FORWARD THINKING
Townsend plans for future with call-ups
THERE are still two years to go, but already Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend is planning for the World Cup in Japan.
In naming seven uncapped players in his training squad for a two-day get together in St Andrews, the 44-year-old made clear his forward thinking.
Matt Fagerson, Darcy Graham, Jamie Bhatti, Scott Cummings and Jamie Ritchie, all graduates of the BT Sport Scottish Rugby Academy, have received their first call-up for the Scotland gathering early next week.
The same goes for Namibianborn Anton Bresler, and New Zealander Phil Burleigh, who follow the likes of WP Nel and Tim Visser by qualifying through the soon-to-be-scrapped threeyear residency rule.
There are some high-profile absentees, with Josh Strauss, Matt Scott and Ruaridh Jackson all dropped following Scotland’s summer tour. There is also no place for Edinburgh scrum-half Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, who missed the same tour through injury, nor his club colleague Duncan Weir.
Out of the new boys, it is 19-year-old back-row Fagerson of Glasgow Warriors and 20-year-old Edinburgh winger Darcy Graham who catch the eye. Both helped Scotland to a highest-ever finish of fifth in the World Under-20 Championship earlier this year and are being tipped to make a senior breakthrough.
Townsend, when asked whether he had brought in the five former academy players with the next World Cup in mind, replied: ‘I would say so. We have some excellent young players and we also have some experienced players injured, who will come back into the mix ahead of the November Tests.
‘We want to look at players, whether in November or next year’s tour, that we believe will become Scotland players if they continue to improve.
‘We welcome Darcy Graham and Matt Fagerson, two of the stand-out performers in the Under-20 World Cup into this group. They have both been impressive in pre-season with their clubs and they now have a chance to work alongside the leading players in Scotland, and also get a sense of how things operate at Test level.
‘Matt has already played professionally with Glasgow, while Darcy is now a full pro at Edinburgh and I’m sure he’ll get his chances in pre-season and then during the season.
‘Both of them played very well for the Scotland Under-20s and have something about them, whether it is their ability or their mentality that means they thrive at a higher level.
‘We want them in our camp to see first-hand how they compare with other players who have played Test rugby.’
Townsend threw down the gauntlet to those he had not selected to up their game to secure an international recall.
‘We believe we are sending a message that they need to play better to get into the squad,’ he said.
‘Matt (Scott) is determined to do that. I believe he can. I believe Matt, Josh, the other players who have not made the squad, at their best, can play for Scotland again.’