Gregor Townsend’s squad for the inaugural 2026 Nations Championship – the artist formerly known as a summer tour – has a slightly different feel to it this year. The familiar core remains intact, but there are signs that the coaching group are finally starting to look beyond the usual names for developing future depth, while some bigger names like Huw Jones and Blair Kinghorn have had to sit this one out.
The headline additions are Glasgow hookers Gregor Hiddleston and Seb Stephen. Both have been circling the senior squad for a while, but this feels like a more meaningful opportunity. Hiddleston in particular has enjoyed a strong season and looked increasingly comfortable whenever Glasgow have raised the stakes.
Hooker is one of the positions Scotland need to solve over the next 18 months. George Turner remains a key figure, but he will be 34 by the time the World Cup arrives. Ewan Ashman is the realistic incumbent but question marks still persist over his setpiece. Behind him and Turner there has been plenty of chopping and changing without anyone fully nailing down a place (and Johnny Matthews not getting a chance). Hiddleston and Stephen now have a chance to change that.
That may be the most interesting aspect of the squad. Townsend has often preferred to trust experience until circumstances force his hand. Whether that is a deliberate shift in thinking or simply a consequence of where Scotland are in the World Cup cycle and the new format rolling out remains to be seen.
The new Nations Championship format also creates a slightly different purpose for the summer months. Rather than the traditional summer test tour against one opponent – which Scotland never got to do anyway – everyone will face a sequence of apparently meaningful fixtures against a random geographical spread of, in our case, Argentina, South Africa and Fiji.
It’s the same hodge-podge fixture list we’re used to, but less chance to call it a development tour, or indeed to use it as such with combined performance across summer and autumn taken into account. Given their experience of such globetrotting summer adventures and the fact that Fiji are playing their home game at Murrayfield, does that mean we have an advantage over practically everyone else who got to play three test tours and won’t be used to such nonsense?
Either way, there are a few new names with a genuine chance to alter the conversation around selection as Townsend builds towards next year’s World Cup in Australia.
Scotland have not always been quick to refresh their depth chart, but time is marching on.
Forwards: Ewan Ashman, Josh Bayliss, Magnus Bradbury, Gregor Brown, Scott Cummings, Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey, Freddy Douglas, Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson, Jonny Gray, Gregor Hiddleston, Will Hurd, Nathan McBeth, Liam McConnell, Elliot Millar Mills, D’arcy Rae, Alex Samuel, Pierre Schoeman, Seb Stephen, Rory Sutherland, Max Williamson.
Backs: Fergus Burke, Jamie Dobie, Darcy Graham, George Horne, Rory Hutchinson, Tom Jordan, Stafford McDowall, Kyle Rowe, Finn Russell, Ollie Smith, Kyle Steyn, Sione Tuipulotu (capt), Duhan van der Merwe, Ben White.
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Strong squad although I have no idea why we are going back in time & selecting Jonny Gray, he was worse than useless in the 2025 6 Nations. Surely there are better options with an eye to next year’s World Cup.