Northampton Saints tighthead prop Elliot Millar-Mills has been called up to Scotland’s Guinness Six Nations squad, replacing Leicester Tigers prop Will Hurd who is out with a foot injury. Adam Hastings is also out of the squad with a knee injury, with no replacement named.
Millar-Mills qualifies for Scotland through his Scottish mother and has previously spent time at Edinburgh and Wasps. He will be aiming to follow in his sister Bridget’s footsteps who has represented the Scotland women’s national team.
The 31-year-old 121kg tighthead began his playing career with Stockport and Macclesfield, before gaining the move to Edinburgh.
Hastings left the field with ten minutes to play on Friday in Gloucester’s 35-5 Challenge Cup win over Castres, having faced off against both Scotland rivals Finn Russell and Ben Healy in recent weeks. Healy and Blair Kinghorn will now provide the backup for Scotland co-captain Finn Russell in the opening rounds unless Townsend manages to hypnotise Fin Smith into switching last minute.
Hastings suffered a previous knee injury in October 2023 and only returned to action in December 23. It is the latest setback in a horrid eighteen months that has seen him sustain shoulder, ankle and knee injuries that between them required four operations.
Javan Sebastian and Jamie Dobie are also training with the squad as they continue their recovery from injury, and last week Ross McCann was called up to replace Darcy Graham who like Russell’s co-captain Rory Darge will miss at least the first two rounds of the tournament.
Unlike Darge, Graham is no longer listed amongst the squad members. McCann is uncapped at test level but is very experienced on the international Sevens tour and brings a similar mix of zip and unpredictability to the wing position.
This makes it very likely Finn Russell, the other co-captain, will take the reins for the fixtures against Wales and England.
UPDATE (29/1/24): Javan Sebastian has now been called up following an injury to WP Nel, with Ross Thompson also called up to training in Spain. Euan Ferrie and Jamie Dobie continue to train alongside the squad.
7 responses
I may have missed past debate on this but would Zac Mercer be qualified for a call up at 8?
Sadly no. He only qualified previously on residency due to spending time here growing up, and the current switch after being capped by another nation can only be done with eligibility from parents/grandparents, or place of birth.
Ah, cheers, that’s a shame! Surely there’s a loophole.
I’m thinking Darge being out for the first two rounds gives a bit of explanation for the co-captain decision. Given that it was him doing press at the six nations launch, I get the impression It’ll be Russell leading the team for the first 2 games, and then after the tournament Rory will become the outright captain.
If Adam Hastings didn’t have bad luck he’d have nae luck at all!
I feel for him as I’ve always felt he has much more to give to Scotland. Hopefully he’ll recover soon!
Tight head position really weak now.
WP Nel now out. Has Oli Kebble done something wrong?