Rugby World Cup: Scotland call up hooker Kevin Bryce
- Published
2015 Rugby World Cup |
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Host: England Dates: 18 September-31 October |
Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live and sports extra, BBC Radio Scotland, plus live text commentary on every match on the BBC Sport website |
Glasgow Warriors hooker Kevin Bryce has been called up to Scotland's World Cup squad to replace Edinburgh's Stuart McInally, who has a neck injury.
Edinburgh hooker Ross Ford is likely to be Vern Cotter's first choice, leaving Bryce, 27, and Warriors team-mate Fraser Brown as back-up.
"It's not quite sunk in yet," said Bryce. "It's all happened pretty fast.
"I managed to get a quick phone call into my old man. He was on a building site and he was quite taken aback!"
McInally played in his first and second Scotland matches in the back-to-back wins over Italy last month before being named in the 31-man squad.
However a MRI scan revealed the extent of a subsequent, ongoing neck complaint that requires a prolonged period of recovery beyond the competition.
Bryce won his first cap for Scotland in the 2014 summer tour win over Canada.
"I haven't spoken to Stuart yet," he said. "I feel quite bad the way it's come about through an injury and my thoughts are with him.
"That's the pinnacle of your rugby career; you want to make a World Cup squad and I'm just happy I can do it.
"I went away to Italy with them two or three weeks ago so I was there or thereabouts, but I never thought I was going to get the phone call this early or ever at all."
Scotland begin their World Cup Pool B campaign with a match against Japan in Gloucester a week on Wednesday.
Bryce had been involved with the Scotland squad for their warm-up matches as precautionary cover but was one of seven players cut from the extended squad at the end of last month.
Scotland's World Cup squad | |
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Forwards (17) | Backs (14) |
Props: Alasdair Dickinson, Willem Nel (both Edinburgh), Ryan Grant, Gordon Reid (both Glasgow Warriors), Jon Welsh (Newcastle Falcons) | Back three: Stuart Hogg, Sean Lamont, Tommy Seymour (all Glasgow Warriors), Tim Visser (Harlequins), Sean Maitland (London Irish) |
Hookers: Fraser Brown, Kevin Bryce (both Glasgow Warriors), Ross Ford Edinburgh) | Centres: Mark Bennett, Peter Horne, Richie Vernon (all Glasgow Warriors), Matt Scott (Edinburgh) |
Locks: Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh), Richie Gray (Castres), Jonny Gray, Tim Swinson (both Glasgow Warriors) | Fly-halves: Finn Russell, Duncan Weir (both Glasgow Warriors) |
Back-row: David Denton (Edinburgh), John Hardie (unattached), Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan), Ryan Wilson, Josh Strauss (both Glasgow Warriors) | Scrum-halves: Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Edinburgh), Greig Laidlaw (Gloucester), Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors) |
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