Gregor Townsend names Six Nations squad

Gregor Townsend on why he included Fergus Burke in his Scotland Six Nations squad

Transcript

00:00Yeah, I would say so. I think you're always looking to see players in form and whether

00:08they can come into the squad if they miss the previous campaign and you are unfortunately

00:13looking at players that pick up injuries. There are a few changes from November, players

00:17dropping out with injury, players coming back in, but in the main it's a squad that we've

00:23worked with for a number of years and in particular that November series, a lot of the guys are

00:29back in for this campaign.

00:30Fergus Burke, talk to us about him, what's he going to bring, how long have you had him

00:35on the radar?

00:36For a while, I've chatted to Fergus before he signed for Saracens and we've known about

00:42his Scottish heritage for two or three years now. He missed a year's rugby with the Crusaders

00:50before he went to Saracens so we've kept in touch. He was in consideration in November

00:56but we didn't feel his game at that time got him into our squad. He's playing better

01:04and better the more he plays. There is an opening in our squad with Adam getting injured

01:08too so we feel it was the right time for him. He's someone that really understands the game

01:15from an attacking perspective, played regular rugby at a top team, he's a very good defender

01:22and also he can play full-back. We saw with Tom, TJ in November, having that flexibility

01:30to play full-back was a bonus for us and obviously can add to options for the bench that came

01:37around.