Three Borderers named in Scotland rugby squad for fourth international break on bounce

Edinburgh right-winger Graham and his hooker teammate Harrison and Glasow Warriors loosehead prop Sutherland all retain their places after being selected for this year’s Six Nations, keeping up a three-strong representation for the region for the fourth international window on the spin.

Their selections twice so far this year follow their call-ups for 2024’s autumn tests and Sutherland, Harrison and Jedburgh’s Glen Young going on last summer’s tour of the Americas, a threefold increase on head coach Gregor Townsend’s initial line-up for last year’s Six Nations with only one fellow Borderer in, Edinburgh lock Young, 30.

Sutherland and Harrison’s latest call-ups come despite a lack of game-time for their clubs, the former only having made three competitive starts, plus nine appearances as a replacement, since arriving in Glasgow from France’s Oyonnax last summer, and the latter eight last season, plus ten games as a substitute.

Graham, 27, on the other hand, played 19 matches for his club last term, all of them starts and 16 of them full 80-minute shifts, touching down eight times.

The No 14, still hoping for a late British and Irish Lions call-up ahead of their Australian tour in July and August, is now on 46 caps since 2018, 41 of them starts, scoring 31 tries along the way, one short of the all-time record of 32 held by his Edinburgh clubmate Duhan van der Merwe.

Sutherland, 32, is on 41 since 2016, 19 of them starts, and Harrison, 22, is on three since last July, two from the bench.

This summer’s 36-strong squad is being captained by former Southern Knights flanker Rory Darge, with the Melrose team from 2019 to 2020 before moving on to Edinburgh and, in 2021, his current club, Glasgow.

Borderer John Dalziel having been requisitioned by Lions head coach Andy Farrell for their upcoming tour, his role as forwards coach is being filled by former Hawick lock Fergus Pringle, currently doing that job for Scotland’s under-20s.

The Scots kick off their tour against the Maori All Blacks in Whangarei on Saturday, July 5, the first time they’ve played each other since 2000 and only their third match all together.

They then take on Fiji in Suva on Saturday, July 12, and Samoa back in New Zealand, in Auckland, on Friday, July 18.

Graham’s 14 fellow backs will be Fergus Burke, Matt Currie, Jamie Dobie, Adam Hastings, George Horne, Tom Jordan, Cameron Redpath, Stafford McDowall, Harry Paterson, Arron Reed, Kyle Rowe, Ollie Smith, Kyle Steyn and Ben White.

Joining Sutherland, Harrison and 30-times-capped Darge, 25, among 21 forwards are Ewan Ashman, Josh Bayliss, Gregor Brown, Matt Fagerson, Grant Gilchrist, Cameron Henderson, Alec Hepburn, Will Hurd, Alexander Masibaka, Nathan McBeth, Elliot Millar Mills, Ben Muncaster, Andy Onyeama-Christie, Fin Richardson, Marshall Sykes, George Turner, Max Williamson and Jamie Ritchie.

Announcing his squad selection, ex-Gala and Border Reivers player, Townsend, 52, said: “We know that playing test matches for Scotland and winning test matches for Scotland is really important, so we have to pick a strong squad to take on the likes of Fiji and Samoa.

“It’s an even more important issue with the world-ranking points. The world cup draw gets made after November, so these games are crucial to make sure we’ve got the best chance of being in that top six and getting a better seeding.

“There are always maybe one or two players that we decided not to select not because of form but because we think it’s not right for them to go into a tour at this time, but other than that, it’s as strong as a squad as we could select.

“The benefit of having that third game against Maori All Blacks will be that everybody on tour will get game-time and players that maybe haven’t played as much for us in the past are going to get game-time for Scotland.”

Townsend, a Lions assistant coach last time round in South Africa in 2021, believes there’s a good chance he might have to make some changes due to late call-ups by the multinational outfit and is ready for that, saying: “I don’t want to say we hope for that to happen because that means someone’s been injured on the tour, but if someone does get injured, then we would like to feel that our players are in a strong position.

“Some would have been very close to selection anyway.

“If they’re playing in New Zealand or in Fiji and playing well, then that gives them an even bigger opportunity to potentially join the Lions tour.

“There will be injuries on the way to Australia and during the tour in Australia.

“The good thing for our players and those that maybe were closer to selection is they were so keen to come out and tour. They’ve had long seasons but some of these players are in great form, so that’s great for us as we go to tour, but it should be also good for chances of getting on the Lions tour.”