Ewan Philip Fraser Ashman (born 3 April 2000) is a professional
rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
United Rugby Championship
The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...
club
Edinburgh Rugby
Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...
.
Professional career
Club
Born in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
,
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, Ashman started playing rugby at
Sandbach RUFC
Sandbach RUFC is a rugby union team based in the Cheshire town of Sandbach. It operates four senior sides, junior and senior colts and ten mini/junior teams. First playing as a
centre
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
*Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...
or a back row, Ashman eventually became a hooker.
He made his senior debut for the
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
’s club in
Midlands Premier
Regional 1 Midlands (until 2021–22 known as Midlands Premier and up until 2016–17 known as National League 3 Midlands) is a level five semi-professional league in the English rugby union system. It is one of six leagues at this level. When ...
during the 2017–18 season, also joining
Sale Sharks
Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom. Its team play in Premiership Rugby, and have been in England's top division of rugby union continuously since 1995. Originally founded in 1861 as ...
academy in 2017.
He joined the Sharks' professional squad ahead of the 2018–19 seasons.
During the next season he was first loaned to
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
as players had left for the
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...
, but never managed to make his professional debut, being blocked by
Dave Cherry
David Murray Campbell Cherry (born 3 January 1991) is a Scottish professional rugby union player who plays as a hooker for United Rugby Championship club Edinburgh Rugby and the Scotland national team.
Professional career Club
Cherry pla ...
Mike Willemse
Michael Evan Willemse (born 14 February 1993) is a South African rugby union player for in Championship Rugby. His regular position is hooker.
Career
Youth and Varsity Rugby
Willemse was included in the squad at the 2010 Under-18 Academy We ...
, eventually ending up playing in
National League 1
National One, up until 2023 known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Lea ...
with Sale FC.
Back with the Sharks, Ashman made his Premiership debuts on the 5 September 2020, coming on as a substitute against
Leicester Tigers
Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.
The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its home ...
2019–20 Premiership Rugby
The 2019–20 Gallagher Premiership was the 33rd season of the top flight English domestic rugby union competition and the second one to be sponsored by Gallagher. The reigning champions entering the season were Saracens, who had claimed their f ...
.
On 22 November 2021 it was announced that Ashman would join
Glasgow Warriors
The Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and beca ...
on loan. He returned to Sale Sharks four days later due to an injury crisis.
International
He played for Scotland since the under 16s, qualifying through his Edinburgh-born father. The young hooker first made the headlines with Scotland U20s, playing the Six Nations and the
World championship
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...
, where despite Scotland's disappointing run, he appeared as a great prospect, scoring 7 tries and finishing as the world tournament top try scorer.
During the winter, he also took part in the 2020 U20 Six Nations, starting all of
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
five games, and becoming the top try scorer as his team ended second in this unfinished edition standings.
In the 2020–21 season he earned his first call-ups for the Scotland senior team under
Gregor Townsend
Gregor Peter John Townsend (born 26 April 1973) is a Scottish professional rugby union coach and former player who has been coaching the Scotland national team since 2017.
Townsend was previously the assistant coach from 2009 to 2012. As a p ...
, both during the
Autumn Nations Cup
The Autumn Nations Cup was a rugby union competition held in November and December 2020 in place of the usual Autumn rugby union internationals, Autumn internationals series typically held in the same period each year, as many teams were avoidin ...
and before the
2021 Six Nations
The 2021 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 22nd Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, ...
. He earned his first cap and scored his first international try on 7 November 2021 at Murrayfield in a closely won victory over
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
after coming on as an early substitute for George Turner. In 2023 Ashman was selected in the 33 player squad for the
2023 Rugby World Cup
The 2023 Rugby World Cup () was the tenth men's Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national rugby union teams. It took place in France from 8 September to 28 October 2023 in nine venues across the country. The opening game ...
in France.
Career statistics
List of international tries
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Murrayfield Stadium
Murrayfield Stadium is a rugby union stadium located in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland. The stadium is owned by the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) who has its headquarters based at the stadium, and is the national stadium of the Scotla ...
,
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
2021 end-of-year rugby union internationals
The 2021 end of year rugby union tests, also referred to as the Autumn internationals in the Northern Hemisphere, were rugby union test matches during October and November 2021, mainly involving countries from the Northern Hemisphere hosting those ...
Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades
The Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades is a association football, football stadium located in the city of Santiago del Estero in the Santiago del Estero Province, homonymous province of Argentina. The stadium was inaugurated on 4 March 2021, before ...
,
Santiago del Estero
Santiago del Estero (, Spanish for ''Saint-James-Upon-The-Lagoon'') is the capital of Santiago del Estero Province in northern Argentina. It has a population of 252,192 inhabitants, () making it the twelfth largest city in the country, with a sur ...
Stade de France
Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the List of football stadiums in France, largest stadium i ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, France
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2023 Rugby World Cup
The 2023 Rugby World Cup () was the tenth men's Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national rugby union teams. It took place in France from 8 September to 28 October 2023 in nine venues across the country. The opening game ...
Audi Field
Audi Field is a soccer-specific stadium in the Buzzard Point neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It is the home of D.C. United, DC Power FC, and Washington Spirit soccer teams, and the DC Defenders American football team. The stadium seats 20,000 p ...
,
Washington DC
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
, United States of America
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2024 mid-year rugby union tests
The 2024 mid-year rugby union internationals (also known as the summer internationals in the Northern Hemisphere) are international rugby union matches mostly played in the Southern Hemisphere during the July international window.
Series and tours ...
Estadio Charrúa
Estadio Charrúa is a stadium in the Carrasco neighborhood of Montevideo, Uruguay, used mostly for rugby union and also sometimes for football. Property of the Montevideo Department, it is currently leased to the Uruguayan Rugby Union and Urugu ...
,
Montevideo
Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...
, Uruguay
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2024 mid-year rugby union tests
The 2024 mid-year rugby union internationals (also known as the summer internationals in the Northern Hemisphere) are international rugby union matches mostly played in the Southern Hemisphere during the July international window.
Series and tours ...