The Scotland squad for the first warm-up match against Ireland on Saturday has been announced and shows us not much other than big Vern Cotter is keeping his powder dry.
The presence of several late/recent admissions and some faces returning from the cold after longer spells than Richard Burton point to this being an experimental side designed to fill out the cover required for a long tournament campaign and work on backup combinations. While the front-running likes of Finn Russell, Stuart Hogg and the Gray boys are sitting this one out, there are a lot of players who will be competing for the number 2 or 3 spot in their position, some even potentially going head to head for a shirt like John Barclay and Blair Cowan.
Midfield watchers will also note the absence of any of our three injured musketeers: Matt Scott, Mark Bennett or Alex Dunbar although the latter was admittedly an outside shot at this stage.
The final squad is set to be announced before the 5th September match in Paris so it may not be until then (and Josh Strauss qualifies) that we see a closer view of the team that will take part in the Rugby World Cup but it will certainly be an interesting next 4 weeks.
The remaining 22 in the training squad will continue pre-season separate from this squad and the starting XV will be announced on Thursday at lunchtime.
Scotland Squad to face Ireland at the Aviva Stadium, Saturday 15 Aug, k.o 5pm (live on Sky Sports)
Backs: Dougie Fife, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Peter Horne, Ruaridh Jackson, Sean Lamont, Henry Pyrgos CAPTAIN, Tommy Seymour, Greig Tonks, Richie Vernon, Tim Visser, Duncan Weir.
Forwards: John Barclay, Hugh Blake, Fraser Brown, Blair Cowan, Mike Cusack, David Denton, Allan Dell, Grant Gilchrist, Ryan Grant, Jim Hamilton, Rob Harley, Stuart McInally, Gordon Reid, Jon Welsh.
Possible Scotland XV from this lot:
Tonks, Seymour, Vernon, Horne, Visser, Weir, Pyrgos (c); Grant, Brown, Welsh, Hamilton, Gilchrist, Harley, Barclay, Denton
UPDATE:
Here’s the finalised team announcement, you’ll notice that Matt Scott has slipped into the bench lineup for Tommy Seymour who sprained a hip in training and Ross Ford comes in for Stuart McInally who has a stomach bug.
Scotland: Ruaridh Jackson, Sean Lamont, Richie Vernon, Pete Horne, Tim Visser, Greig Tonks, Henry Pyrgos (captain); Ryan Grant, Fraser Brown, Jon Welsh, Jim Hamilton, Grant Gilchrist, Blair Cowan, Hugh Blake, David Denton.
Replacements: Ross Ford, Gordy Reid, Mike Cusack, Rob Harley, John Barclay, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Duncan Weir, Matt Scott.
DOUBLE UPDATE:
Here’s the Ireland team. Gulp.
Ireland: Simon Zebo, Tommy Bowe, Jared Payne, Gordon D’Arcy, Luke Fitzgerald, Ian Madigan, Issac Boss, Dave Kilcoyne, Sean Cronin, Mike Ross, Devin Toner, Dan Tuohy, Jack Conan, Chris Henry, Sean O’Brien.
Replacements: Richardt Strauss, Michael Bent, Nathan White, Paul O’Connell, Jordi Murphy, Eoin Reddan, Paddy Jackson, Dave Kearney.