Exiled Scotland players who are based at English Premiership clubs such as Stuart Hogg, Alex Craig and Chris Harris will be available for selection in this weekend’s Friday night match against France after an agreement has been reached.
Six Nations Rugby are pleased to confirm that an agreement has been reached with Premiership Rugby for the release of Scottish players for the final rescheduled fixture of the 2021 Guinness Six Nations Championship, France v Scotland.
Six Nations Rugby Press Statement
Six Nations and Scottish Rugby would like to take this opportunity to thank all PRL club owners for their understanding and co-operation in these exceptional Covid affected circumstances.
No official word on who is footing any bill, though it is expected to be the Six Nations rather than the SRU directly who in an ideal world would be absolved from paying for a situation entirely of France’s making.
The French clubs agreed to release Finn Russell and their own players without protracted negotiations. You suspect the French union was keen to avoid too many torches being shone at the back of too many waffle houses on this one.
As squad update posted by the Scotland Twitter account revealed the updated player group for this weekend and there were several exiles omitted including Sean Maitland and Jonny Gray. Richie Gray is also absent with Sam Skinner retained in the squad.
Kevin will be back later in the week with his revised and reduxed match previews but for now, here’s his tweet with the permutations that will affect Scotland’s final position in the 2021 Six Nations table.