For an international 7 that is pretty good from Watson to be fair considering how many breakdowns he will be in and around.

Yet another graduate of the U20 that spanked England U20 in 2017. Support for the first try for Kinghorn is what he has now been doing for Northampton this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo_nA3q2oTk

Good team that. Loads of guys in it who have made the step up. Hastings, Kinghorn, Hutchinson, Davidson, McCallum, Kerr, Cummings, Smith all pros.

It is easier to identify those who did not play pro than those who did. Then the Likes of Hunter-Hill, Shiel, Taylor, Nichol on the bench.

Murray McCallum
Jake Kerr
Callum Sheldon
Andrew Davidson
Scott Cummings
Matt Smith
Jamie Ritchie
Ally Miller
Hugh Fraser
Adam Hastings
Tom Galbraith
Rory Hutchinson
Darcy Graham
Robbie Nairn
Blair Kinghorn

Was Fraser the one who walked away from pro rugby?

Just listening to the Scottish Rugby Blog podcast. Some chat about the final outside back being Crusaders full-back Will Jordan.

Does anyone think that's credible?

Apart from Kyle Steyn there's no obvious other candidate, and Steyn is mainly playing 13, also the last thing this squad needs is another centre.

Yup. He was on a stage 3 on £8k, did the maths and decided he'd rather study law.

Lang was name checked at the presser by Townsend.

If I had the faintest idea who he is I might comment. But I do not so I won't.

Pah no dedication. Matt Scott did both...

I jest, good for him for making the right decision for him.

Have 2 tickets for the Pro14 final going free.

Have 2 tickets for the Pro14 final going free.

This Will Jordan chat comes form a YouTube highlights reel with the SRU logo in the top right corner. People assume he's being scouted by the SRU from that.

He's one of the top prospects in NZ, I can't see it.

Nah. Can’t see a NZ born player with U20 caps and a good chance of making the ABs opting for Scotland instead. Though it would be great.

Not confirmed officially by the club but Reid has left LI and moved back to Scotland. Assume he's Glasgow bound. Tonks has also gone.

Rory Brand has been promoted from the academy to the senior squad, so we'll have two Scottish 9s on the books next season with Steele. Thought Brand would have got a few more opportunities with us in the Championship, but spent most of the season on loan with London Scottish in the end.

Not in a zillion years will NZR let the man destined to replace Ben Smith next year - and the closest the All Blacks will get to Christian Cullen Mk II - head offshore before he's had the chance to fulfil his promise in the Black jersey.

I've seen this lad play, unless he is dyed in the wool Scottish, there's no chance he's playing for us: The guy is fantastic and will most likely play for the ABs with Ben Smith going and Barrett being a bit shaky at 15.

Would absolutely love it though.

This is definitely a 2+2=5 rumour. Zero chance one of the brightest young All Blacks is going to play for Scotland.

Yeah, I agree. I might laugh for a week if it did happen, though.

What? It's happened before! Or have we all forgotten Brendan "Chainsaw" Laney? FFS.

Well, shit.

That's another Lions tour I won't be interested in

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/48224634

A lot of rugby to be played between now and then, but yes it does leave a sour taste in the mouth

So long as our players consistently make knock out stages of the European competitions and do well in the 6N that is the main thing and then with regards to the Lions what will be will be. There is a lot of player turn over going to happen between now and then.

Quite. We just have to start proving him wrong, which we haven't really.

There was a time that I was a staunch defender of the Lions concept. Those days have long gone. I could accept it when Scotland just did not have the players to justify selection, but now it seems every 50:50 goes against them. The tipping point was Gatland's petty comment when Townsend turned down the assistant role that Scottish players would suffer in selection conversations by not having a Scottish coach to fight their corner. Surely it is incumbent on the coaches to make sure they are familiar with all the candidate players, and make an effort to gain that knowledge from countries not represented on the coaching panel.

I think you're misintepreting my 'Gatland is a plum' meaning.

It's not just the thing about Scottish players, it's also the shit style of bishbosh rugby he coaches. Doesn't take advantage of the assets at his disposal and just coaches the team to be Wales+, rather than looking at what he has and producing the best style of play for the best players available.

A tour win in Oz and draw in NZ suggests you are wrong I'm afraid. In todays environment, whatever you think of Gatland, those are brilliant results.

That squad should have won in NZ, and winning in Oz isn't so tough anymore - we've won two games over there in the last decade so again, the talent in a Lions tour should cuff them.

And the style of rugby is shit boring.

Not consistently, no, but what irritates the hell out of me is that the goalposts keep moving. Before the last tour we beat both Ireland and Wales, both of whom had far more players selected. Apparently it was now all about performance in away games. Nobody is telling me Gatland would have picked more Scots if we hadn’t had a bad off day v England. He never had any intention of picking more than a token few players - the England game just gave him an excuse.

Absolutely gutted that another Lions tour is now ruined.

With 3 weeks together before the first test you want the coach to come up with and introduce a completely new way of playing? Come on. Sorry, I don't think that is Gatlands fault, it's the fault of the administrators tying his hands with ludicrous timeframes. People would be slating him if the Lions got stuffed so what can he do? Pick the spine of a team with players he knows and play a style that he, and they know.

There are certainly a few things to critisise Gatland for, but I don't think that is one of them.

Agreed. The Lions needed some positive results even after a great series v South Africa it was 3 tours since they had won a series and they hadn't won a meaningful (in the sense of the series) test since the 2nd test since Australia in 2001.

The time allowed as a squad is the main constraint. And it is a huge constraint.

This is the challenge for any coach selecting a representative team. From Caley, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Borders age grades all they way up to the Lions.

For example, Darcy Graham was performing better than Seymour going into the 6N. Seymour was picked due to past performances.

The England game wasn't just an away game. It was a game talked up as Scotland showing they had 6N title ambitions, it was a high pressure game and they bottled it. Arse shatteringly so. Glasgow went to Sarries and got beaten easily in the QFs in Europe that year. Another high pressure game. Both pro teams were nowhere in the league that year. Winning the odd game against a Welsh team without their head coach (we never beat a Gatland coached Welsh team and he was coach forever) or the odd game against Ireland is great but means little without consistency. We are starting to get a consistent at home but remain by and large poor away.

If the players take care of their club duties on the pitch, international honours will come and if they play well internationally collectively then Scotland will be consistently better. Do that then lets see where we are in two years and we can discuss Lions, get annoyed at Gatland, argue over the concept of the Lions etc.

As much as I don't like him he and his coaches have got a lot of selections right when it mattered for the test team even if squad selection has been debateable. Rowntree wanting Corbisiero over Grant in 2013, Gatland trusting Davies in 2017 had big impacts on the series.

So I literally can't give these away

Moreover, I know the Lions and their fans want to win matches, but it's not as if they are entering a competitive tournament. I would certainly rather see them playing enjoyable rugby rather than the attritional variety, and I would be surprised if there weren't lots of other Lions fans who feel the same way.

SA oughtn't be tooooooooo tough for a Lions squad to beat, playing enterprising rugby, so it would (have) be(en) nice to see them try.

I think people are assuming they would have to sit with you, if not the case might add value!

For clarity I won't be there.

Was it not a bit stranger than that? He'd done the London Scottish thing during 2016/17 while in the Academy and had signed his first pro deal ahead of the 2017/18 season. About 3 weeks into that campaign he stepped away from rugby completely. Real shame - I thought he would comfortably make PRO14 level and might well have been good enough to push for full Scotland caps.

I thought I remembered he signed a pro deal then decided it wasn't for him and went back to Uni just before term time started IIRC.

Match preview for Glasgow v Ulster:

https://wp.me/p68WtH-8dp

Stronger Ulster squad than the one which lost in Round 19 at Scotstoun - but equally the Glasgow 23 is better than the one from that night and their form has also been on the up since then. Going to be an exciting evening!