Blair Kinghorn and Finn Russell
Blair Kinghorn (left) will vie for a starting spot at fly-half in Russell's absence

Finn Russell was left out of the Scotland's squad for the autumn series.

After taking a break for the summer tour to Argentina, Stuart Hogg is back in the group, but won't be the captain.

A former Australia back-rower has been called up.

One of the fly-half options is Adam Hastings.

The head coach said that it was about form and consistency.

Adam Hastings is one of the 10s that are in the squad. We want to give something back.

We want Finn to respond to this challenge and show consistency for his club.

Racing 92 fly-half Russell was unavailable for the first match against Australia, which falls outside the Test window, but is a surprise omission for the games against New Zealand and Argentina.

When Russell walked out on the squad prior to the Six Nations in 2020 he strained his relationship with the coach.

Russell was dropped from the starting line-up for the Six Nations finale against Ireland after being one of six players to go out on a night out.

Losing captaincy will allow Hogg to 'play his best rugby'

One of the six players was a full-back, and in the wake of that, there was no confirmation if he would continue as captain.

The head coach said that the episode had nothing to do with Russell being dropped.

"For Stuart, who's been a very good captain for us over the last three seasons, we see this as an opportunity for him to play his best rugby and focus on that."

He is our best player and we want to get him to be over the next year. He was disappointed that he cared so much about Scotland.

He supports the team and Jamie. He wants to make sure he can focus on playing his best rugby and that's what he's trying to do.

We have seen a lot of captain and leadership qualities in Jamie for a long time. He didn't get to go on the summer tour, but he did get to play with Edinburgh.

He seems to be becoming an excellent leader.

The Glasgow Warriors back-rower has 14 caps for Australia but hasn't played in the World Cup in five years.

If more than three years have passed since their last cap, players can represent another country.

Due to the match falling outside the usual Test window, Scotland will only be able to pick Scottish players.

Scotland's autumn squad

Josh Bayliss, Jamie Bhatti, Dave Cherry, Scott Cummings, Andy Christie, and Matt Fag are forwards.

Backs: Mark Bennett, Chris Harris, Adam Hastings, Stuart Hogg, George Horne and Blair Kinghorn.

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