2026 Six Nations squad news: Sione Tuipolotu captains Scotland, Dewi Lake leads Wales

Wales and Scotland have released their squads ahead of the 2026 Guinness Men’s Six Nations, with both teams making some surprise changes from Autumn.

Tuipolotu, who captained Scotland for the first time in 2024, takes back his role, which was covered by Finn Russell and Rory Darge last season due to injury.

However, some of the other Gregor Townsend picks have turned some heads. Veteran Dave Cherry has returned to the side despite not featuring for Scotland last summer and autumn.

The Pro D2 hooker, chosen alongside fellow hookers George Turner and Ewan Ashman, has kept the likes of inform Glasgow front rower Gregor Hiddlestone out of the side.

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Familiar faces

Elsewhere, familiar faces fill the backs with Finn Russel being kept honest by Adam Hastings and Fergus Burke, while opportunities are given to youngsters such as 20-year-old Edinburgh back row Freddie Douglas.

It is a squad full of intent from Gregor Townsend, balancing familiar battle-hardened forwards with a mix of youth and experience with the backs.

Townsend will be hopeful he can mount a lasting challenge to the ‘big three’ this year in what could be his final Six Nations as Scotland head coach.

Scotland 40-man squad

Forwards: Ewan Ashman, Josh Bayliss, Magnus Bradbury, Gregor Brown, Dave Cherry, Scott Cummings, Alex Craig, Rory Darge, Jack Dempsy, Freddy Douglas, Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson, Grant Gildchrist, Jonny Gray, Nathan McBeth, Liam McConnell, Elliot Millar Mills, D’arcy Rae, Jamie Richie, Pierre Schoean, Rory Sutherland, George Turner, Max Williamson.

Backs: Fergus Burke, Jamie Dobie, Darcy Graham, Adam Hastings, George Horne, Rory Hutchinson, Huw Jones, Tom Jordan, Blair Kinghorn, Stafford McDowall, Finn Russell, Kyle Rowe, Ollie Smith, Kyle Steyn, Sione Tuipulotu (c), Duhan Van Der Merwe, Ben White.

Strong replacement

Steve Tandy’s Wales side was a tough one to predict ahead of the squad announcement, especially considering the injury woes he has to deal with.

Dewi Lake captains in the absence of arguably Wales’ best player, Jac Morgan.

The Ospreys back row is a huge loss for Wales when it comes to star-power, but Lake is still a strong replacement as captain.

There are some surprise omissions, such as Nick Tompkins and Rio Dyer, who were both members of the squad as recently as the autumn internationals.

Wales’ injury woes continue with the absence of talisman Taulupe Faletau at the back of the scrum, whose position in the starting 15 will likely be filled by Aaron Wainwright, although Cardiff’s James Botham is also in the squad.

Ultimately, you can’t help but feel as though the tournament will be somewhat of an uphill struggle for a Welsh side that hasn’t won a Six Nations game since 2023 and are sitting beneath a very dark cloud domestically, with Cardiff and Ospreys looking set to merge, creating a heavy amount of unease surrounding everything Welsh rugby.

This tournament will almost inevitably be part of the long rebuild on the run-up to the World Cup, where youngsters getting experience will be paramount over immediate results, although a victory would, of course, help.

Wales 38-man squad

Forwards: Kieron Assiratti, Adam Beard, Liam Belcher, James Botham, Rhys Carre, Ben Carter, Olly Cracknell, Harri Deaves, Ryan Elias, Tomas Francis, Archie Griffin, Dafydd Jenkins, Dewi Lake (c), Alex Mann, Josh Macleod, Taine Plumtree, Nicky Smith, Gareth Thomas, Freddie Thomas, Aaron Wainwright.

Backs: Josh Adams, Sam Costelow, Dan Edwards, Jarrod Evan, Mason Grady, Kieran Hardy, Gabriel Hamer-Webb, Joe Hawkins, Louie Hennessey, Eddie James, Ellis Mee, Reuben Morgan-Williams, Blair Murray, Louis Rees-Zammit, Tom Rogers, Ben Thomas, Owen Watkin, Tomos Williams.

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