Jedburgh’s Glen Young to get first start for Scottish national rugby team v Canada

Glen Young during a Scotland training session at Edinburgh's Oriam in February (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group/SRU)Glen Young during a Scotland training session at Edinburgh's Oriam in February (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group/SRU)
Glen Young during a Scotland training session at Edinburgh's Oriam in February (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group/SRU)
Two of the three Borderers in the Scottish national rugby team’s touring squad for this summer have been named in the starting XV for their opening fixture against Canada this coming Saturday, July 6.

Loosehead prop Rory Sutherland and lock Glen Young have been given the nod for that game in Ottawa, with only hooker Patrick Harrison missing out.

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Hawick’s Sutherland, 31, will be making his 31st international appearance and it’ll be a fourth cap for Jedburgh’s Young, 29.

West Linton’s Harrison, 22, is uncapped, this tour being his first call-up, but he’s almost a shoo-in for a first cap over the following three games as he’ll be one of only two No 2s left by the end of the tour, along with Edinburgh team-mate Ewan Ashman.

Ross McCann playing for Great Britain's rugby sevens team against Tonga in June in Monaco (Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)Ross McCann playing for Great Britain's rugby sevens team against Tonga in June in Monaco (Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)
Ross McCann playing for Great Britain's rugby sevens team against Tonga in June in Monaco (Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)

That’s because the Scots’ tour finale versus Uruguay in Montevideo on Saturday, July 27, falls outwith the international window, ruling out non-Scottish-based players such as Northampton Saints’ Robbie Smith and South African Dylan Richardson, the only other hookers in head coach Gregor Townsend’s 38-man squad.

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Sutherland, an international since 2016, is the most-capped player in Saturday’s starting line-up by a margin of 22, the next most experienced being Edinburgh flanker Luke Crosbie with eight prior appearances to his name.

It’ll be the new Glasgow Warriors signing’s first start since September’s 45-17 Rugby World Cup win against Tonga – having only made one appearance, from the bench, at this year’s Six Nations, for the Scots’ concluding 17-13 loss in Ireland in March – and Young’s first ever, the Edinburgh player having only featured as a replacement previously, against Argentina in July and November 2022 and Australia that October.

They’re joined in Saturday’s match-day squad of 23 by former Melrose winger Ross McCann, given a late call-up following the Great Britain sevens team’s failure to qualify for this summer’s Olympics in France and selected as one of five uncapped substitutes.

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Scotland loosehead prop Rory Sutherland during a training session at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, near Lille in northern France, last September (Photo by Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images)Scotland loosehead prop Rory Sutherland during a training session at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, near Lille in northern France, last September (Photo by Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images)
Scotland loosehead prop Rory Sutherland during a training session at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, near Lille in northern France, last September (Photo by Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images)

Making up the rest of this weekend’s starting XV, to be co-captained by Crosbie and Stafford McDowall, are Harry Paterson, Jamie Dobie, Matt Currie, Arron Reed, Ross Thompson, Gus Warr, Richardson, Elliot Millar Mills, Max Williamson, Gregor Brown and Josh Bayliss.

Joining McCann, 26, on the bench in Ontario are Robbie Smith, Nathan McBeth, Will Hurd, Ewan Johnson, Matt Fagerson, Ben Healy and Kyle Steyn.

Explaining his squad selection, ex-Gala and Border Reivers player Townsend, 51, said: “When we selected the squad, one of the principles we had was do we believe these players can play for us not just now – they get an opportunity now and in November and in the Six Nations. That’s the goal.

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“We’ve picked players that we think can make a difference for us as we go into next season.

“They understand the expectations we have of them, the belief we have in them.

“Time to adapt is not really something at test level you have much of. You’re trying to build cohesion as quickly as possible.

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“What we’ve seen so far is that players have adapted really well and they’re putting their best foot forward, and with any player winning their first cap, we want to see in the performance what got them into the squad and what got them selected in the first place, which is their game, their strengths.

“We know it’s going to be a great occasion for a number of players this weekend, winning their first caps and some of them their first starts, and we are really excited to see them play.”

The tourists’ others matches are against the USA in Washington DC on Friday, July 12, and Chile on Saturday, July 20, in Santiago.

The Scots’ last game against Canada was a 48-10 win in Edmonton in June 2018 and the last time they played in Ottawa was in June 2006, with a Scotland A team edging out their hosts by 15-10.

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