No Hogg or Russell as Scotland name their 40-man summer tour squad

Scotland boss Gregor Townsend has included six uncapped players in a Grant Gilchrist-captained 40-man squad for the summer tour to South America following the omission of regular skipper Stuart Hogg and out-half Finn Russell. Another 2021 Lions pick, midfielder Chris Harris, has also been excluded.

Hogg’s club season at Exeter ended with last Saturday’s win over Harlequins, Russell is currently battling injury with Racing 92 contesting the Top 14 playoffs while Harris played his final game of the Gloucester campaign in their win over Saracens.

While the exclusion of the trio will be attributed to them having toured until last August with the Lions, numerous others who made that trip last year are now set to travel with Scotland. It will also place a focus on the background situation prevailing in Scotland, who took disciplinary action against a half dozen players during the recent Guinness Six Nations.

Long-serving Scotland skipper Hogg finished that tournament in Dublin on March 19 by addressing the previous weekend’s breach of team protocol which resulted in the full-back and five other players being disciplined for visiting a bar in Edinburgh without the permission of team management.

Russell, Ali Price, Darcy Graham, Sam Johnson, Sione Tuipulotu and Hogg all headed out on the town after they had arrived back in the Scottish capital following the round four Six Nations win over Italy. Whereas Hogg and Russell now miss out on the Scotland tour, the other four players involved in that incident will travel.

Scotland A take on Chile in Santiago on June 25 before Scotland play a three-Test series against Argentina on successive Saturdays from July 2 where they will be captained by Edinburgh's Gilchrist for the first time since the 2018 summer tour fixture against Canada in Edmonton. Edinburgh’s Ben Muncaster, Glen Young, Matt Currie, along with London Irish’s Kyle Rowe and Glasgow Warriors’ duo Murphy Walker and Ollie Smith, are the uncapped players in the 40-strong group.

The squad also sees Glasgow forwards Scott Cummings, Rory Darge and Matt Fagerson make their return following spells of injury along with Worcester Warriors’ prop Rory Sutherland, fellow front-rower Jamie Bhatti and Exeter lock Jonny Gray who also missed the majority of the Six Nations.

Edinburgh’s Hamish Watson has been selected and is on the cusp of reaching 50 caps for his country, just one appearance away from the milestone. Fellow British and Irish Lions players Price, Duhan van der Merwe and Zander Fagerson are also included.

Scotland 2022 summer tour squad

Forwards (22)

Ewan Ashman (Sale Sharks) - 2 caps

Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow Warriors) - 22 caps

Magnus Bradbury (Edinburgh Rugby) - 18 caps

Dave Cherry (Edinburgh Rugby) - 5 caps

Andy Christie (Saracens) - 1 cap

Luke Crosbie (Edinburgh Rugby) - 1 cap

Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors) - 21 caps

Rory Darge (Glasgow Warriors) - 4 caps

Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) - 21 caps

Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) - 47 caps

Grant Gilchrist (Captain) (Edinburgh Rugby) - 53 caps

Jonny Gray (Exeter Chiefs) - 67 caps

Jamie Hodgson (Edinburgh Rugby) - 5 caps

Ben Muncaster (Edinburgh Rugby) - uncapped

Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh Rugby) - 9 caps

Javan Sebastian (Scarlets) - 1 cap

Sam Skinner (Exeter Chiefs) - 20 caps

Rory Sutherland (Worcester Warriors) - 18 caps

George Turner (Glasgow Warriors) - 25 caps

Murphy Walker (Glasgow Warriors) - uncapped

Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby) - 49 caps

Glen Young (Edinburgh Rugby) - uncapped

Backs (18)

Mark Bennett (Edinburgh Rugby) - 24 caps

Matt Currie (Edinburgh Rugby) - uncapped

Darcy Graham (Edinburgh Rugby) - 27 caps

Adam Hastings (Gloucester Rugby) - 26 caps

George Horne (Glasgow Warriors) - 17 caps

Damian Hoyland (Edinburgh Rugby) - 4 caps

Rory Hutchinson (Northampton Saints) - 5 caps

Sam Johnson (Glasgow Warriors) - 24 caps

Huw Jones (Harlequins) - 31 caps

Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh Rugby) - 31 caps

Rufus McLean (Glasgow Warriors) - 2 caps

Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) - 51 caps

Kyle Rowe (London Irish) - uncapped

Ollie Smith (Glasgow Warriors) - uncapped

Ross Thompson (Glasgow Warriors) - 1 cap

Sione Tuipulotu (Glasgow Warriors) - 5 caps

Duhan van der Merwe (Worcester Warriors) - 16 caps

Ben White (London Irish) - 4 caps

Summer Tour 2022 fixtures

Chile v Scotland A | Saturday 25 June 2022, kick-off 9pm (UK time) - Estadio Santa Laura Universidad SEK, Santiago, live on Premier Sports

Argentina v Scotland | Saturday 2 July 2022, kick-off 8.10pm (UK time) - Estadio 23 de Agosto, Jujuy, live on Sky Sports

Argentina v Scotland | Saturday 9 July 2022, kick-off 8.10pm (UK time) - Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena, Salta, live on Sky Sports

Argentina v Scotland | Saturday 16 July 2022, kick-off 8.10pm (UK time) - The Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades, Santiago Del Estero, live on Sky Sports