Gregor Townsend’s 37-player squad for the upcoming 2025 Guinness Six Nations will again be captained by Glasgow’s Sione Tuipulotu.
The squad includes two uncapped players: Saracens stand-off Fergus Burke, eligible through his Glasgow-born grandfather, and Glasgow Warriors No. 8 Jack Mann, who has impressed in the Scotstoun back row this season.
Some familiar names are not included at this stage: no place for Kyle Steyn or Johnny Matthews. Adam Hastings and Cameron Redpath miss out through injury, which is also the reason given for Steyn’s absence though it is hoped he will play some part in the tournament. Older names like Hamish Watson, Richie Gray or Chris Harris, once staples of the squad, are now seemingly consigned to the past.
Richie’s brother Jonny Gray, the Bordeaux-Bègles lock with 77 caps, is aiming for a return from an extended spell in the wilderness having last featured during the 2023 Six Nations. Gray is back from injury and looking to reestablish himself in the team as is hooker Dave Cherry who fell out of favour during the last World Cup.
In the front row, props Pierre Schoeman, Rory Sutherland, Jamie Bhatti, Zander Fagerson, Will Hurd, and D’Arcy Rae join the four hookers. As usual, there will be a clamour for the inclusion of Matthews sooner rather than later and the attritional nature of the Six Nations makes it likely.
The 15 backs feature a back-three unit of Blair Kinghorn, try record-holder Duhan van der Merwe (who could reach the 50-cap mark during the tournament), Darcy Graham, and Kyle Rowe. Tuipulotu leads the centre group, which includes Huw Jones, Stafford McDowall, Matt Currie, and Rory Hutchinson.
In the half-backs, Finn Russell, Tom Jordan, and newcomer Burke are the stand-off options, with the scrum-half trio of Ben White, George Horne, and Jamie Dobie completing the selection. Dobie is likely to see plenty of action as a utility back with his pace and ability to play on the wing.
Following their opener against Italy on February 1st, Scotland will host Ireland on Sunday, 9 February. They then travel to Twickenham for the Calcutta Cup on Saturday, 22 February, before hosting Wales on Saturday, 8 March. The campaign concludes with an away fixture against France in Paris on Saturday, 15 March.
Scotland squad for the 2025 Guinness Six Nations:
Forwards: Ewan Ashman, Josh Bayliss, Jamie Bhatti, Gregor Brown, Dave Cherry, Luke Crosbie, Scott Cummings, Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey, Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson, Grant Gilchrist, Jonny Gray, Patrick Harrison, Will Hurd, Jack Mann (uncapped), D’Arcy Rae, Dylan Richardson, Jamie Ritchie, Pierre Schoeman, Rory Sutherland, Marshall Sykes
Backs: Fergus Burke (uncapped), Matt Currie, Jamie Dobie, Darcy Graham, George Horne, Rory Hutchinson, Huw Jones, Tom Jordan, Blair Kinghorn, Stafford McDowall, Finn Russell, Kyle Rowe, Sione Tuipulotu (Captain), Duhan van der Merwe, Ben White
UPDATE 28/1/25: Following various injuries the squad is now as follows:
Updated Scotland squad for the 2025 Guinness Six Nations:
Forwards: Ewan Ashman, Jamie Bhatti, Gregor Brown, Dave Cherry, Luke Crosbie, Rory Darge (co-capt), Jack Dempsey, Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson, Euan Ferrie, Grant Gilchrist, Jonny Gray, Patrick Harrison, Cameron Henderson, Will Hurd, Ewan Johnson, Jack Mann, Alexander Masibaka, D’Arcy Rae, Jamie Ritchie, Pierre Schoeman, Rory Sutherland, Marshall Sykes
Backs: Fergus Burke, Matt Currie, Jamie Dobie, Darcy Graham, George Horne, Rory Hutchinson, Huw Jones, Tom Jordan, Blair Kinghorn, Stafford McDowall, Arron Reed, Finn Russell (co-capt), Kyle Rowe, Ollie Smith, Duhan van der Merwe, Ben White.
9 responses
I can’t decide if selecting 3 Hookers from an underperformimg Edinburgh side is being biased, stubborn or is just plain stupidity. What has Cherry done to deserve inclusion before Matthews & Hiddleston? Is Sykes a better option than Cameron Henderson of Leicester Tigers?
On this week’s episode of “You’ve Been Toonied”, Johnny Matthews talks about his latest unfathomable omission from the Scotland squad.
Not too many other quibbles with the squad. Hopefully Ollie Smith gets back to his pre-injury level of form and fitness, as he’d be another good option to have in the back 3.
What?! only 1 comment so far… what happened to this blog? Used to be loads of comments on a Six Nations squad announcement. A real shame.
Probably lack of activity on our part, plus we’re not as active on Twitter/X any more to promote things (because X). Things will hopefully get a little busier around the upcoming matches.
Hopefully activity picks up soon, this used to be the heartbeat of Scottish rugby discussion.
I’d urge you to reconsider using X. I’ve found (taking away viewpoints of Left/Right) that it’s by far the best and fastest place to find rugby news for me. It can only be a net positive. There are also lots of success stories such as Ilona Maher i otherwise would not have found out about.
‘Because X’ i assume refers to the recent political shift and ability to put across viewpoints you believe are dangerous toward certain groups? + mindless trolling.
I would agree with some of those points but the best way to combat that is to challenge it. Not posting allows just 1 viewpoint to be heard to millions.
I’m typically a more ‘conservative’ person who does not agree with a lot of what the podcast has talked about in the past… but there are points they have made which have caused me to reconsidered my viewpoint on and become more sympathetic towards. I would not be aware of those viewpoints if it was not advertised in the right places. (p.s. I’m aware of Bluesky but many people won’t be).
Well done !
Personally I had trouble posting comments for a while due to some javascript thing that suddenly cropped up so if a lot of people had that then maybe that’s the reason for less than usual activity.
I was, as always, pumped for this 6 nations but just feeling very deflated now with the injury to Sione and Cummings. Rugby is such a marginal / minority sport in Scotland, compared to the rest of the nations, that we really need a fully fit first 15 and bench to be able to seriously compete for honours.
I hope you keep putting out the content. I definitely feel like it takes a while for the blog to react to situations around breaking news on injuries, line ups, etc but I totally get that you guys have other jobs / commitments !
Also well done on the X stance. Regardless of political leanings anyone can see that its become an absolute mess of a platform the fact its been degraded by the dangerous man-child in chief is just another reason to get out.
Thanks Greengumbo. As you’ll know from the pod we’re always aware of the news it’s just writing 2-500 words on something takes a little longer than going “aww dang not again!”. We should still have content through the Six Nations, always our busy time.
Barring a couple of positions, we’re developing real strength in depth across the squad. It’s a mark of how competitive that I’m not massively concerned about Kyle Steyn getting a bit of extra time to fully recover from injury.
Having said all that, the hooker situation is madness. If I was Johnny Matthews, I’d be pretty pissed off. I do think there are some limitations to his game, but no more so than anyone else. It feels needlessly petty.
Can’t say I’ve seen much of Fergus Burke, but from what I have seen, he feels a long way off Russell and Jordan for the no10 shirt.
The idea Townsend wouldn’t select Matthews out of spite is slightly hilarious to me, I really don’t get the thought process some people think is going into it.
It seems pretty obvious he just doesn’t think he is up to International level, it isn’t that outlandish a thought really, Matthews isn’t that great he massively benefits from being overhyped as a consequence of the volume of try’s he scores, but there is so so much more to a game than that