Australia tour

[Stones of granite]

How old is George Horne?

Just shy of 22

[Cameo]

Can't be bothered to go through the whole squads but just in terms of players that might be rated higher than before now townsend is in charge, I would say the main one just now would be Lee Jones. It is a position we are short in and he has been consistently good this year

I'd say for longer than this year.

True, just maybe played more of the big games this year

[Big D]

No Parisse or Favaro in Italian squad.

[General Zod]

No Parisse or Favaro in Italian squad.

Good.

[Jps]

They included the fly half with one eye right? He plays with goggles.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

They included the fly half with one eye right? He plays with goggles.

Yup. Delighted for him. Ireland (the union) do not allow protective goggles to be worn AFAIK so he had little choice. I have no idea about the SRU but I would hope we are a little more forward thinking than the micks.

[hp18]

They included the fly half with one eye right? He plays with goggles.

Yup. Delighted for him. Ireland (the union) do not allow protective goggles to be worn AFAIK so he had little choice. I have no idea about the SRU but I would hope we are a little more forward thinking than the micks.

He's played at Scotstoun.

[whatisthejava]

They included the fly half with one eye right? He plays with goggles.

Yup. Delighted for him. Ireland (the union) do not allow protective goggles to be worn AFAIK so he had little choice. I have no idea about the SRU but I would hope we are a little more forward thinking than the micks.

yeah SRU allows the glasses, we had a kid turn up and play in them

[Big D]

They included the fly half with one eye right? He plays with goggles.

Yup. Delighted for him. Ireland (the union) do not allow protective goggles to be worn AFAIK so he had little choice. I have no idea about the SRU but I would hope we are a little more forward thinking than the micks.

yeah SRU allows the glasses, we had a kid turn up and play in them

They do now. There was a lot off tooing and froing about it 5 or 6 years ago IIRC.

[Big D]

I wonder if GT will keep Barclay as captain in Laidlaws absence.

Or indeed whether he'll name his own captain anyway.

[Matt Ha]

I wonder if GT will keep Barclay as captain in Laidlaws absence.

Or indeed whether he'll name his own captain anyway.

I'll be very surprised if he didn't stick with JB. The only other players in the squad with any real long-term experience of test rugby will be Ford and Gray senior. Don't think either of them will be skipper, and Gray jnr is still too young.

[Big D]

Squad named today. Hopefully a fairly big squad.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Squad named today. Hopefully a fairly big squad.

Well that came out of nowhere.

Have to assume Bradbury, Strauss, Dickinson, Nel won't be anywhere near it.

Has Sutherland played yet? I know he was on bench at Scotstoun.

[whatisthejava]

Alen
Dell
fagerson
Nel <--
rae
Reid

Brown
Ford
Turner <--

GrayX2
Swinson
Toolis <--

Barclay
Bradbury
Hardie
harley
Straus
Watson
Wilson

SHC <--
Price
Pyrgos

Horne
Russell

Dunbar
Grigg <--
Scott
Taylor

Hoyland <--
Jackson <--
Jones
Maitland
Visser

is the squad

some interesting names in there

[hugh_woatmeigh]

FORWARDS (20)

PROP (6)
Alex Allan (Glasgow Warriors) – 3 caps
Allan Dell (Edinburgh Rugby) – 8 caps
Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – 9 caps
Willem Nel (Edinburgh Rugby) – 15 caps
D’Arcy Rae (Glasgow Warriors) – uncapped
Gordon Reid (Glasgow Warriors) – 24 caps

HOOKER (3)
Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors) – 25 caps
Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby) – 107 caps
George Turner (Edinburgh Rugby) – uncapped

SECOND-ROW (4)
Richie Gray (Toulouse) – 64 caps
Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) – 33 caps
Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors) – 29 caps
Ben Toolis (Edinburgh Rugby) – 1 cap

BACK–ROW (7)
CAPTAIN John Barclay (Scarlets) – 60 caps
Magnus Bradbury (Edinburgh Rugby) – 1 cap
John Hardie (Edinburgh Rugby) – 15 caps
Rob Harley (Glasgow Warriors) – 19 caps
Josh Strauss (Glasgow Warriors) – 11 caps
Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby) – 10 caps
Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors) – 27 caps

BACKS (14)

SCRUM-HALF (3)
Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Edinburgh Rugby) – 9 caps
Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) – 5 caps
Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors) – 21 caps

STAND–OFF (2)
Pete Horne (Glasgow Warriors) – 23 caps
Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors) – 27 caps

CENTRE (4)
Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors) – 24 caps
Nick Grigg (Glasgow Warriors) – uncapped
Matt Scott (Gloucester) – 37 caps
Duncan Taylor (Saracens) – 18 caps

BACK-THREE (5)
Damien Hoyland (Edinburgh Rugby) – 2 caps
Ruaridh Jackson (Harlequins) – 30 caps
Lee Jones (Glasgow Warriors) – 4 caps
Sean Maitland (Saracens) – 28 caps
Tim Visser (Harlequins) – 31 caps

[hugh_woatmeigh]

So observations

Tighthead. Toony already showing he's a better selector than Vern. Rae has been superb this season and Berghan is well below pro 12 level. Surprised that Nel is back so soon - I expected Welsh here instead.

Lock - on form that's what you would expect and realistically Cummings is 5th choice behind this bunch but it still would have been a good opportunity for him. Gilchrist is not in the picture at all which means he has no choice but to hit form and earn his spot back - great news.

Back row - surprised to see both Strauss and Bradbury there.

Fly half - delighted to see Weir dropped. He is not good enough and is far too limited.

Back 3 - Jackson appears to be preferred over Kinghorn. Not sure on the reasoning - Kinghorn needing a rest or just not ready? Either way you'd have to think Jackson is seriously considering his club options if Toony has told him he is in his plans for Scotland. On reflection, he's pretty lucky to be there.

[Big D]

Decent squad.

Grigg, Jones and Rae all deserve their all ups. I still have a thought that VC didn't want to throw Rae in too soon and took the overly cautious route. He put ZJRF in too early the previous year and ended up having to drop him. Turner lucky to be ahead of Cochrane but it is a position we have a massive gap at in the mid 20 age range after Brown.

Not sure taking Nel and Bradbury are worth the risk. Especially Nel.

Kinghorn must be going with the u20's.

Shame CdP has been well off the boil. Has the potential to offer way more than Harley at international level.

[ARM]

Pretty pleased with that - in particular to see that some of the injuries are not as bad as I feared. Delighted to see Nel, Bradbury and Strauss in there.

Rae is a good shout. Berghan is a chocolate teapot. Awful scrummager.

We really are short at FB. Presumably Maitland is first choice for this tour. Thought Kinghorn might have nicked in ahead of Jackson who really hasn't got games under his belt. Does he still qualify for U20s and is heading there instead?

[Big D]

One thing in that squad is the number of players who look knackered, or haven't played a lot either due to injury or whatever.

Willem Nel (Edinburgh Rugby) – 15 caps
George Turner (Edinburgh Rugby) – uncapped - Barely played for Edinburgh.
Richie Gray (Toulouse) – 64 caps
Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) – 33 caps - Looks jaded imo
Magnus Bradbury (Edinburgh Rugby) – 1 cap
John Hardie (Edinburgh Rugby) – 15 caps
Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors) – 27 caps
Matt Scott (Gloucester) – 37 caps - Just back from injury
Duncan Taylor (Saracens) – 18 caps
Ruaridh Jackson (Harlequins) – 30 caps - Not near Quins side.

That's nearly a 3rd of the squad. They'll be grand though.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

It's a huge improvement on what Cotter would have picked. Now they just need to play some good rugby - the hard part!

[Big D]

Fly half - delighted to see Weir dropped. He is not good enough and is far too limited.

No surprise to see Weir dropped. Even VC preferred a fully fit Horne over Weir.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Fly half - delighted to see Weir dropped. He is not good enough and is far too limited.

No surprise to see Weir dropped. Even VC preferred a fully fit Horne over Weir.

The sooner Edinburgh catch on and realise, the better. Not sure what options they have though - perhaps Jackson could orchestrate a move over.

[Big D]

Fly half - delighted to see Weir dropped. He is not good enough and is far too limited.

No surprise to see Weir dropped. Even VC preferred a fully fit Horne over Weir.

The sooner Edinburgh catch on and realise, the better. Not sure what options they have though - perhaps Jackson could orchestrate a move over.

That level of player recruitment as I understand it falls to SJ as the DoR and the transfer committee. Will be interesting to see how RC gets on with those two.

Jackson has done nothing to deserve the call up. Absolutely nothing. GT is showing a lot of faith there. Which is fine, but RJ needs a performance if he gets a chance.

Only issue I really have with the squad is I don't think Harley was needed. As effective as he may be domestically no one can convince me Harley is anything more that a good pro club level player. If he is there to help cover second row then just take a second row.

Edit: A couple of Scots down south could do with a move. Denton and Jackson both need to be playing. Wouldn't be a massive surprise to see either or both back in Scotland.

[switchskier]

Anyone get the feeling that Greg is more pleased to see players dropped than called up?

I agree in Harley but there aren't a lot of options and I'd always want a few cerebral figures around the camp to keep things in perspective. I'd guess Ritchie will be with U20s as next cab off the rank. The paucity of back-row options at Glasgow worries me I have to admit.

[ARM]

Squad lays bare Embra's inadequacies in the backs. Only two Embra players, neither of whom would be travelling in the absence of a Lions tour.