Grant Gilchrist to captain Scotland in summer tour of Chile and Argentina

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has named Edinburgh lock Grant Gilchrist as the captain for their summer tour squad for Chile and Argentina.

The decision follows after regular captain Stuart Hogg and fly-half Finn Russell have been rested after playing regularly last year that also included a British and Irish Lions' tour of South Africa.

"Hogg has played more minutes than anybody else that's available to us," said head coach Gregor Townsend.

"When you put that on the back of the Lions tour the year before, we believe the best thing for him and others is to rest this summer. It's going to be a big 12-14 months with the World Cup next September. Stuart and others are going to get a break, we believe that will be a big benefit."

The squad also includes uncapped players in Edinburgh Rugby’s Ben Muncaster, Glen Young, Matt Currie along with London Irish’s Kyle Rowe and Glasgow Warriors’ duo Murphy Walker and Ollie Smith while Scott Cummings, Rory Darge and Matt Fagerson make a comeback from injuries.

Edinburgh flanker Jamie Ritchie misses out after failing to show progress from his injury but Hamish Watson, Ali Price, Duhan van der Merwe and Zander Fagerson all return.

The tour will see a Scotland A side taking on Chile on 25th June at Estadio Santa Laura Universidad SEK followed by Scotland taking on Argentina in a three-game Test series to be played on 2nd, 9th and 16th July

Scotland squad:

Forwards: Ewan Ashman, Jamie Bhatti, Magnus Bradbury, Dave Cherry, Andy Christie, Luke Crosbie, Scott Cummings, Rory Darge, Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson, Grant Gilchrist, Jonny Gray, Jamie Hodgson, Ben Muncaster, Pierre Schoeman, Javan Sebastian, Sam Skinner, Rory Sutherland, George Turner, Murphy Walker, Hamish Watson, Glen Young

Backs: Mark Bennett, Matt Currie, Darcy Graham, Adam Hastings, George Horne, Damian Hoyland, Rory Hutchinson, Sam Johnson, Huw Jones, Blair Kinghorn, Rufus McLean, Ali Price, Kyle Rowe, Ollie Smith, Ross Thompson, Sione Tuipulotu, Duhan van der Merwe, Ben White