Emerging Scotland
Rugby team
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Emerging Scotland is a Scottish international rugby union team that represents Scotland in selected matches, tours and competitions. Composed of Scotland qualified players only, mostly uncapped or at the beginning of their careers, it forms part of the development pathway to the senior Scotland team. It is not to be confused with the Scotland 'A', the national 'A' team which competes and is a level below the national side but with no age restrictions, nor with the Scotland U-20s with strict age limits that competes in the Under-20 Six Nations and Rugby World Cup.
| |||
| Union | Scottish Rugby Union | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Emblem | The Thistle | ||
| Founded | 2024 | ||
| Location | Scotland | ||
| Coach | Gregor Townsend | ||
| Captain | Liam McConnell | ||
| Top scorer | Ollie Blyth-Laffery (5pts) | ||
| Most tries | Ollie Blyth-Laffery (1 try) | ||
| |||
| First international | |||
 Emerging Scotland 7 – 24  Italy U23(2024) | |||
| Largest defeat | |||
| Emerging Scotland 7 – 24 Italy U23 (2024) | |||
History
The Emerging Scotland side was part of the National Academy pilot programme which was launched in September 2024 to add increased value to the development of a selected group of promising players. It is part of the Scottish Rugby Male Performance Pathway.
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend said: “This fixture enables us to bring our best young players together, have a week of training with national team coaches, and take on a quality international side.
“Similar fixtures that will look to expose emerging talented Scottish players to high level competition will aim to be included going forward. Probably the most important element of a young player’s development is learning by playing at a higher level than you’ve previously experienced. The game has always been the best teacher and we believe that our players will reap the benefits from this experience."[1]
Their first match was a 24-7 loss against Italy,[2][3] their second match was a 24-19 loss against Tonga XV.[4]
Current squad
There was named a 32 man squad for their match against Tonga XV.
Head Coach: Gregor Townsend
Note: Caps listed are full international caps.
| Player | Position | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Club/province |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mikey Jones | Prop | 8 July 2002 | 0 | Edinburgh |
| Jake Shearer | Prop | 9 November 2002 | 0 | Glasgow Warriors |
| Jamie Stewart | Prop | 21 April 2006 | 0 | Edinburgh Rugby |
| Harri Morris | Hooker | 13 October 2001 | 1 | Edinburgh |
| Jerry Blyth-Lafferty | Hooker | 6 February 2004 | 0 | Edinburgh |
| Seb Stephen | Hooker | 14 December 2003 | 0 | Glasgow Warriors |
| Ollie Blyth-Lafferty | Prop | 4 April 2006 | 0 | Edinburgh |
| Cole Lamberton | Prop | 0 | Edinburgh Rugby | |
| Oliver McKenna | Prop | 28 March 2006 | 0 | Glasgow Warriors |
| Euan McVie | Lock | 13 December 2004 | 0 | Edinburgh |
| Christian Lindsay | Lock | 0 | Edinburgh | |
| Jare Oguntibeju | Lock | 14 May 2002 | 0 | Glasgow Warriors |
| Ryan Burke | Lock | 18 June 2004 | 0 | Glasgow Warriors |
| Liam McConnell (c) | Flanker | 24 June 2004 | 1 | Edinburgh |
| Freddy Douglas | Flanker | 14 May 2002 | 1 | Edinburgh |
| Josh Taylor | Flanker | 28 June 2002 | 0 |  Ealing Trailfinders |
| Macenzzie Duncan | Flanker | 23 February 2003 | 0 | Glasgow Warriors |
| Jonny Morris | Flanker | 9 January 2004 | 0 | Glasgow Warriors |
| Tom Currie | Number 8 | 21 September 2004 | 0 | Edinburgh |
| Ben Afshar | Scrum-half | 2 April 2003 | 0 | Glasgow Warriors |
| Conor McAlpine | Scrum-half | 27 April 2004 | 0 | Edinburgh |
| Jack Oliver | Scrum-half | 28 April 2003 | 0 | Glasgow Warriors |
| Cammy Scott | Fly-half | 8 September 2001 | 0 | Edinburgh |
| Matthew Urwin | Fly-half | 17 April 2005 | 0 | Glasgow Warriors |
| Lewis Wells | Wing | 20 November 2002 | 0 | Edinburgh |
| Malelili Satala | Wing | 24 October 2004 | 0 | Edinburgh |
| Kerr Yule | Centre | 8 July 2005 | 0 | Glasgow Warriors |
| Johnny Ventisei | Centre | 5 April 2005 | 0 | Glasgow Warriors |
| Geordie Gwynn | Centre | 22 January 2004 | 0 | Ealing Trailfinders |
| Findlay Thomson | Wing | 22 July 2004 | 0 | Edinburgh |
| Fergus Watson | Wing | 26 June 2005 | 0 | Glasgow Warriors |
| Jack Brown | Fullback | 18 June 2005 | 0 | Edinburgh |