More than a decade has passed since the last time that Scotland ‘A’ played a match on home soil. On that occasion the opposition was England Saxons at Scotstoun, a game that finished in a 16 – 16 draw.
Back in January 2014, the Scottish side was led by 19-year-old Jonny Gray. The only member of the 23 who wasn’t either capped already or went on to be capped was replacement lock, Ollie Atkins.
The most recent ‘A’ fixture for the dark blues was also against Chile, a 45-5 victory in Santiago in June 2022.
Ben Muncaster’s Test debut last weekend means that all six uncapped players from that last ‘A’ fixture have gone on to win full international caps.
Read more:
- Scotland 'A' team named to face Chile
- Matt Currie backs Edinburgh team-mate to shine for Scotland 'A'
There are 13 capped players in this Scotland matchday squad. Two of them debuted last week versus Portugal (Muncaster and Freddy Douglas) while another four took their international bows over the summer (Arron Reed, Matt Currie, Ross McCann and Ewan Johnson).
Of the 10 players in the squad who are yet to make their Test debuts, Fin Richardson, Jare Oguntibeju, Liam McConnell and Jack Brown are also still to make their first appearance in a top level club match.
Chile
Among the Chile matchday squad there are 17 players who ply their trade at home – no fewer than 15 of them with Selknam in Super Rugby Americas. Three are US based in the MLR; two in France (hooker Diego Escobar in the Top 14 for Racing 92 plus one in Federale 1); and one in the Italian Top 10.
This group of players have already played twice on their European tour, hammering Canada 44-14 in Bucharest before being edged out 17-20 against the Netherlands in Amsterdam last weekend.
Eighteen of the Chilean matchday squad have previously played against either Scotland or Scotland ‘A’, including 16 of the 23 from the Test match during the summer who return for this encounter at the Hive.
Forwards Javier Carrasco, Clemente Saavedra and Alfonso Escobar will be starting their third game against Scotland.
Having appeared at the last World Cup, continuing to get opportunities against Tier 1 nations will hopefully be beneficial for their development. They could maybe do with more countries than just Argentina and Scotland opening their door to them though.
Head to heads
Four of the Scotland backline played against Chile over the summer, although none will fill the same role as they did in Santiago.
Arron Reed and Jamie Dobie started on the wings for the full Test match but will feature at fullback and scrum-half respectively this time round.
Stafford McDowall and Matt Currie were both on the bench five months ago, finishing the game as a centre pairing. They might be reunited again late on in this fixture but for now Currie will demonstrate his versatility on the wing with skipper McDowall in his more usual midfield berth.
Currie and Ross Thompson also started Scotland’s previous ‘A’ fixture against Chile in 2022.
There will be brand new combinations across the pack. Even the all Edinburgh back row have never started together.
Freddy Douglas has yet to make his club debut and, while they have been teammates since the start of the 2023/24 campaign, Ben Muncaster and Tom Dodd seem to have been an either/or selection for Edinburgh’s coaches, with just 13 minutes where they have been on the pitch together for the first team.
It will be six years to the day since the last time that Jamie Bhatti and D’Arcy Rae started a match together as a prop pairing, on that occasion for Glasgow against Cardiff.
At ten that day for the Warriors was ‘A’ team head coach, Pete Horne who linked up with inside centre Stafford McDowall, who was making just his second start for the club.
With all eight of the bench being additional call-ups for this match, to add to another five such new faces in the starting XV, Scotland have had 60 different players in camp across November.
43 of them will have had game time in the Test matches with another 14 getting an ‘A’ level outing in this fixture (the 13 extra players plus Mosese Tuipulotu).
Most of the replacements will see this as a higher level opportunity to impress as they try to break through at their clubs.
Ben Healy is the only previously capped player on the home bench. He started the Test against Chile in June and this outing provides him with a chance to push himself back into contention for club and country after a difficult start to the current season.
Officials
- Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
- Assistant Referees: Federico Vedovelli and (both Italy)
- TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)
The key officials are all URC regulars with Mr Gnecchi having taken charge of three Edinburgh games at the Hive in the last couple of years.
He appears to be on the kind of pathway that means he could take charge of a match involving the full Scotland team in the next two to three years.
Miscellany
- Scotland 'A' are on a seven-match unbeaten run that stretches back to the Nations Championship in 2010.
- They haven’t lost a home fixture since going down 20-44 to Australia ‘A’ in November 2006.
- This will be a capture match for Scotland. With their nominated next senior national representative team playing against a senior national representative team, anyone who plays who was not already captured by Scotland will be following this game.
- Jamie Bhatti is the only player over the age of 30 in the Scotland line-up. Tighthead prop Matias Dittus is the only thirtysomething in the Chile matchday squad.
- A dozen of the dark blues’ 23 were born in the 2000s, with Jack Brown (date of birth 18/6/05) the youngest player in either squad, one month younger than Freddy Douglas.
Read the rules here