Scotland Six Nations: Murphy Walker and Jordan Edmunds have chance to stake cap claim as Blair Kinghorn's availability confirmed

Scotland have sprung a surprise ahead of their final Guinness Six Nations match of 2022 against Ireland by adding the uncapped Jordan Edmunds and Murphy Walker to their squad.

Jordan Edmunds, centre, is a Scotland Club international and is pictured here ahead of the Dalriada Cup game against Ireland in 2018. Picture: Ross Parker/SNS

The pair are among four players called up, with the experienced Glasgow Warriors forwards Fraser Brown and Scott Cummings also joining the group preparing for the game in Dublin on Saturday.

Three players have left the squad; Kiran McDonald, Glen Young and the suspended Duhan van der Merwe all returning to their clubs.

Scotland have confirmed that Blair Kinghorn will be available for this weekend’s match after he missed the 33-22 win over Italy in Rome for personal reasons.

Murphy Walker training with the Scotland squad at Oriam. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group)

It was the inclusion of Edmunds and Walker, however, that was the most eye-catching news to come out of the Scotland camp on Monday.

Edmunds, 27, is described as “a late developer” by Scotland assistant coach John Dalziel and the athletic winger earns his chance after impressing in Super6 for Boroughmuir Bears. and with this season’s Scotland sevens squad.

Walker, 22, made his debut for Glasgow this season and the national coaching team have high hopes for the prop who is also likely to come into contention for Scotland’s summer tour of Argentina.

“Murphy’s become such a great player, in such a short space of time as well,” said Dalziel. “He’s developed an ability to play both sides of the scrum. He was a loosehead, and asked to make that tough transition to play the tighthead side, and he’s played professionally on both sides now.

Jordan Edmunds enjoyed an impressive Super6 campaign with Boroughmuir Bears. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

“We’ve been impressed with him for a long time. He was held up with a couple of hamstring injuries, a pretty major hamstring tear that he had. So he’s back and we’re really pleased with him. We feel this is an environment with the national team coaches that we can work with him, with the summer tour coming up we can maybe push him to be part of that prop stable we have at the moment. He’s a very talented kid.

“Jordan’s a late developer, he’s been excellent playing club rugby and maybe hasn’t had that opportunity. He’s been a very good club player with the ability to play higher. He has a full-time job, so the sevens have provided a pathway and we’re happy to take a look over him. He’s a physical player and has trained very well.”

While the pair have been added to the squad chiefly to give them exposure to the national set-up, Dalziel did not rule out the possibility of their playing a more significant role.

Murphy Walker in action for Glasgow Warriors during a pre-season match against Newcastle Falcons. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

“Nobody gets invited to an international camp or certainly made part of the squad if it is just a token gesture,” said the coach. “Guys are coming in here to be train and be picked and put themselves forward for international selection.

“We have three days more training to get through and you see opportunities happen with players getting injured in training. We lost Rory Sutherland and Oli Kebble over a very short period and then that is the position we are in.

“We are really pleased at where we are at. We had other options to bring other players in. Murphy merits his selection and if needed and called upon we will have no problems in including him in the squad.”

The prop, who is the nephew of Scotland’s 1990 Grand Slam hero Sean Lineen, made his Glasgow debut in a 35-24 victory over the Sharks in the United Rugby Championship in October.

He played for Scotland Under-20s at the 2018 and 2019 World Rugby Under-20 Championships. Born in Dundee, he was part of the Strathallan side which won the Schools Cup in 2018.

Edmunds, from Edinburgh, plays semi-pro for Boroughmuir Bears after come through the ranks of the Meggetland club and having attended Boroughmuir High School. He is a Scotland Club international and has a background working in finance.

The addition of Brown and Cummings to the squad, meanwhile, adds to the experience in the Scotland pack.

Brown, the Glasgow hooker, has over 50 caps and was part of the last Scotland side to defeat Ireland, at Murrayfield in 2017.

Cummings was part of Gregor Townsend’s original 2022 Six Nations squad but suffered a knee injury which ruled him out of contention ahead of the France game.

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