LAST UPDATE | 8 Jun 2022
SCOTLAND CAPTAIN STUART Hogg, out-half Finn Russell and centre Chris Harris were all left out of a 40-man squad announced Wednesday for an upcoming tour of South America.
The trio have both had a heavy playing schedule since they were each involved in last year’s British and Irish Lions series in South Africa.
Hogg and Russell were also among a group of six players involved in a disciplinary issue following a night out in Edinburgh after a Six Nations win away to Italy, which cast doubt over whether Exeter star Hogg would retain the captaincy after a tournament where Scotland finished fourth had been completed.
However, Scotland coach Gregor Townsend has insisted that the decision to omit Hogg and Russell was purely down to the nature of their hectic schedules this season, and said that while Edinburgh lock Grant Gilchrist will take the captaincy this summer, he hoped Hogg would remain skipper for Scotland’s November Tests and beyond.
“Yeah, I hope so. I’ve said that to Stuart. Obviously a lot can happen between now and November.
“We’ve been really lucky that Stuart’s been available for us mostly throughout the last four or five years. He’s played really well for us and been an excellent captain.
“There are things he needs to work on as a leader, just like he needs to work on things as a player, just like I need to work on a few things as a coach. He’s earned the right for a rest this summer.
“The Lions was a huge commitment and it’s affected players in different ways this year,” Townsend added. “When you achieve something of that level, and the commitment you put into making it happen, and then the length of the tour itself – seven weeks and playing all the way through to August – some of those players have played a lot of rugby this year.
“We looked at individuals, where they are at the end of this season, where they are in terms of their career, and whether the best thing for them was to be on tour or to have some time off. Some regulars over the last 12 to 24 months weren’t considered for those reasons.
“Once we set out that we believe the best thing for Stuart, Finn and Chris is not touring, they accepted that. They’ve played the most minutes of all our players this year. When you put that on the back of them having the longest seasons last year it became more clear to us that a summer off would be the best thing for them.
“That might have been different if we didn’t have what is coming up the following season. This time next year we’ll be in a World Cup camp playing three or four warm-up games before we go on to the World Cup so it’s going to be a demanding period for them all next year. On the back of the last 12 to 18 months, we feel it’s right for them not to tour.”
Hamish Watson, Ali Price, Duhan van der Merwe and Zander Fagerson, who all appeared for the Lions last summer, have been deemed fresh enough for inclusion for Scotland’s tour which will include an ‘A’ match against Chile later this month and three Tests against Argentina in July.
Regarding six of his players’ disciplinary breach in March, Townsend said that “to be honest, a lot of what needed to be sorted out and discussed had already happened that week behind closed doors before the public found out on the Friday. We moved on fairly quickly from that.
“It was just a reminder – a positive reminder – that we needed to talk about why we’re here and we’ll do that more as we go to camp next week.”
Scotland squad for summer tour of South America
Backs
Mark Bennett (Edinburgh), Matt Currie (Edinburgh), Darcy Graham (Edinburgh), Adam Hastings (Gloucester), George Horne (Glasgow), Damian Hoyland (Edinburgh), Rory Hutchinson (Northampton), Sam Johnson (Glasgow), Huw Jones (Harlequins), Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh), Rufus McLean (Glasgow), Ali Price (Glasgow), Kyle Rowe (London Irish), Ollie Smith (Glasgow), Ross Thompson (Glasgow), Sione Tuipulotu (Glasgow), Duhan van der Merwe (Worcester), Ben White (London Irish)
Forwards
Ewan Ashman (Sale), Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow), Magnus Bradbury (Edinburgh), Dave Cherry (Edinburgh), Andy Christie (Saracens), Luke Crosbie (Edinburgh), Scott Cummings (Glasgow), Rory Darge (Glasgow), Matt Fagerson (Glasgow), Zander Fagerson (Glasgow), Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh, Captain), Jonny Gray (Exeter), Jamie Hodgson (Edinburgh), Ben Muncaster (Edinburgh), Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh), Javan Sebastian (Scarlets), Sam Skinner (Exeter), Rory Sutherland (Worcester), George Turner (Glasgow), Murphy Walker (Glasgow), Hamish Watson (Edinburgh), Glen Young (Edinburgh)
- Updated at 15:40 with quotes from Gregor Townsend
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