Borderer Patrick Harrison in line for first Scotland rugby cap v Chile

Patrick Harrison during an Edinburgh training session at what was then the capital's DAM Health Stadium in October 2022 (Photo by Ross Parker/SNS Group/SRU)Patrick Harrison during an Edinburgh training session at what was then the capital's DAM Health Stadium in October 2022 (Photo by Ross Parker/SNS Group/SRU)
Patrick Harrison during an Edinburgh training session at what was then the capital's DAM Health Stadium in October 2022 (Photo by Ross Parker/SNS Group/SRU)
West Linton’s Patrick Harrison looks to be in line for his first cap as the Scottish national rugby team’s current summer tour heads to Chile this weekend.

Head coach Gregor Townsend’s tourists take on the Chileans in Santiago this Saturday, with kick-off at 8pm, and former Peebles player Harrison has been named among the replacements.

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The 22-year-old hooker, at United Rugby Championship side Edinburgh since 2020, is the only Borderer in the Scots’ match-day squad of 23, with Hawick’s Rory Sutherland dropping out after featuring as a 51st-minute replacement during last Friday’s 42-7 win against the USA in Washington DC to earn his 32nd cap and Jedburgh’s Glen Young having been ruled out by a chest injury sustained in training.

He’s also the only uncapped member of that line-up, though six of Saturday’s starters have only made one prior international appearance.

Joining him on the subsitutes’ bench are his Edinburgh team-mates Pierre Schoeman, Javan Sebastian and Matt Currie, plus Glasgow Warriors’ Max Williamson, Rory Darge, Adam Hastings and Stafford McDowall.

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Sione Tuipulotu and Jamie Ritchie will co-captain a starting XV also featuring Kyle Rowe, Jamie Dobie, Kyle Steyn, Arron Reed, Ben Healy, Gus Warr, Nathan McBeth, Dylan Richardson, Will Hurd, Alex Craig, Ewan Johnson, Gregor Brown and Josh Bayliss.

Explaining fellow Borderer Harrison’s selection, former Gala stalwart Townsend, 51, said: “He’s been great. He really has been one of the standout performers in training.

“He’s had to wait for his opportunity but he’s going to get it now, and we’re keen for him just to focus on what got him here, which is accuracy around the set-piece, work-rate in defence, aggression and the skill and power that he brings in attack.

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“He was a back originally, so we’ve seen in training his running lines and handling ability, but his number-one asset is his aggression. He wants to dominate collisions and we expect to see that this weekend.”

The Scots’ tour concludes versus Uruguay in Montevideo on Saturday, July 27, with kick-off also at 8pm.

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