Before the final two matches in South America, five players have left the Scotland tour party.
After the North American leg, head coach Gregor Townsend always intended to cut his team. Robbie Smith, Elliot Millar Mills, Ross Thompson, and Ross McCann, along with the unfortunate Glen Young, who had a pectoral injury in the gym, have all been announced as returning home.
Smith, the Northampton Saints hooker, made his Scotland debut as a replacement in the tour opener against Canada and also came off the bench in the win over the USA on Friday evening. Millar Mills, a team-mate of Smith’s, and Thompson, who will play for Edinburgh next season, both started in the 73-12 win over Canada then appeared as replacements against the States. McCann, the sevens specialist who has signed for Edinburgh, also made his Scotland XVs debut off the bench against Canada, a game in which Young started.
Scotland, who defeated the United States 42–7 in Washington, DC, will play Chile this Saturday in Santiago and Uruguay on July 27 in Montevideo to wrap out the tour. Because the Uruguay match is outside of the official Test window, Townsend will only be selecting players based in Scotland. The coach is also anticipated to further reduce his group in the lead-up to the match, with the English and French players expected to head home.
Three developing players are joining the team “as a learning opportunity” for the South American part of the tour, as was disclosed when the squad was unveiled last month. Ben Afshar, an Edinburgh lock, Rob Carmichael, and tighthead prop Fin Richardson, who joined with Glasgow Warriors from Exeter Chiefs for the upcoming season, will participate in full training with the squad.
with the 2023–24 season, Richardson, 25, had dual registrations with the Cornish Pirates and Exeter. He played in the Championship with the latter team. He was formerly a Scotland U20 international player who played for Currie and Edinburgh Academical before moving to the south to attend the University of Exeter to pursue a legal education.
21-year-old Afshar co-captained Scotland U20 in Kenya for the 2023 World Rugby U20 Trophy. In November, he played his first game for Glasgow against Ulster, coming on as a substitute in the 33-20 victory at home. In the February victory over the Dragons at Scotstoun, he made his debut and scored his first try. Throughout the season, he made eight appearances for the Warriors, six of which came during their victorious URC campaign and two of which came in the Cup of Champions.
The 6ft 11in Carmichael, 21, signed a three-year contract with the capital club in February 2024 after first joining Edinburgh on loan from Leicester Tigers. After his English/Welsh mother and Scottish father emigrated in the 1990s, he was born and reared in Hong Kong. He was an Edinburgh A player.
