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Four Scotland players to tour South Africa with Edinburgh
By PA
Mike Blair is relishing Edinburgh’s first trip to South Africa since January 2019 after he named a 32-man squad for the upcoming United Rugby Championship matches away to Cell C Sharks and Emirates Lions..
The group – featuring some members of Scotland’s Six Nations pool – flew to Durban on Monday to prepare for this Saturday’s match against the Sharks and they will then move on to Johannesburg for the following weekend’s clash with the Lions.
Head coach Blair is looking forward to seeing how his team handle the double-header.
“This two-week tour is going to be a brilliant challenge for the club and we’re really excited to face two excellent teams in the Sharks and Lions,” he said.
“Being based in South Africa and getting to grips with challenging conditions and fast tracks, while facing off against different players – many of whom are Springboks – is what makes the URC such a different and fascinating league.
“We’re looking forward to getting out to Durban early this week, with preparations well underway for Saturday’s clash against an in form Sharks side.”
Mark Bennett, Blair Kinghorn, Pierre Schoeman and Hamish Watson all return from Scotland duty but their international colleagues WP Nel, Grant Gilchrist, Darcy Graham and Stuart McInally have been given time off and will not make the trip.
Edinburgh’s 32-man squad to face Sharks and Lions: Lee-Roy Atalifo, Connor Boyle, Magnus Bradbury, Luan de Bruin, Dave Cherry, Harrison Courtney, Patrick Harrison, Jamie Hodgson, Adam McBurney, Ben Muncaster, Pierce Phillips, Pierre Schoeman, Marshall Sykes, Boan Venter, Hamish Watson, Angus Williams, Glen Young, Mark Bennett, Emiliano Boffelli, Matt Currie, Chris Dean, Cammy Hutchison, Henry Immelman, Blair Kinghorn, James Lang, Ramiro Moyano, Freddie Owsley, Henry Pyrgos, Charlie Savala, Charlie Shiel, Jaco van der Walt, Ben Vellacott.
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Latest Comments
It’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
Go to commentsDon’t pay a blind bit of notice to Lukie… he likes the sound of his own voice and is always looking for something controversial to say. He has been banging on about Leinster's defensive system all season like he knows something Jacques Nienebar doesn’t. Which is the reason why he didn’t apply for the job obviously
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