Just as they thought the player-release row was settling down, Scotland's preparations for the autumn internationals have again been hit by a club boycott - this time from Wales. It appears to be in direct defiance of the edict from the International Rugby Board, issued after Scotland complained about English clubs doing the same thing.

In reality, it is more a case of Scotland being caught in the collateral damage from a battle over money between the Welsh union and its clubs, but from the point of view of Nikki Walker, who has been injured but is hoping to return to action this weekend, it has probably denied him any chance of staking a claim to be in the Scotland side to face New Zealand on November 8. Scott MacLeod would have been caught as well, but is currently suspended.

Most of the squad are much as expected, with Max Evans, the Glasgow centre, and Geoff Cross, the Edinburgh prop, the only uncapped players in the 31-man party that will head to Spain for warm-weather training. Both were in the summer party that toured Argentina and have been playing consistently well for their clubs, and were expected to keep their places.

The big surprise is the return of Scott Gray, the former Borders flanker, who won his only cap in 2004 against Australia. While he was in most Scotland squads around that time, after Matt Williams was sacked as head coach, his star waned and when the Borders closed he was forced to head south to play for Doncaster, moving to Northampton after impressing in a friendly.

He has been one of their finds of the season and after winning the man of the match award in their opening win, has played in every minute of every game, impressing more and more as he did so.

Scotland training squad: Backs: M Blair (capt; Edinburgh), B Cairns (Edinburgh), C Cusiter (Perpignan), N De Luca (Edinburgh), M Evans (Glasgow), T Evans (Glasgow), P Godman (Edinburgh), R Lamont (Sale Sharks), S Lamont (Northampton), R Lawson (Gloucester), G Morrison (Glasgow), D Parks (Glasgow), C Paterson (Edinburgh), H Southwell (Edinburgh), S Webster (Edinburgh). Forwards: J Barclay (Glasgow), K Brown (Glasgow), G Cross (Edinburgh), A Dickinson (Gloucester), R Ford (Edinburgh), S Gray (Northampton), D Hall (Glasgow), J Hamilton (Edinburgh), N Hines (Perpignan), A Hogg (Edinburgh), A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), E Murray (Northampton), M Mustchin (Edinburgh), A Strokosch (Gloucester), S Taylor (Stade Français), J White (Sale Sharks).