Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has named four uncapped players in a 40-man squad ahead of this year’s Six Nations Championship.
The potential debutants are Edinburgh trio Blair Kinghorn (full-back), scrum-half Nathan Fowles and prop Murray McCallum, plus Glasgow Warriors prop D’arcy Rae. Kinghorn, McCallum and Rae are all graduates of the BT Sport Academy.
The squad is also boosted by the return of several experienced players, absent from recent campaigns, including scrum-half Greig Laidlaw (Clermont), lock Richie Gray (Toulouse), centres Mark Bennett (Edinburgh) and Duncan Taylor (Saracens); and Worcester Warriors back-row David Denton.
Laidlaw, Gray and Bennett haven’t featured for the dark blues since last year’s championship, while it was 2015 when returning prop Jon Welsh last saw international action and longer still for veteran hooker Scott Lawson (2014).
A sequence of untimely injuries has meant Denton has been absent from test duty since the 2016 summer tour to Japan, while Taylor and London Irish prop Gordon Reid missed the 2017 year-end Test campaign with a knee and head injury respectively.
Scarlets back-row John Barclay will continue to captain the side since taking on the mantle from Laidlaw in last year’s championship, leading Scotland to victories in six of nine Test matches.
“With the announcement of this 40-man squad, we are now entering the key stages of our preparation for this year’s NatWest 6 Nations Championship,” said Townsend.
Scotland squad: Backs: Mark Bennett, Alex Dunbar, Nick Grigg, Chris Harris, Stuart Hogg, Pete Horne, Ruaridh Jackson, Huw Jones, Lee Jones, Blair Kinghorn, Greig Laidlaw, Sean Maitland, Byron McGuigan, Ali Price, Henry Pyrgos, Finn Russell, Tommy Seymour, Duncan Taylor, Nathan Fowles
Forwards: John Barclay (c), Simon Berghan, Jamie Bhatti, Magnus Bradbury, David Denton, Cornell Du Preez, Grant Gilchrist, Jonny Gray, Richie Gray, Luke Hamilton, Rob Harley, Scott Lawson, Murray McCallum, Stuart McInally, Gordon Reid, D’arcy Rae, Ben Toolis, George Turner, Hamish Watson, Jon Welsh, Ryan Wilson
