Scotland squad announcement - Eight additions

Head Coach Gregor Townsend today welcomed the return of five Scotland squad players from injury – and added three others – ahead of this Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations Test against Wales at BT Murrayfield Stadium.
Forwards Hamish Watson, Willem Nel (both Edinburgh) and Sam Skinner (Exeter Chiefs) are joined by Glasgow Warriors pair Stafford McDowall (centre) and Grant Stewart (hooker) in returning to the squad.
They are accompanied by incoming trio Matt Fagerson and Byron McGuigan – who missed out on initial selection through injury – and London Irish prop Gordon Reid.
As a consequence of their inclusion the following eight players, split evenly between injury and those released back to their clubs, are no longer part of the current Scotland squad.
They are injured quartet scrum-half George Horne (shoulder), prop D’arcy Rae (ankle), hooker George Turner (graduated return to play protocol for concussion) and centre Chris Dean (back), plus prop Alex Allan, back-row Rob Harley (both Glasgow Warriors), back-row John Hardie (Newcastle Falcons) and stand-off Duncan Weir (Worcester Warriors).
Full-back Stuart Hogg will not join the squad in the camp this week as he is not being considered for this Saturday’s game against Wales, following the shoulder injury he sustained against Ireland in the second round of the championship.
He remains under the joint care of the Glasgow Warriors and Scotland medical teams, with his rehabilitation progress and review ongoing.
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Larry Brown was 63 when he won the NBA, and Phil Jackson was 64.
I guess my general feeling in rugby is that most coaches seem to decline quite a bit when they hit 60, and to be coaching at the top level when you’re 65 or older is extremely rare. Maybe in american sports people have another 5 years, but that doesn’t seem like a massive difference.
Either way, I’m going to stick with my verdict that appointing Les Kiss at age 60 would be ok as a short term deal - but appointing him at 63 and expecting him to last 4 years would be foolish.
Go to commentsWe come off a loss and a big one to Moana Pasifika and 2 years in a row losing to the Drua. The motivation to reverse that is huge. This competition has been unpredictable. I believe the return of inform players like Antonio Shalfoon , Christian Lio-Willie will make a huge difference.Tom Christie, who played so well in his 2 starts and Corrie Kellow will be raring to go. We missed David Havili, the form second five and captain last week, he thankfully will be back soon. But Codie Taylor is a great choice to captain in the mean time in David’s absence.
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