Scotland name tour party for South America tests

EDINBURGH : Grant Gilchrist will captain a 40-man Scotland squad for a month-long tour to South America, coach Gregor Townsend announced on Wednesday.

Scotland 'A' take on Chile in Santiago on June 5 before Scotland play a three-test series against Argentina on July 2, 9 and 16.

Gilchrist leads the team for the first time since the 2018 test against Canada in Edmonton, having recently reached 50 caps for his country.

Townsend named six uncapped players in the squad - Edinburgh's Ben Muncaster, Glen Young, Matt Currie along with the Glasgow Warriors' duo of Murphy Walker and Ollie Smith and London Irish's Kyle Rowe.

British & Irish Lions Stuart Hogg and Finn Russell are notable omissions from the tour party, allowed time off to rest, but there are recalls for Adam Hastings and Huw Jones, left out of Townsend's original Six Nations squad earlier this year.

Squad:

Forwards: Ewan Ashman (Sale Sharks), Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow Warriors), Magnus Bradbury, Dave Cherry (both Edinburgh), Andy Christie (Saracens), Luke Crosbie (Edinburgh), Scott Cummings, Rory Darge, Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson (all Glasgow Warriors), Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh), Jonny Gray (Exeter Chiefs), Jamie Hodgson, Ben Muncaster, Pierre Schoeman (all Edinburgh), Javan Sebastian (Scarlets), Sam Skinner (Exeter Chiefs), Rory Sutherland (Worcester Warriors), George Turner, Murphy Walker (both Glasgow Warriors), Hamish Watson,

Glen Young (both Edinburgh)

Backs: Mark Bennett, Matt Currie, Darcy Graham (all Edinburgh), Adam Hastings (Gloucester), George Horne (Glasgow Warriors), Damian Hoyland (Edinburgh), Rory Hutchinson (Northampton Saints), Sam Johnson (Glasgow Warriors), Huw Jones (Harlequins), Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh), Rufus McLean, Ali Price (both Glasgow