Scotland select remarkable 48th and 49th set of siblings for USA Test

Scotland’s tradition of picking siblings is continuing with Glasgow Warriors duo Matt Fagerson (back-row) and George Horne (scrum-half) making their debuts alongside older brothers Zander and Pete in their Test match against the USA this weekend.

Remarkably they will be the 48th and 49th brothers to play for Scotland, and the 22nd and 23rd pair of brothers to play together in the same Test match.

It will be only the eighth time in close to 700 Scotland Tests when two sets of brothers have been on the field at the same time, joining the Evans and Lamont brothers (2010), Bulloch and Leslie brothers (2001), Milne and Hastings brothers (1990), and the Neilson and Orr brothers, who did so four times (1891-1892).

Head coach Gregor Townsend is retaining just three of the team which beat Canada 48-10 last Saturday for the match in Houston, Texas.

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Glasgow Warriors full-back Stuart Hogg will captain the side while lock Ben Toolis, wing Blair Kinghorn (both Edinburgh) and Sale Sharks wing Byron McGuigan are the three players to retain their places.

Five players will also make their first starts – Glasgow Warriors trio Jamie Bhatti (prop), George Turner (hooker) and Adam Hastings (stand-off), as well as Edinburgh lock Lewis Carmichael and back-row Luke Hamilton.

Scotland Head Coach, Gregor Townsend, said: “We always planned to play as much of the squad as possible on this tour, and we also deliberately picked more Edinburgh players in the first game because their season finished earlier.

“Now we welcome most of the Glasgow Warriors contingent into the team. On top of that there are seven players making their first starts for the country, which is really exciting, and we are looking forward to them going out and grabbing this opportunity.

“The USA have won their last six games and scored a lot of points in the process. They’ve beaten two teams that have already qualified for the Rugby World Cup – Uruguay and Russia – and put 60 points on both of them. They are definitely improving as a team and are playing with a lot of confidence.

“You can see in the way they attack and defend that they are well coached, added to which there are some exceptional individuals that offer running threats throughout their side, so this will be a real test for us on Saturday.”

Scotland team to play USA, BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, Texas
Saturday 16 June, kick-off 8pm local time (Sunday 2am UK time)

15. Stuart Hogg CAPTAIN (Glasgow Warriors) – 60 caps

14. Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh) – 3 caps
13. Nick Grigg (Glasgow Warriors) – 4 caps
12. Pete Horne VICE CAPTAIN (Glasgow Warriors) – 33 caps
11. Byron McGuigan (Sale Sharks) – 4 caps

10. Adam Hastings (Glasgow Warriors) – 1 cap
9. George Horne (Glasgow Warriors) – uncapped

1. Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow Warriors) – 9 caps
2. George Turner (Glasgow Warriors) – 3 caps
3. Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – 16 caps
4. Lewis Carmichael (Edinburgh) – 1 cap
5. Ben Toolis (Edinburgh) – 10 caps
6. Tim Swinson VICE CAPTAIN (Glasgow Warriors) – 36 caps
7. Luke Hamilton (unattached) – 2 caps
8. Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – uncapped

Substitutes
16. Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors) – 32 caps
17. Allan Dell (Edinburgh) – 11 caps
18. Murray McCallum (Edinburgh) – 2caps
19. Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh) – 23 caps
20. David Denton (Leicester Tigers) – 40 caps
21. Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Scarlets) – 10 caps
22. Mark Bennett (Edinburgh) – 21 caps
23. Dougie Fife (Edinburgh) – 6 caps