Five rookies in Scotland squad
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Gregor Townsend named five uncapped players in his 39-man squad for the upcoming Six Nations.
They included Saracens back row forward Andy Christie and London Irish scrumhalf Ben White.
Rory Darge, Ben Vellacott and Kyle Rowe are also rewarded with call-ups ahead of Scotland’s first game of the championship on Saturday, February 5, against England.
Andy Christie represented Scotland at youth level, playing for the Under-16 team and the 22-year-old has played with Saracens since 2018, becoming a prominent figure for the London side.
Ben White, aged 23, signed for London Irish last year from Leicester Tigers and featured in their victory over Edinburgh Rugby last weekend.
Fellow London Irish player Kyle Rowe is also named in the squad having impressed in the Premiership this season, notably scoring a hat-trick against Saracens and was previously a member of the Scotland Sevens and Under-20 teams.
Darge and Vellacott have been selected due to consistently good performances at Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh respectively.
Following his memorable debut against England last year, Bath centre Cameron Redpath has recovered from injury and will once again be in contention ahead of the Six Nations opener.
During the year-end Tests, Ewan Ashman, Jamie Hodgson, Josh Bayliss, Javan Sebastian, Pierre Schoeman, Rufus McLean and Sione Tuipulotu all received their first Scotland caps and are included once again.
Stuart Hogg will captain Scotland in the upcoming Six Nations.
The squad will meet up at Oriam on Monday, January 24, for a training camp before reconvening the following week ahead of the Calcutta Cup clash.
Fresh from claiming top spot in Scotland’s all-time try-scoring list during the year-end Tests Stuart Hogg once again captains his country.
He is joined by fellow British & Irish Lions adding their experience to the squad in Finn Russell, Ali Price, Zander Fagerson, Chris Harris, Rory Sutherland, Duhan van der Merwe and Hamish Watson.
Elsewhere there are call-ups for Edinburgh pair back row Magnus Bradbury and prop WP Nel who missed out on selection for the year-end Tests, as did Exeter Chiefs lock Jonny Gray who also returns.
Northampton centre Rory Hutchinson also earns a squad selection having not featured for Scotland in 2021.
“When you look through the squad this is the most competitive I’ve seen it in so many areas and that’s testament to the strength and depth we have,” Scotland coach Gregor Townsend said.
“We are able to call up several new players into the squad such as Andy Christie, Kyle Rowe and Ben White. We have been aware of all of the uncapped players for a while now and recently they have all experienced a breakthrough in terms of their performances at club level.
“A key part of the squad selection was rewarding form and that definitely applies to Ben Vellacott and Rory Darge who have been excellent for their clubs this season.
“We’re delighted to be able to include Cameron Redpath in the squad after missing the last few months with injury. He managed to get a game under his belt prior to the squad selection so we’ll see how he performs for Bath and in our training over the next couple of weeks.
“The Six Nations is the best competition we have in rugby so to be involved in it is a real privilege, especially starting with our oldest rivals in front of a sold-out home crowd.”
Scotland squad
Forwards: Ewan Ashman, Josh Bayliss, Jamie Bhatti, Magnus Bradbury, Andy Christie, Scott Cummings, Rory Darge, Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson, Grant Gilchrist, Jonny Gray, Nick Haining, Jamie Hodgson, Stuart McInally, Willem Nel, Jamie Ritchie, Pierre Schoeman, Javan Sebastian, Sam Skinner, Rory Sutherland, George Turner, Hamish Watson.
Backs: Mark Bennett, Darcy Graham, Chris Harris, Stuart Hogg, Rory Hutchinson, Sam Johnson, Blair Kinghorn, Rufus McLean, Ali Price, Cameron Redpath, Kyle Rowe, Finn Russell, Kyle Steyn, Sione Tuipulotu, Duhan van der Merwe, Ben Vellacott, Ben White.
