14 Championship, League 1 players named in Scotland squad for Ireland Test

Scotland’s squad for their Test match against Ireland later this month is dominated by players from the Championship and League 1, with Super League and NRL youngsters also included!

Nathan Graham’s Bravehearts take on the Wolfhounds on Sunday, October 27 at the Gateshead International Stadium with a 2pm (BST) kick-off scheduled.

The clash of the Celtic rivals will see Scotland return to action for the first time since the Rugby League World Cup in 2022, and head coach Graham has named a very varied squad.

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Scotland’s squad for Ireland Test including Championship and League 1 aces as well as Super League and NRL youngsters

Among the players chosen from Championship clubs are veterans Danny Addy and Dale Ferguson.

Addy, who featured 29 times this term for Featherstone Rovers, has 18 Scotland caps to his name.

Ferguson meanwhile began the year as Dewsbury’s player-coach, but relinquished the coaching side of things early on in the season. He amassed 11 appearances over the course of a campaign which saw the Rams relegated.

His next Scotland game will see him become the nation’s second-highest appearance-maker ever, with 22 caps on his CV already.

Elsewhere, Hunslet duo Matty Fletcher and Ross Whitmore have been included in Graham’s 21-man squad having helped the Parksiders to promotion from League 1.

Between them, the pair amassed 41 appearances for Dean Muir’s side in 2024, and could now be rewarded with their first-ever international caps.

Graham’s squad also includes Warrington Wolves youngster Isaac Reid, Canterbury Bulldogs young gun Kyle Schneider and Hayden Cumming, who dons a shirt for Mackay Magpies’ under-20s in the Mackay & District league.

Of those, only Schneider has previous international experience at senior level. He played in all three of Scotland’s games at the delayed 2021 Rugby League World Cup, coming off the bench in the first two before being handed a start against Fiji.

The hooker awaits his first-grade debut Down Under, but has already made 60 appearances in the Queensland Cup including 22 this year which saw him score two tries.

Other notable inclusions are Joe Lowe, whose club rugby comes for Tonneins Phoenix over in France, and Siddal’s Jacob Grierson.

Lowe made eight appearances in 2023 for Swinton Lions, while Grierson is yet to make an appearance within the ‘professional’ section of the British game’s pyramid. Neither have made an international debut to date.

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The squad in full

Here is the 21-man squad in full, listed alphabetically by surname:

Danny Addy (Featherstone Rovers)

Brett Carter (Barrow Raiders)

Cam Cullen (Leeds Beckett University, formerly Leeds Metropolitan University)*

Hayden Cumming (Mackay Magpies)*

Charlie Emslie (Barrow Raiders)

Izaac Farrell (Sheffield Eagles)

Dale Ferguson (Dewsbury Rams)

Matty Fletcher (Hunslet)

Guy Graham (Whitehaven)

Jacob Grierson (Siddal)*

Johnny Hutton (Workington Town)

Ben Kavanagh (Halifax Panthers)

Bayley Liu (Sheffield Eagles)

Joe Lowe (Tonneins Phoenix)

Kieron Moran (Midlands Hurricanes)

Ben Morris (Northumbria University)*

Isaac Reid (Warrington Wolves)*

Kyle Schneider (Canterbury Bulldogs)*

Jack Teanby (York)

Oscar Thomas (Keighley Cougars)

Ross Whitmore (Hunslet)

* Denotes a new pathway player

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