Russell and Hogg rested for Scotland's summer tour

Gregor Townsend has revealed that out-half Finn Russell and captain Stuart Hogg have been excused from Scotland's summer tour in order to prevent burnout ahead of next year’s World Cup.

The head coach is adamant that the omission of the key duo from the 40-man squad for the trip to South America later this month has nothing to do with the fact they were among six players involved in an unauthorised night out during the Six Nations in March.

Both Russell and Hogg were part of the British and Irish Lions squad last summer. They and fellow Lion Chris Harris, who was not one of those involved in the incident after the victory in Rome, have all been given this summer off to recharge their batteries after a grueling schedule at club and international level.

Hamish Watson, Rory Sutherland, Ali Price, Duhan Van Der Merwe and Zander Fagerson were also part of the Lions tour last year, but have all been included by Townsend as he feels they have had adequate rest over the past season.

"The Lions was a huge commitment and it’s affected players in different ways this year," said Townsend.

"When you achieve something of that level, and the commitment you put into making it happen, and then the length of the tour itself – seven weeks and playing all the way through to 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 career, and whether the best thing for them was to be on tour or to have some time off. Some regulars over the last 12-24 months weren’t considered for those reasons.

"Once we set out that we believe the best thing for Stuart, Finn and Chris is not touring, they accepted that. They’ve played the most minutes