Scottish head coach Gregor Townsend has chosen to rest some of his top stars including Exeter Chiefs’ Stuart Hogg and Gloucester Rugby’s Chris Harris with one eye on next year’s Rugby World Cup.
2021 British and Irish Lions trio Hogg, Harris and half-fly Finn Russell will all have summer free while Scotland travels to South America to face Chile in Santiago on Saturday 25 June (start at 21:00 BST) ahead of a three-test series against Argentina. on Saturday 2.9 and 16 July (starts 20:10 BST).
Sources at Chiefs and Gloucester confirm that neither Hogg nor Harris are bearing injuries but are on the lookout for the World Cup in France now just 15 months away.
Grant Gilchrist of Edinburgh Rugby will lead the team for the first time since the 2018 Summer Tour in the absence of defender Hogg.
Hastings chose to pick a number of Lions players in his 40-man squad for the summer tour, taking on the pair of Worcester Warriors Rory Sutherland and Duhan van der Merwe along with Hamish Watson, Ali Price and Zander Fagerson.
Townsend said: “The Lions have been a huge commitment and it has affected players in different ways this year.
“When you reach something that level, and the commitment that you put into making it happen, and then the length of the tour itself – seven weeks and playing until August – some of those players have played a lot of rugby this year.
“We looked at individuals where they are at the end of this season, where they are in terms of their careers, and whether the best thing for them was to be on tour or have some time. Some regulars over the last 12-24 months were not considered for these reasons.
“When we found out that we thought the best thing for Stuart, Finn and Chris was not touring, they accepted that. They played the most minutes out of all our players this year. When you put that on the back of having the longest seasons last year, it became clearer to us that a summer break would be the best thing for them.
“It might be different if we didn’t have what’s going to happen next season. This time next year we will be in a World Cup camp playing three or four warm-up games before we go to the World Cup, so it will be a demanding period for them all next year. After the last 12-18 months, we feel it’s right for them not to tour. “
Ben Muncaster of Edinburgh Rugby, Glen Young, Matt Currie along with Kyle Rowe of London Irish and Glasgow Warriors duo Murphy Walker and Ollie Smith are the unbeaten players in the group.
Exeter Chiefs lock Jonny Gray, who missed the Six Nations majority due to injury, joins teammate Sam Skinner in the squad while Gloucester flyer Adam Hastings scored a recall.
Backrower Magnus Bradbury, who is switching Edinburgh for Bristol Bears this summer, is also touring.
Scotland 2022 Summer Tour Squad
Advances
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) – headless
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) – headless
Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby) – 49 caps
Glen Young (Edinburgh Rugby) – Unlimited
Backs
Mark Bennett (Edinburgh Rugby) – 24 caps
Matt Currie (Edinburgh Rugby) – headless
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) – Unlimited
Ollie Smith (Glasgow Warriors) – headless
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, opening at 21:00 (UK time) – Estadio Santa Laura Universidad SEK, Santiago, live at Premier Sports
- Argentina v Scotland | Saturday, July 2, 2022, launch 20.10 (UK time) – Stage 23 de Agosto, Jujuy, live on Sky Sports
- Argentina v Scotland | Saturday, July 9, 2022, start at 20.10 (UK time) – Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena, Salta, live at Sky Sports
- Argentina v Scotland | Saturday 16 July 2022, launch 20.10 (UK time) – The Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades, Santiago Del Estero, live on Sky Sports
