Scottish Rugby

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Scotland's summer tour is something of a banana skin, according to former national team prop Peter Wright.

Gregor Townsend's side face Canada, USA, Chile and Uruguay, and will be expected to win all four Test matches.

"This is almost a no-win tour for them because the four teams they are playing against are way down the world ranking and they should beat them," Wright told Sportsound..

"Uruguay and Chile will see Scotland as a real scalp. It's a tough tour. It will be really exciting for some of the younger players though.

"For the likes of Sione Tuipulotu, it's been a really long, hard season with very little rest. Still, you always want to play for your country and it will be an exciting summer."

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Try scorer Blair Kinghorn celebrated a double-winning start to his first season in France as Toulouse thrashed Bordeaux Begles 59-3 in the Top 14 final.

The Scotland star recorded the sixth of nine tries, and two conversions as the European Champions Cup winners ran riot in the second half at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille.

Thomas Ramos and Antoine Dupont both claimed a brace, along with further tries from Peato Mauvaka, Julien Marchand, David Ainuu and Ange Capuozzo.

Two further conversions from Ramos, along with two penalties from his boot, completed the rout with Maxime Lucu's 10th minute penalty the only glimmer of resistance from Bordeaux.

Kinghorn, signed from Edinburgh in December, put the finishing touches to an excellent break through the Bordeaux lines with ten minutes remaining to put himself on the scoresheet for the second week running.

He then turned home the conversion from his try, before wrapping the scoring up with a final effort to complete the rout..

It marked a showstopping end to Kinghorn's first season in France, winning 14 out of 14 matches played for the champions.

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Edinburgh utility back Matt Currie has been named as one of the URC breakout stars of the season.

The 23-year-old started in all 16 games he played for Sean Everitt's side.

With 119 tackles and an 85% success rate, Currie established himself as a dependable defensive asset.

Currie also showed his attacking ability by making 101 carries for 394 metres despite Edinburgh's practical approach. Everitt's men scored 47 tries, ranking them 12th of the 18 teams.

Uncapped Currie is set for a Scotland debut this season having been named in the squad for the tour of the Americas.

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Scottish second row Callum Hunter-Hill has joined English Premiership champions Northampton Saints from Saracens.

Hunter-Hill, 27, played 81 games and won the Premiership and Championship during his five-year Saracens spell after leave Edinburgh.

The former Under-20 international joins fellow Scots Rory Hutchinson and Robbie Smith at Northampton.

"When the opportunity to join Saints came, I looked at the team and it just seems like a fantastic place to be," Hunter-Hill told club media, external.

"They are a club on the up and have obviously just won the Premiership.

"I love the brand of rugby Saints play. It is very open and very quick. Even the defensive systems suit me as a player, it just makes me excited.

"Hopefully I can get in there and get some game-time, but it is a really talented group and Saints didn’t win the competition for no reason."

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Edinburgh winger Ross McCann has been called up for Scotland's tour of the Americas this summer.

The 26-year-old will fly out with the squad this weekend for games against Canada, USA, Chile and Uruguay.

McCann joins the national set-up from GB Sevens after recently featuring at the Monaco repechage where a 14-5 defeat by South Africa in the final ended hopes of qualification for this summer's Paris Olympics.

Uncapped McCann - who made his Edinburgh debut last October and has signed a two-year deal to join on a permanent basis this summer - is the club's 12th player to be called up for the tour.

The games against Chile (20 July) and Uruguay (27 July) will be shown live on BBC Scotland. Gregor Townsend's men begin the tour against Canada on 6 July and face the USA six days later.

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Sevens stalwarts Jamie Farndale and Robbie Fergusson are to retire after more than 560 games for Scotland and Great Britain between them.

Farndale made his debut in 2015 and Fergusson first featured two years later.

They have amassed just shy of 1,300 points between them and will bid farewell to the sport after Great Britain Sevens failed to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Both Farndale and Fergusson have captained Scotland's sevens team and appeared at two Commonwealth Games. They would also have each featured at consecutive Rugby World Cup Sevens had Fergusson not missed the 2022 tournament for the birth of his second child.

On his sterling career, Farndale said: "There are so many moments that will live with me forever.

"In terms of a highlight, it is hard to look past becoming the first and only Scottish team to beat the All Blacks on the way to beating England in their own back yard to lift the [World Rugby Sevens Series] trophy at Twickenham in 2017. That day was so incredibly special!”

Fergusson added: "Off-field the memories and friendships I have made will last a lifetime.

"On-field, making the Olympic squad for 2020 is a career highlight and more recently, beating Australia in Singapore to keep Great Britain on the World SVNS Series circuit was very special."

Ciaran Beattie, under whom both Fergusson and Farndale captained Scotland, paid tribute to the pair, saying: "It’s been a privilege to see Robbie and Jamie grow into the players and people that they have.

"They’re exceptional human beings, have always helped others coming through and they represented Scotland with distinction."

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Having returned home from Pretoria with the URC trophy in hand, Glasgow Warriors have been enjoying the celebrations with their fans.

A 4,500-strong crowd turned out at Scotstoun on Tuesday night to welcome home their champions and some of the players spoke to BBC Scotland's Rugby Podcast about how much it means to them.

Matt Fagerson: "I've been here nine years, you see the murals on the wall of the 2015 season and to be part of that legacy is priceless."

Richie Gray: "I grew up playing with wee Duncan Weir and then the Fagersons [Matt and Zander] came a wee bit later but I know them well and all the new guys, Sione [Tuipulotu], Jack Dempsey, Josh McKay, they've all just bought into what it's all about and it's been great.

"Doing it with your pals, doing it at your hometown club, doesn't get better than that."

Duncan Weir: "The boys' physical effort over the last three weeks in these play-offs, how we've had a real controlling performance as well has been great.

"The pack have been ferocious and so physical, credit goes to them. I don't know another tight-head in world rugby that could go three 80-minute performances in play-off games and then play as well as he did in the final 10 minutes than Zander [Fagerson]."

Sione Tuipulotu: "I just thought we needed to buck the trend of Scottish teams failing at the last hurdle and that's probably what I'm most proud of - we had to do it the hard way.

"Thomond [Park] away, Loftus away and every week there was different guys putting their hand up. I'm proud we could buck the trend and this group gets to share that special thing."

George Horne: "I don't think anyone really gave us a chance. It was just an unbelievable three weeks in terms of the performances the boys put in and the belief in the squad. We're still over the moon and shocked."

Managing director and former captain Al Kellock: "It doesn't just happen in 80 minutes. It happens over the whole season, it happens for years before that.

"There's so many people connected to it, a huge effort went in and then the boys delivered unbelievably well and in a very difficult place to go and win."

On this week's BBC Scotland Rugby podcast, host Andy Burke joins United Rugby Championship winners Glasgow Warriors at their homecoming event and hears from players, fans and head coach Franco Smith.

Click here to listen.

Edinburgh hooker Patrick Harrison explains he almost missed his Scotland call-up for the summer tour.

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Edinburgh hooker Patrick Harrison has revealed he initially rejected the phone call regarding his "surreal" Scotland call-up as he did not recognise head coach Gregor Townsend's number.

The 22-year-old will fly out this weekend for a tour that will include matches against Canada, the United States, Uruguay and Chile.

"We're on the way back from training," he explained. "It was actually Gregor who phoned me and it was an unknown number. I didn't see who it was. I didn't answer it.

"And then when I saw his face in the profile pic, I said, 'I better phone that number back'."

Harrison was playing for Peebles five years ago and had to pinch himself when he was called up.

"Yeah, pretty, pretty surreal to be fair to think about that," he said. "I've been at Edinburgh for four years coming up. That's been a fair bit of of work in the last four years.

"It’s always a goal growing up in Scotland to play for Scotland. It was never really in the back of my mind. It was a bit of a surprise."

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Glasgow Warriors paraded the URC trophy in front a packed Scotstoun on Tuesday after their superb league triumph in Pretoria.

Franco Smith's side beat Bulls 21-16 in the final on Saturday, having beaten previous winners Stormers and Munster to get there.

This was the first chance for Glasgow fans to celebrate with the players since they returned to Scotland, and they did so in style, with the event sold out.

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Scotland Women Under-20s head coach Claire Cruikshank believes the Six Nations experience in her young squad has helped drive standards to a new level.

Natasha Logan, Merryn Gunderson, Leia Brebner-Holden and Nicole Flynn were all part of Bryan Easson's squad earlier in the year, and now head to Parma with the under-20s for the Six Nations Summer Series.

"They've brought their experience from the Six Nations into the under-20s squad," Cruikshank said. "It's been great to see. They've used that experience, stepping up as leaders, driving our standards and our culture in the programme.

She also took the time to highlight their individual skills: "Tash [Logan] is a second row, abrasive ball carrier, becoming a real line out leader, working on that area of her game.

"Merryn is a back-row, and another abrasive ball carrier in attack and defence, which we saw in the Celtic Challenge.

"Leia is a scrum-half, plays her rugby down at Gloucester-Hartpury. A real good pass and has some good footwork, an eye for a gap.

"Nicole Flynn plays mainly in the centres, strong ball carrier, a lot of pace. She's only 18 years-old so one for the future."

Despite their experience, it is youngsters Poppy Fletcher and Hannah Walker who have been named co-captains for the tour. Both were part of Cruikshank's Edinburgh squad in the Celtic Challenge Cup.

"Both have really grown into their roles in the last few months," the head coach explained. "They're players that have come through the pathway and played in the under-18 Six Nations festival.

"Both have really grown over the course of our campaign so far. They're well liked in the group, but behind them we have our unit leaders so they're well backed up. It's a group effort."

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Glasgow's URC win puts the Warriors "on the map," according to star centre Huw Jones.

The Scotland international, who scored Glasgow's third try of the brilliant comeback win over the Bulls, believes people will now start to take the Scotstoun side more seriously.

"For Glasgow, it puts us on the map," Jones told the BBC's Rugby Union Weekly podcast. "We've been competing with the top end of the URC for a while but it seemed as though we weren't taken that seriously.

"All the focus was on the Irish and South African sides. To be able to string together this final run shows what we can do. That's huge for us and gives us huge belief going forward."

The 30-year-old, who has 48 caps for Scotland and is in the squad for this summer's tour of the Americas, believes Glasgow's win could also spur on the national side.

"For Scottish rugby, we've won big games in the past but never managed to string the games together," he added.

"We say that every Six Nations, that we want to string performances together in order to go on and win something.

"That's what we've done here. That gives us huge belief with Glasgow and with Scotland. This could be something that propels both teams on in the future."

Jones pinpointed Scott Cummings' try on the brink of half-time in the final as the pivotal moment as Glasgow went up the tunnel trailing 13-7.

"The biggest thing was that try we scored before half-time, that was huge," he said. "Had we gone in 13-0 down, it would have seemed a bit tougher. That gave us a huge boost.

"Looking around the changing room there was a general belief that we were going to win. It felt like it was never in doubt.

"Last year, that would have rattled us and we would've lost faith. This year we've been more mature, sticking to plan, and executing well. Almost everything worked."

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Scotland prop Oli Kebble will join French side Oyonnax this summer after departing Glasgow Warriors as a URC champion.

The South Africa-born 32-year-old made 104 appearances for the Scotstoun side in his seven-year spell.

After qualifying on residency, he made his Scotland debut in 2020 and played both loosehead and tighthead prop for his adopted homeland.

His last call-up came in the 2022 Six Nations when he came off the bench against France at Murrayfield.

Kebble joins Oyonnax on a two-year deal, with Les Oyomen having just been relegated from the Top 14 to the Pro D2 division.

He was an unused sub in both Limerick and Pretoria in Glasgow's final two games of the season, winning away at Munster and then the Bulls as they sealed the URC crown.

His final playing appearance came against his former side Stormers in the quarter-final at Scotstoun.

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The Scots in the Glasgow Warriors squad weren't the only ones going for glory over the weekend, as Bristol Bears took on Gloucester-Hartpury in the Premiership Women's Rugby final.

There were three Scots in the Bears team, as Meryl Smith started at full-back and Evie Gallagher began at openside flanker, with tighthead prop Elliann Clarke coming off the bench.

Despite leading 17-7 at half-time, it wasn't to be for the Bears and the trio had to settle for a silver medal as Gloucester-Hartbury fought back for a 36-24 win to seal successive titles.

Over in France, it was semi-final time in the Top 14 as Toulouse eye domestic success after their European Champions Cup win.

Scotland's Blair Kinghorn started on the wing for only the second time since his arrival in France, but it did not faze him as he dotted down for a try in the 22nd minute.

That was one of five Toulouse tries as they overcame La Rochelle 39-23 to set up a final on Friday night against Bordeaux-Begles (20:05 BST).

Glasgow head coach talks to BBC Scotland after the Warriors returned to Scotland following their URC triumph.

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Glasgow's performance in the URC final was pleasing on the eye, and the stats back up just how impressive it was.

Warriors number eight Jack Dempsey and full-back Josh McKay each beat seven defenders in the 21-16 win over Bulls in Pretoria - the joint-most by any players in a URC final since Opta started collecting this data in 2010.

Dempsey also made 20 tackles, the most by a number eight in a final since Glasgow's Matt Fagerson made 27 in the 2019 loss to Leinster.

Also, despite making fewer carries than Bulls, Franco Smith's side still made more metres (523), had more line breaks (seven) and beat more defenders (41) than their South African opposition.

It was just the fifth time in the entire league season that a team had beat 40+ defenders in a single game, with Glasgow the only team to manage it twice.