Gregor Townsend now only has four more players to cut from his Scotland squad for the Rugby World Cup after a quartet were released back to their clubs yesterday.
Adam Hastings, Kyle Rowe, Stafford McDowall and Cameron Henderson were the four to go, bringing the number left down from 41 to 37. The maximum permitted at the World Cup is 33; Townsend will announce his final selection on Wednesday 16th.
The omission of those four was no surprise. Neither Hastings nor Rowe has played since being injured, and although both have now recovered fully, Townsend decided that they were not yet match-fit enough to be involved in either the win over Italy that began the series of four warm-up games or in Saturday’s 25-21 victory over France. New
Edinburgh back-three player Rowe was only called up as a replacement for the injured Ruaridh McConnochie - who had come in as a replacement himself after Stuart Hogg announced his retirement. Hastings, meanwhile, has dropped down the pecking order at stand-off since Ben Healy made his debut.
Glasgow centre McDowall and Leicester lock Henderson both won their first caps in the 25-13 win over the Italians - McDowall from the start and Henderson off the bench - but neither has done enough to persuade Townsend to ditch any of the more established players in their positions.
The departure of Hastings and Rowe means that squad captain Jamie Ritchie is now the only remaining member of the squad who has not played in those first two pre-season friendlies. However, Townsend is confident that the Edinburgh back-row will be able to play against the French in St Etienne on Saturday after recovering from a leg strain.
“Jamie ran on Saturday morning with no after-effects,” the head coach explained. “We won’t train fully until Tuesday, but he’ll probably do something on Monday just to be available for selection. He’ll be ready.”
Townsend still has two major concerns ahead of that France game and the home match against Georgia a week later, with scrum-half Ben White still awaiting a prognosis on the ankle injury he sustained on Saturday and tighthead prop Zander Fagerson facing a disciplinary hearing this week after being sent off in the second half against France for dangerous play.
Townsend would normally drop one of four scrum-halves from his current squad - Ali Smith, George Horne and Jamie Dobie being the other three - but any lingering doubts over White could persuade him to travel with four. Similarly, if Fagerson is suspended not only for the two remaining friendlies but also for the first couple of World Cup games, the coach might have to include another prop in his 33 at the expense of a player somewhere else.
“Factors like injury and a potential suspension mean selection might not be as straightforward this week than originally planned,” the coach added. “There will obviously be knock-on effects if there is a ban to Zander of more than two weeks.
“Would we take an extra front-rower? We would just have to weigh that up and see what the length of the ban is.”
If both White and Fagerson get the all-clear to play from the first pool game against South Africa, Townsend will be able to drop a scrum-half and a prop, and will then probably turn to hooker and the back row in search of the remaining two to be cut.
The four hookers in the squad are George Turner, Ewan Ashman, Stuart McInally and Dave Cherry, with the first two looking like the pair who will be in the first-choice 23. McInally impressed off the bench against Italy, but then Cherry did the same against the French, replacing Ashman and scoring one of his side’s three tries as they fought back from a 21-3 half-time deficit. Darcy Graham and Pierre Schoeman claimed the other tries, while captain Finn Russell - who had opened the scoring with an early penalty - added two conversions and a second penalty.
The current complement in the back row consists of Ritchie, Rory Darge, Hamish Watson, Matt Fagerson, Jack Dempsey, Luke Crosbie and Josh Bayliss. The latter was only called up after Andy Christie pulled out with injury, so his place appears most in jeopardy.
