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Wales & Scotland Virtual Tour Fixtures Announced

With the possibility of the Welsh and Scottish not going ahead in 2020 due to Covid-19 the team here at RugbyHeartland are heading back to the past…

In association with our Virtual Partners “VR-RugbyHeartland” and the “Rugby Challenge” PC Game Series RugbyHeartland are bringing you the fans some rugby to look forward to with the announcement of our Virtual Tours of New Zealand by the Scottish and Welsh teams.

Originally the Scottish were to play a Test match on the 18th July in Dunedin while the Welsh had two Test Matches scheduled on the 4th July at Auckland and the 11th July in Wellington.

Original Scheduled Dates

    • All Blacks v Wales, 7.35PM, Saturday 4 July, Eden Park, Auckland
    • All Blacks v Wales, 7.35PM, Saturday 11 July, Sky Stadium, Wellington
    • All Blacks v Scotland, 7.35PM, Saturday 18 July, Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin

So we have decided to offer a throwback to the days of Tours when visiting teams headed to the provinces and took on the local teams that would have drawn thousands of locals to their local grounds to view the stars from overseas and witness the hopeful induction to legend status to their local heroes as they played the touring sides.

We have merge both teams to tour New Zealand at the same time with the Scottish getting a spread of matches over the entire country, while the Welsh will be predominately based in the North Island with only one sojourn to the South Island to take part in a special double-header in Nelson, where we will see the Scottish playing the Mitre10 Cup Champions from 2019 the Tasman Mako in the main game but as the curtain raiser the Welsh will do battle with a combined Buller/West Coast team, a side that has had a great history playing touring sides.

The Scottish also will need to have their wits about them as the also take on a combined team in their opening match of their tour as they take on the combined East Coast/Poverty Bay team who’s history of combining to play to overseas teams dates back to 1921 when a combined team first played 2 matches against New South Wales and the South Africans, going down by 08-26  to NSW and in a tighter affair losing 08-14 to South Africa at McLean Park in Napier. So what a better way to kick off a tour almost 99 years later to have another match albeit virtually at McLean Park. The Combined team have also played twice before the Scottish in 1990 & 2000.

POVERTY BAY-EAST COAST v SCOTLAND
Rugby Park, Gisborne 30 May, 1990
Won by Scotland 45-0

POVERTY BAY-EAST COAST vs SCOTLAND
Rugby Park, Gisborne June 13, 2000
Won by Scotland 51-10
Scorers: Poverty Bay-East Coast Tries: H.Lewis , G.C. Allen
Referee: K.M.Deaker (Hawkes Bay) 

As Scotland begin their journey they embark on a 13 match tour starting on the 6th June against the Combined East Coast/Poverty Bay team, then followed 4 days later with a match against the NZ Maori in Rotorua and then three days later they head to Auckland to take on a Virtual New Zealand Team in the first of three Test Matches.  They then move down to Palmerston North to play another Heartland team the Wairarapa-Bush  on the 17th June before heading to Wellington for the Second Test against N.Z on the 20th June.

They then, you could say have a rest by travelling the remainder of N.Z. with matches against Manawatu ( 24th June) ; Tasman in the Double header Day in Nelson on the 6th of June; Canterbury (1st July) ; South Canterbury (4th July) ; 2019 Meads Cup Champions North Otago (8th July) ; Southland ( 11th July) and Otago (15th July) , before their third and final Test against N.Z. in Dunedin before returning home. 

All Matches will be STREAMED live at the VR-RugbyHeartland Facebook Page. CLICK HERE 

The Welsh begin their 13 game tour on the same day as the Scottish (6th June) but a bit further north with an opening match against Northland in Whangarei before heading down state highway one to Albany to take on North Harbour in what could be a torrid opening couple of games. 

On the 13th June Pukekohe host the Welsh as they take on the NZ Heartland XV picked from players how played in the 2019 Virtual Heartland series,  then they go on literally a Heartland Tour within New Zealand with matches against Thames Valley (17th June); Wanganui (20th June – two-time Virtual Heartland Champions 2018 & 2019) ; King Country (24th June) and then on the 6th June they take part in the Double-Header in Nelson when the play the Curtain Raiser to the Scotland/Tasman game with a match against a combined West Coast/Buller Team (yet to be Selected).

Wales then travel back North to face the Virtual New Zealand team for the first test to be played in Auckland on the 4th July, after which it is a another road trip to play 2 matches in Wellington, on the 8th July they play Horowhenua-Kapiti and then 3 days later on the 11th July the Welsh face NZ in the second test also in Wellington.

After the second test the Welsh travel back to Pukekohe where they had earlier played the NZ Heartland XV, but this time the take on the home team the Counties Manukau Steelers on the 15th July, before heading to New Plymouth for their final provincial game against Taranaki on the 22nd of July.

The Tour wraps up with the third and final test of the series against NZ in Hamilton on the 29th of July.

All Matches will be STREAMED live at the VR-RugbyHeartland Facebook Page. CLICK HERE 


The Squads for Scotland and Wales are as follows based on the 2020 Six Nations teams:

Current 2020 Scotland squad

For the 2020 Six Nations Championship, Townsend named a 38-man squad which included six uncapped players – Alex Craig, Luke Crosbie, Tom Gordon, Nick Haining, Kyle Steyn and Ratu Tagive, while Stuart Hogg replaced Stuart McInally as captain.

    • On 24 January Duncan Weir was called up to join the squad.
    • On 16 February Sam Skinner and Matt Fagerson were added to the squad, with Alex Craig being released back to his club.
    • On 1 March Lewis Carmichael was added to the squad, with Cornell du Preez being released back to his club.
    • Caps updated: 8 March 2020

Head Coach: Scotland Gregor Townsend

Player Position Date of birth (age) Caps Club/province
Fraser Brown – Hooker 20 June 1989 (age 30) 50 Scotland Glasgow Warriors
Stuart McInally – Hooker 9 August 1990 (age 29) 37 Scotland Edinburgh
George Turner – Hooker 8 October 1992 (age 27) 9 Scotland Glasgow Warriors
Simon Berghan – Prop 7 December 1990 (age 29) 25 Scotland Edinburgh
Jamie Bhatti – Prop 8 September 1993 (age 26) 15 Scotland Edinburgh
Allan Dell – Prop 16 March 1992 (age 28) 32 England London Irish
Zander Fagerson – Prop 19 January 1996 (age 24) 29 Scotland Glasgow Warriors
W. P. Nel – Prop 30 April 1986 (age 33) 38 Scotland Edinburgh
Rory Sutherland – Prop 24 August 1992 (age 27) 7 Scotland Edinburgh
Lewis Carmichael – Lock 2 May 1995 (age 24) 2 Scotland Edinburgh
Scott Cummings – Lock 3 December 1996 (age 23) 12 Scotland Glasgow Warriors
Grant Gilchrist – Lock 9 August 1990 (age 29) 42 Scotland Edinburgh
Jonny Gray – Lock 14 March 1994 (age 26) 57 Scotland Glasgow Warriors
Sam Skinner – Lock 31 January 1995 (age 25) 7 England Exeter Chiefs
Ben Toolis – Lock 31 March 1992 (age 28) 25 Scotland Edinburgh
Magnus Bradbury – Back row 23 August 1995 (age 24) 14 Scotland Edinburgh
Luke Crosbie – Back row 22 April 1997 (age 22) 0 Scotland Edinburgh
Matt Fagerson – Back row 16 July 1998 (age 21) 6 Scotland Glasgow Warriors
Thomas Gordon – Back row 30 January 1997 (age 23) 0 Scotland Glasgow Warriors
Nick Haining – Back row 1 September 1990 (age 29) 3 Scotland Edinburgh
Jamie Ritchie – Back row 16 August 1996 (age 23) 18 Scotland Edinburgh
Hamish Watson – Back row 15 October 1991 (age 28) 32 Scotland Edinburgh
George Horne – Scrumhalf 12 May 1995 (age 24) 13 Scotland Glasgow Warriors
Ali Price – Scrumhalf 12 May 1993 (age 26) 32 Scotland Glasgow Warriors
Henry Pyrgos – Scrumhalf 9 July 1989 (age 30) 28 Scotland Edinburgh
Adam Hastings – First Five 5 October 1996 (age 23) 20 Scotland Glasgow Warriors
Finn Russell – First Five 23 September 1992 (age 27) 49 France Racing 92
Duncan Weir – First Five 10 May 1991 (age 28) 28 England Worcester Warriors
Chris Harris – Centre 28 December 1990 (age 29) 18 England Gloucester
Rory Hutchinson – Centre 29 January 1996 (age 24) 5 England Northampton Saints
Sam Johnson – Centre 19 June 1993 (age 26) 13 Scotland Glasgow Warriors
Huw Jones – Centre 17 December 1993 (age 26) 25 Scotland Glasgow Warriors
Matt Scott – Centre 30 September 1990 (age 29) 39 Scotland Edinburgh
Darcy Graham – Wing 21 June 1997 (age 22) 11 Scotland Edinburgh
Sean Maitland – Wing 14 September 1988 (age 31) 48 England Saracens
Byron McGuigan – Wing 20 August 1989 (age 30) 10 England Sale Sharks
Kyle Steyn – Wing 29 January 1994 (age 26) 1 Scotland Glasgow Warriors
Ratu Tagive – Wing 8 April 1991 (age 29) 0 Scotland Glasgow Warriors
Stuart Hogg – Fullback 24 June 1992 (age 27) 76 England Exeter Chiefs
Blair Kinghorn – Fullback 18 January 1997 (age 23) 21 Scotland Edinburgh

Current 2020 Wales squad

On 15 January 2020, Wales announced a 38-man squad for the Six Nations.

On 5 February 2020, Taine Basham and Dewi Lake were added to the squad.

Fly-half Owen Williams was released from the squad on 11 February after suffering a hamstring injury in the warm-up ahead of Wales’ match against Ireland on 8 February.

Fly-half Sam Davies was added to the squad in the week leading up to the game against England on 7 March 2020.

Head coachNew Zealand Wayne Pivac

    • Caps and clubs updated 7 March 2020
Player Position Date of birth (age) Caps Club/province
Elliot Dee – Hooker 7 March 1994 (age 26) 29 Wales Dragons
Ryan Elias – Hooker 7 January 1995 (age 25) 13 Wales Scarlets
Dewi Lake – Hooker 16 May 1999 (age 20) 0 Wales Ospreys
Ken Owens – Hooker 3 January 1987 (age 33) 77 Wales Scarlets
Rhys Carre – Prop 8 February 1998 (age 22) 8 England Saracens
Leon Brown – Prop 26 October 1996 (age 23) 10 Wales Dragons
Rob Evans – Prop 14 April 1992 (age 27) 39 Wales Scarlets
WillGriff John – Prop 4 December 1992 (age 27) 0 England Sale Sharks
Wyn Jones – Prop 26 February 1992 (age 28) 25 Wales Scarlets
Dillon Lewis – Prop 4 January 1996 (age 24) 26 Wales Cardiff Blues
Jake Ball – Lock 27 June 1991 (age 28) 46 Wales Scarlets
Adam Beard – Lock 7 January 1996 (age 24) 21 Wales Ospreys
Seb Davies – Lock 17 May 1996 (age 23) 7 Wales Cardiff Blues
Cory Hill – Lock 10 February 1992 (age 28) 25 Wales Dragons
Alun Wyn Jones – Lock 19 September 1985 (age 34) 138 Wales Ospreys
Will Rowlands – Lock 19 September 1991 (age 28) 1 England Wasps
Taine Basham – Back row 2 November 1999 (age 20) 0 Wales Dragons
Taulupe Faletau – Back row 12 November 1990 (age 29) 76 England Bath
Ross Moriarty – Back row 18 April 1994 (age 25) 45 Wales Dragons
Josh Navidi – Back row 30 December 1990 (age 29) 24 Wales Cardiff Blues
Aaron Shingler – Back row 7 August 1987 (age 32) 27 Wales Scarlets
Justin Tipuric – Back row 6 August 1989 (age 30) 76 Wales Ospreys
Aaron Wainwright – Back row 25 September 1997 (age 22) 21 Wales Dragons
Gareth Davies – Scrumhalf 18 August 1990 (age 29) 53 Wales Scarlets
Rhys Webb – Scrumhalf 9 December 1988 (age 31) 33 France Toulon
Tomos Williams – Scrumhalf 1 January 1995 (age 25) 20 Wales Cardiff Blues
Dan Biggar – First Five 16 October 1989 (age 30) 83 England Northampton Saints
Sam Davies – First Five 6 October 1993 (age 26) 8 Wales Dragons
Jarrod Evans – First Five 25 July 1996 (age 23) 6 Wales Cardiff Blues
Hadleigh Parkes – Centre 5 October 1987 (age 32) 29 Wales Scarlets
Nick Tompkins – Centre 16 February 1995 (age 25) 4 England Saracens
Owen Watkin – Centre 12 October 1996 (age 23) 22 Wales Ospreys
Josh Adams – Wing 21 April 1995 (age 24) 24 Wales Cardiff Blues
Owen Lane – Wing 20 December 1997 (age 22) 2 Wales Cardiff Blues
Johnny McNicholl – Wing 24 September 1990 (age 29) 4 Wales Scarlets
George North – Wing 13 April 1992 (age 27) 95 Wales Ospreys
Louis Rees-Zammit – Wing 2 February 2001 (age 19) 0 England Gloucester
Leigh Halfpenny – Fullback 22 December 1988 (age 31) 89 Wales Scarlets
Jonah Holmes – Fullback 24 July 1992 (age 27) 3 England Leicester Tigers
Liam Williams – Fullback 9 April 1991 (age 29) 63 England Saracens

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