Scotland name Rugby World Cup squad: Stuart McInally among four players to miss out

Gregor Townsend has named his final squad of 33 for the Rugby World Cup in France next month.

The Scotland head coach had to drop four players to whittle the selection down, with Stuart McInally the highest profile casualty. The hooker had hoped to bow out at the tournament before pursuing a new career as a pilot but Townsend has selected George Turner, Ewan Ashman and Dave Cherry as his three hookers, the latter two making their first appearances at a World Cup.

The other players to be cut from the training squad are scrum-half Jamie Dobie, prop Murphy Walker and flanker Josh Bayliss.

Dobie, the Glasgow Warriors scrum-half, loses out to Ben White, Ali Price and George Horne, while Walker is pipped by Javan Sebastian who will go to France as the third-choice tighthead behind Zander Fagerson and WP Nel. Bayliss, a late addition to Townsend’s training squad, also drops out, with the Scotland coach taking Jamie Ritchie, Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey, Matt Fagerson, Hamish Watson and Luke Crosbie as his six back-rows.

Ritchie will captain the squad which is made up of 19 forwards and 14 backs and comprises 14 players from Edinburgh, 14 from Glasgow, two from Bath, one from Gloucester, one from Toulon and one who is unattached - Rory Sutherland.

Second rows Richie Gray and Grant Gilchrist, tighthead prop WP Nel, and stand-off Finn Russell are all set to appear in their third World Cup. Ritchie, Zander Fagerson, Turner, Scott Cummings, Watson, Darcy Graham, Chris Harris, Blair Kinghorn, Horne and Price will be representing Scotland at a second World Cup while Dempsey is also going to his second World Cup having played for Australia in Japan four years ago.

SCOTLAND SQUAD FOR RUGBY WORLD CUP 2023

Forwards

Ewan Ashman (Edinburgh Rugby) 8 caps

Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow Warriors) 31 caps

Dave Cherry (Edinburgh Rugby) 9 caps

Luke Crosbie (Edinburgh Rugby) 5 caps

Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors) 28 caps*

Rory Darge (Glasgow Warriors) 10 caps

Jack Dempsey (Glasgow Warriors) 11 caps

Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) 35 caps

Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) 59 caps*

Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby) 64 caps**

Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors) 75 caps**

WP Nel (Edinburgh Rugby) 55 caps**

Jamie Ritchie (Edinburgh Rugby) – CAPTAIN – 42 caps*

Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh Rugby) 23 caps

Javan Sebastian (Edinburgh Rugby) 5 caps

Sam Skinner (Edinburgh Rugby) 27 caps

Rory Sutherland (Unattached) 25 caps

George Turner (Glasgow Warriors) 37 caps*

Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby) 58 caps*

Backs

Darcy Graham (Edinburgh Rugby) 35 caps*

Chris Harris (Gloucester Rugby) 43 caps*

Ben Healy (Edinburgh Rugby) 2 caps

George Horne (Glasgow Warriors) 22 caps*

Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors) 38 caps

Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh Rugby) 46 caps*

Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) 63 caps*

Cameron Redpath (Bath Rugby) 7 caps

Finn Russell (Bath Rugby) 71 caps**

Ollie Smith (Glasgow Warriors) 5 caps

Kyle Steyn (Glasgow Warriors) 12 caps

Sione Tuipulotu (Glasgow Warriors) 18 caps

Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh Rugby) 30 caps

Ben White (RC Toulon) 15 caps

(* denotes past Rugby World Cup selection)

Scotland name Rugby World Cup squad: Stuart McInally among four players to miss out

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