Scottish Rugby
Edinburgh Rugby forwards Ross Rennie and Stuart McInally will join former Scotland head coach Andy Robinson on loan to Bristol Rugby to the end of the season.
Kelly Brown has been told the Scotland captaincy is his to keep – if he proves himself as their best openside flanker. Head coach Scott Johnson has named the 31-year-old Saracens skipper every time he has played.
Uncapped 23-year-old Edinburgh wing Dougie Fife was named in a senior Scotland squad for the first time – ahead of the Six Nations next month.
Fife, a product of Edinburgh’s development system and also nurtured by the Currie club, has been in prolific form for the capital pro-club, scoring five tries in his last seven outings.
Scottish Rugby continues to monitor carefully the international pitch at Murrayfield Stadium. The playing surface at the home of Scottish Rugby has been regarded with justifiable pride for many years; therefore its current condition is a matter of understandable concern.
A Scottish international rugby player has appeared in court charged with assaulting another player in Glasgow’s west end.
Scotland have made four changes to their pack and finalized their back division for Saturday’s viagogo Autumn Test against Australia, having declared winger Tommy Seymour fit to play and take his spot in the starting line up.
Teenage lock forward Jonny Gray is the only uncapped player in Scotland’s 23-man squad to face South Africa in the viagogo Autumn Test at Murrayfield on Sunday.
Ground staff at Murrayfield have been spraying the home of Scottish rugby with garlic in a bid to eradicate a turf parasite. Nematodes are roundworms that damage the grass root structure.
Kelly Brown will captain Scotland against Japan at Murrayfield on Saturday in the first viagogo Autumn Test. Back-row forward Brown, 31, returns after recovering from the leg injury which cut short his involvement in Scotland’s summer tour to South Africa. It will be his tenth Test as Scotland captain and 59th cap overall.
Kieran Low is not one to beat about the bush. The 22-year-old was born in the south of England and grew up in Chichester with a Welsh-born father and mother who hails from Scunthorpe, but if he is handed an opportunity to stride out on to Murrayfield this autumn, one that he never grew up dreaming of, it will be the highlight of his life so far.
Scotland have not ruled out capping Tommaso Allan, despite the 20-year-old being called up by Italy.
The Perpignan fly-half has represented Scotland at U17, U18 and U20 levels but is in the Azzurri training squad for the November Test series.
Scottish rugby has its first positive steroid test – but the problem could run deeper, says former international John Beattie.
Scottish rugby suffered two body blows this week and, rather like boxer Ricky Burns who “drew” with his opponent after getting one heck of a hiding from opponent Raymundo Beltran, it’s a little battered, a little broken and in need of time off the canvas.
Edinburgh Rugby back-row Stuart McInally has set his sights on the career path travelled by fellow club player, Scotland and British & Irish Lions internationalist Ross Ford – to make the positional switch from back-row to hooker.
Edinburgh Rugby have been very busy on the recruitment front in the closed season following a very disappointing 2012 / 13 season. Numerous players of varying experience have been brought in, with Australasia proving a particularly attractive source region to the club.
Scotland international centre Joe Ansbro has announced his retirement from rugby today following the neck injury he sustained at the start of this season. The 11-times-capped London Irish back suffered a C1 fracture in his club’s pre-season friendly with Munster in Cork last August.
Scottish Rugby has today (Wednesday) secured a new three year sponsorship package with The Famous Grouse, Scotland’s favourite whisky. The six figure deal marks 23 years of the brand’s support for rugby in Scotland, and will see the whisky’s latest product, the Ginger Grouse, become the Official Spirit of Scottish Rugby.
Ten uncapped players have been named in interim head coach Scott Johnson’s first Scotland squad. The 35-strong squad will convene in Glasgow next Sunday for a three-day training camp ahead of the RBS 6 Nations Championship.
Scott Johnson, Scotland’s senior assistant coach, will take on the role of interim head coach for the 2013 RBS 6 Nations Championship and the summer tour of South Africa.
Glasgow Warriors and Scottish Rugby have today pulled off another major signing coup, landing Crusaders back-three star Sean Maitland. The 24-year-old Canterbury man, equally adept on the wing or at full-back, is one of the most highly rated outside backs in Super Rugby, and qualifies to play for Scotland courtesy of both his paternal Grandparents who were born in Glasgow.
One of the foremost coaches in world rugby is to visit Scotland next month to spend time with the country’s two pro-clubs and to outline his philosophies to senior club and school coaches.
Today sees the start of the RBS 2012 Rugby Force weekend which is yet another good initiative by the Scottish Rugby Union to assist grassroots development of the game. Current international players will be heading out to various rugby clubs across the country, from Stornoway in the Hebrides to Dumfries in the far south, to make a valuable contribution to the club game in a practical way.
Today’s article about northern hemisphere players who may be less well known, at this stage, focuses on the 2011/2012 RaboDirect Pro12 Players player of the season, winger Tim Visser. He is currently touring Australasia with the rest of his Scotland team mates.
Scotland coach Andy Robinson is to hand uncapped Edinburgh winger Lee Jones a debut against England in the RBS Six Nations opener at Murrayfield on Saturday.