Scotland’s squad gears up for the weekend’s Calcutta Cup showdown against England with an infusion of experience, welcoming Magnus Bradbury, Blair Kinghorn, WP Nel, and Hamish Watson back into the fold along with Scarlets and former Gloucester lock Alex Craig.
Josh Bayliss leaves the squad due to concussion while Javan Sebastian and Ross McCann also step out, with McCann back to the GB Sevens squad ready to face down Antoine Dupont.
Alex Craig fills the void left by Richie Gray’s injury, while WP Nel’s recovery strengthens the front row depth, stepping in for Sebastian and battling with Elliot Millar-Mills for the backup tighthead berth.
As the team prepares for the visit of a much improved England, Darcy Graham remains sidelined with a groin injury for now but Kinghorn will be a welcome boost for the back three.
Updated Scotland squad for the 2024 Guinness Six Nations:
Forwards: Ewan Ashman, Magnus Bradbury, Jamie Bhatti, Alex Craig, Andy Christie, Scott Cummings, Jack Dempsey, Rory Darge, Grant Gilchrist, Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson, Alec Hepburn, Johnny Matthews, Elliot Millar-Mills, WP Nel, Jamie Ritchie, Pierre Schoeman, Sam Skinner, George Turner, Hamish Watson, Glen Young. Backs: Ben Healy, George Horne, Rory Hutchinson, Huw Jones, Blair Kinghorn, Stafford McDowall, Harry Paterson, Ali Price, Cameron Redpath, Arron Reed, Kyle Rowe, Finn Russell, Kyle Steyn, Ross Thompson, Sione Tuipulotu, Duhan van der Merwe, Ben White
12 responses
Of the players added… the ones imo that could make a positive difference are Kinghorn, Bradbury and Craig.
Watson and Nel…. watched them at weekend…didnt offer anything much. Brought in for training opposition only hopefully. They just look past it to me.
Kinghorn + forwards brought in suggests GT going for 6-2 split. Adding the likes of McDowell, Craig and Bradbury to the bench would add a fair bit of power to the 23.
Interesting additions and only considerations is who plays 10 if anything happens to Finn? Kinghorn cannot be trusted IMO, need Healy or Thompson on bench.
I like Craig and Bradbury deserves a go in 23
Toonie just playing games again .None of these guys will feature. Would love to see Bradbury start alongside Christie and Darge, as Dempsey looks like he is slowly feeling his way back. No doubt however Toonie will find space for the very average and overated Fagerson who will give another solid but uninspiring performance.
I think Kinghorn will be in the 23. If he doesn’t start then he’ll no doubt make the bench, given that he can cover a number of positions, albeit some better than others. My concern is that if BK is on the bench then Redpath will be dropped from the 23 so that Toony can go for a 6-2 split. Personally, I’d like to see Redpath start at 12 but I just don’t see it happening.
There seems to be precious little chance of Bradbury and Matthews making the 23, although I think they should most certainly be in it.
I find it very frustrating that GT sees Kinghorn as giving Scotland the opportunity to go 6-2 bench. Kinghorn just doesnt do that. He is a borderline terrible 10…his kicking is rubbish…a poor tackler…poor defensive positioning…and complete lottery at a high ball. He is an excellent run attacker ball in hand and so can be very good from FB or wing positions.
I don’t rate him as much as some do…. I think all of Paterson, Rowe and Smith are far more rounded rugby players. He reminds me of Hogg… can produce a good social media highlights video..but really Scotland are a more complete side without him.
There was a bit of naivety in Patterson at moments last week but really stood up well..and Him, Rowe and Russell were so solid under the high ball which is a bigger part of the game than many realise. Kinghorn has dropped many high balls in his time. He is excellent in many other areas but I wonder if this could come back to bite us as he will likely start
Great call ups.
Kinghorn and Bradbury for me could start. Please have them both in the 23 Toonie.
Nel will take Millar-Mills position on the bench you’d hope.
We all love Watson but with the back row competition and everyone fit I can’t see how he makes it in now.
Just a moment of reflection back to where we were around 20 years ago and up to 2015/16.
In every 6N or RWC we could look at maybe a handful of players who were properly competitive at Test level in every 15/23 teamsheet. How many of us groaned when ‘x’ couldn’t play because his replacement was nowhere near up to standard. It’s a measure of improvement in our Test level standing that there is so much debate these days about who should get picked, and there are strong cases for all the players in the mix.
Yes, we’ve got a long way to go still, but it’s a good thing for Scotland rugby that there are so many more players of international standard to talk about than there were in the really grim days of being a Scotland supporter.
Amen to that, we have depth , we still have gaps, but the standin’s and newbies are now being dragged up rather than dragging us down.
Certainly true for the backs and loose forwards.
I can’t recall the last time we had a truly substandard player for 6 through 15…
Tight 5 and 16 to 18 has been a little underwhelming at times, but reasonably solid
Reading England players giving it the old ‘Scotland are the favourites’ in the press. Like they remotely believe that! Just trying to make Scotland uncomfortable going in.
England have the higher World rugby ranking and off the back of a higher placed RWC finish.
England are and should be slight favorites.
I dont think so. They played nobody until the semis in th RWC and barely scraped past Samoa and Fiji . Ok they held SA but some teams are suited to how other teams play. England are a perfect foil for SA. However they are not comfortablevplayingnopen rugby. If thecweather is favourable I think ee will beat them by a minimum of 10.