Rugby-McInally to captain Scotland at World Cup

Edinburgh Rugby hooker Stuart McInally will captain Scotland at the World Cup in Japan this month after being chosen ahead of John Barclay and Greig Laidlaw by head coach Gregor Townsend on Tuesday.

Centres Huw Jones and Rory Hutchinson missed out along with forwards Josh Strauss, Matt Fagerson and Magnus Bradbury in the 31-man squad for the tournament in Japan. "Stuart has done a really good job in the opportunities he's had to captain Scotland," Townsend, who in total named 13 players with previous World Cup experience, said in a statement https://www.scottishrugby.org/news/scotland-squad-named-for-rugby-world-cup-2019.

"He captained Edinburgh last season and is a real lead-by-example player, both in training and in games. He's a calming influence and is very good at bringing the best out of others." Scotland, quarter-finalists in 2015, kick off their campaign in Pool A against Ireland on Sept. 22 before matches against Samoa, Russia and hosts Japan.