CAMERON REDPATH, Ewan Ashman, Alex Craig and Dave Cherry are the four uncapped players named in Gregor Townsend’s 35 man Six Nations training squad, ahead of Scotland’s Championship opener away to England on 6th November.
There is also recalls for Allan Dell, Grant Stewart, Gary Graham and Byron McGuigan, who were not involved during the Autumn.
Stuart McInally, who is awaiting an expert opinion on a neck injury sustained during training last week, is not named in the group. Other notable omissions include Sam Johnson, Duncan Weir, Sam Skinner, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Rory Hutchinson, Ben Toolis, Cornell du Preez and Nick Haining.
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“As coaches we have selected a group which we believe can build on the work our players put in throughout the recent Autumn Nations Cup campaign and kick on again in terms of performance levels,” said Townsend.
“The depth we have across the squad enables us to bring in some new players who have excelled in recent weeks and others who we believe can perform at Test level.
“Our tournament gets off to a fantastic start with a fixture we look forward to every year against England and the opportunity to win back the Calcutta Cup at Twickenham.
“We are very aware how different this year’s competition will be due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but it also provides a huge amount of positivity and enjoyment for millions of supporters and we are looking forward to contesting every match and giving this championship our very best.”
Youngsters Jamie Dobie (Glasgow scrum-half), Rufus McLean (Glasgow winger) and Rory Darge (Edinburgh flanker) have been invited to train with the squad.
England deal with Covid diagnosis
England’s preparation for the Six Nations has suffered a setback with head coach Eddie Jones being forced to self-isolate for 10 days after his assistant Matt Proudfoot tested positive for coronavirus. Simon Amor, another assistant coach, is also self-isolating.
Jones is not displaying any symptoms and, if he returns a negative at the next round of testing, he will join up with the squad at St George’s Park next Thursday, the day after the players are scheduled to come into camp.
England also lost the services of skills coach Jason Ryles earlier this week, who has chosen not to travel from Australia to London with his family due to the lockdown in place in the United Kingdom. That leaves defence coach John Mitchell as the only front-line member of Jones’ coaching team not currently affected by Covid-19.
The England squad will be announced on Friday.
SCOTLAND SQUAD FOR 2021 GUINNESS SIX NATIONS:
FORWARDS (20)
Ewan Ashman (Sale Sharks) – Uncapped
Simon Berghan (Edinburgh) – 28 caps
David Cherry (Edinburgh) – Uncapped
Alex Craig (Gloucester) – Uncapped
Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors) – 17 caps
Allan Dell (London Irish) – 32 caps
Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – 9 caps
Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – 34 caps
Gary Graham (Newcastle Falcons) – 2 caps
Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh) – 42 caps
Jonny Gray (Exeter Chiefs) – 61 caps
Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors) – 65 caps
Oli Kebble (Glasgow Warriors) – 5 caps
Willem Nel (Edinburgh) – 40 caps
Jamie Ritchie (Edinburgh) – 23 caps
Grant Stewart (Glasgow Warriors) – 3 caps
Rory Sutherland (Edinburgh) – 11 caps
Blade Thomson (Scarlets) – 9 caps
George Turner (Glasgow Warriors) – 12 caps
Hamish Watson (Edinburgh) – 36 caps
BACKS (15)
Darcy Graham (Edinburgh) – 15 caps
Chris Harris (Gloucester) – 23 caps
Stuart Hogg (Exeter Chiefs) CAPTAIN – 80 caps
Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors) – 26 caps
Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh) – 25 caps
James Lang (Harlequins) – 5 caps
Sean Maitland (Saracens) – 50 caps
Byron McGuigan (Sale Sharks) – 10 caps
Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) – 37 caps
Cameron Redpath – (Bath Rugby) – Uncapped
Finn Russell (Racing 92) – 51 caps
Scott Steele (Harlequins) – 1 cap
Duncan Taylor (Saracens) – 28 caps
Jaco van der Walt (Edinburgh) – 1 cap
Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh) – 5 caps