"English qualified fly half" – Who are the two uncapped players in the Scotland squad for the 2025 Six Nations?

Yesterday at 05:27 AM

Gregor Townsend has named his Scotland squad for the 2025 Men’s Guinness Six Nations, with two uncapped hopefuls included in the 37-man training camp. The exciting duo of Saracens fly half Fergus Burke and Glasgow Warriors back row Jack Mann join the fray, with Scotland set to commence their campaign against Italy on Saturday 1st February.

This is the eighth Six Nations squad that Gregor Townsend has named, with Jonny Gray returning to the Test match stage for the first time in nearly two years. The experience spotlight is fixed firmly on the veteran lock, who leads a relatively young and inexperienced side into the Championship. Seven of Townsend’s selected forwards have six caps or less, and seven of his chosen backs have 10 caps or fewer at senior international level.

There is plenty of excitement behind this Scotland side, with Finn Russell and Sione Tuipulotu at the helm of the attacking plans. Scotland have for a long while been considered ‘dark horses’ of the competition, with Townsend’s men regarded a step away from the two horse race of Ireland and France.

However, Scotland have impressed throughout the past year, with a clean sweep in the Summer across the Americas, and a solid showing in the Autumn with wins over Fiji and Portugal. Could this be the year for Scotland, to move up into the upper echelons of European Rugby’s heavyweights?

THE2 UNCAPPED PLAYERS IN SCOTLAND SQUAD FOR THE 2025 MEN’S GUINNESS SIX NATIONS

1. FERGUS BURKE (Saracens)

The man who Saracens brought in to replace their departing stalwart Owen Farrell, it has been a quickfire rise to Test match contention for 25-year-old Fergus Burke. The New Zealand born halfback rose through the ranks in his homeland, where he progressed from the Canterbury provincial side and into the Crusaders Super Rugby set-up.

Burke made his debut for the Crusaders in an away victory over the Sunwolves, when the Japanese club were still apart of the Super Rugby landscape in 2019. The fly half enjoyed plenty of success in his five years with the Crusaders, as the Christchurch club won five consecutive Super Rugby titles whilst Burke was a member of the squad.

The line-leading back got his first taste of the English rugby landscape ahead of his debut for Saracens, as he starred for the Barbarians at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium, against Fiji last Summer. Whilst this was not considered an official Test match cap, it would not be long before Burke’s name was being floated around the conversation for a senior international call-up, with ancestral eligibility for both Scotland and England, due to his English mother and Glaswegian grandfather.

Burke pressed on in the Premiership, where he has five tries to his name ahead of the eleventh round of the competition. Couple this with some fine form from the tee, that has seen Burke accrue a total of 71 points in all competitions for the Londoners, and his international call became impossible to ignore. Scotland won the race to bring Burke into the fold, with the Kiwi-born fly half set to play an understudy role to resident talisman Finn Russell.

England head coach Steve Borthwick could well view Burke as ‘one that got away’, should the Saracen transfer his impressive club form to that of Scottish colours. Burke was overlooked by Borthwick, as the England boss already has an assortment of top 10s at his disposal, with the trio of Marcus Smith, George Ford and Fin Smith leaving no space for the New Zealander in the 2025 Six Nations squad.

2. JACK MANN (Glasgow Warriors)

Joining Burke in the Scotland camp with the goal of achieving his first Test cap in the 2025 Six Nations, is highly rated Glasgow Warriors back row Jack Mann. The 25-year-old has been in tremendous form for the defending United Rugby Championship title holders this season, and has rightfully earned himself a spot in the 37-man squad that will prepare for the incoming tournament.

After only making his debut for Glasgow in December of 2022, it has quite the meteoric rise through the ranks for Mann within Franco Smith’s side. Despite only having seven senior level caps to his name with the Warriors, Scotland head coach Townsend certainly backs his man to rise to the occasion of the Six Nations stage. The back row gained prior Scotland international experience at U20s level, with a solid run in the 2019 U20 Six Nations seeing Mann appear four times for the Scottish age-grade side.

A standout for semi-professional outfit Heriot's in the Super Series, Mann represented Scotland U20 alongside future Glasgow team-mates including Ollie Smith and Murphy Walker. The number eight made his Glasgow Warriors debut in December 2022, after impressing in training with Franco Smith’s side. Mann’s first appearance in a Glasgow jersey came in a 22-19 win away to Bath in the EPCR Challenge Cup, in what was an eye-catching performance for the Warriors.

He second appearance for the club came 720 days after his first, playing the full 80 minutes in a win over the Scarlets in November 2024 after recovering from a series of injuries. There is a significant pecking order for Mann to overcome, should he be selected to pack down the scrum in the eight shirt in this coming Six Nations. With both Matt Fagerson and Jack Dempsey included in the squad, Mann’s immediate objective would be to immerse himself in the Scotland training environment, and capitalise on any opportunity given to him throughout the Championships.

The post “English qualified fly half” – Who are the two uncapped players in the Scotland squad for the 2025 Six Nations? appeared first on Ruck.