Uncapped Ollie Leatherbarrow named in Scotland Nations Championship squad

Ollie Leatherbarrow has his first senior call-up. The Newcastle Red Bulls back-rower has no caps, and he is now in Scotland's plans for their November Tests.

Head coach Gregor Townsend has named 37 players for three Nations Championship matches at Murrayfield, against New Zealand, Australia and Japan. Sione Tuipulotu keeps the captaincy.

Leatherbarrow is 24. He is eligible through his grandmother, who comes from Perth, and he is no stranger to the thistle: he has already played for Scotland at age-group level, including at under-20.

Experienced players back from injury

Townsend also has several established players available again. Jamie Ritchie, Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe have all returned from injuries in recent weeks and are in the group. Toulon centre Huw Jones is back too, after injury kept him out of the July Tests.

Jack Dempsey stays in the squad even though the back-rower left Glasgow in the summer to play in Japan.

Some Edinburgh players miss out. Scrum-half Hector Patterson was not picked, and forward Freddy Douglas was also left out.

The road to Twickenham

The window starts with the All Blacks on Saturday 7 November. Scotland then play the Wallabies on Sunday 15 November and Japan on Saturday 21 November, with all three matches at Murrayfield.

BBC Sport reported that the Nations Championship ends at Twickenham the following weekend, with the finals fixtures decided by where teams finish in their hemisphere.