Glasgow.

FOSROC Scottish Rugby contracted academy players for 2022-23

Glasgow Warriors: Logan Jarvie (Stirling County)*, Callum Norrie (Stirling County)*, Harris McLeod (Stirling County)*, Ben Salmon (Stirling County)*, Finlay Burgess (Stirling County)*, Jamie Drummond (Ayrshire Bulls)**, Archie Smeaton (Ayrshire Bulls)*, Christian Townsend (Ayrshire Bulls)**, Ben Afshar (Ayrshire Bulls)*, Andy Stirrat (Ayrshire Bulls)*, Euan Ferrie (Boroughmuir Bears)**, Rhys Tait (Boroughmuir Bears)**, Duncan Munn (Boroughmuir Bears)*, Ross McKnight (Watsonians)**, Tom Banatavala (Watsonians)*.

Edinburgh: Matt Russell (Heriot’s Rugby)**, Ben Evans (Heriot’s Rugby)**, Jamie Campbell (Heriot’s Rugby)**, Dan Gamble (Heriot’s Rugby)**, Nathan Sweeney (Heriot’s Rugby)**, Harry Paterson (Watsonians)**, Patrick Harrison (Watsonians)**, Robbie Deans (Watsonians)*, Liam McConnell (Boroughmuir Bears)*, Mike Jones (Boroughmuir Bears)**, Rudi Brown (Southern Knights)**, Harri Morris (Southern Knights)**, Cameron Scott (Southern Knights)**, Jacob Henry (Southern Knights)**, Finn Douglas (Southern Knights)*.

** Retained from 2021-22; *new for 2022-23.