Townsend brings in Scotland reinforcements after Gray injury
TEAM UPDATE: Gregor Townsend has added six players to his Six Nations Squad ahead of Scotland taking on France this Saturday at Murrayfield.
James Lang, Ollie Smith, Oliver Kebble, Simon Berghan, Kiran McDonald and Marshall Sykes have met up with the Scotland squad, while Rory Sutherland, Javan Sebastian, Jonny Gray, Scott Cummings and Cam Redpath have returned to their club teams.
Rory Sutherland sustained a rib injury in the loss over Wales and is undergoing rehab.
Jonny Gray will be out of the France match due to an ankle injury and Scott Cummings is ruled out due to a knee injury.
Cam Redpath will also be unavailable through injury.
They will continue to be assessed in the coming weeks ahead of the remaining two games against Italy and Ireland.
Glasgow Warriors tighthead prop Simon Berghan makes a return to squad replacing Javan Sebastian in the front row. Berghan signed for the Warriors at the start of this season and has been capped on 31 occasions. Fellow Glasgow Warriors prop, Oli Kebble will also join up with the squad, having made his Scotland debut in October 2020, amassing 11 caps since then.
In the second row, Edinburgh’s Marshall Sykes has been called up after making his Scotland debut in the year-end Tests last year, coming off the bench against Tonga.
Joining him in the second row options is uncapped Glasgow Warriors player Kiran McDonald who signed for the Scotstoun club in 2017.
Edinburgh centre, James Lang, has met up with the squad and will be looking to add to his six Scotland caps so far. Fresh from his Man of the Match performance against Benetton for Glasgow Warriors last Saturday, uncapped fullback Ollie Smith has also been called up.
Having been ruled out of the opening two Six Nations games through concussion, Josh Bayliss made an impressive return at the weekend, scoring a try for Bath in a defeat to Leicester Tigers, and he will be available for selection.
“While it is disappointing to lose players to injury ahead of the France match, this is a great opportunity for the new players to impress and force their way into our match-day squad,” Scotland coach Gregor Townsend said.
“The attritional nature of the Six Nations means there are often changes made to the squad throughout the championship and it is a challenge we are much better equipped to deal with given our current squad depth.
“We wish those that have missed out through injury all the best in their rehabilitation, and we will continue to monitor their progress ahead of the final two games of the championship.”
Scotland squad
Forwards: Ewan Ashman, Josh Bayliss, Simon Berghan, Magnus Bradbury, Andy Christie, Allan Dell, Rory Darge, Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson, Grant Gilchrist, Nick Haining, Jamie Hodgson, Oliver Kebble, Stuart McInally, Kiran McDonald, Willem Nel, Pierre Schoeman, Sam Skinner, Marshall Sykes, George Turner, Hamish Watson.
Backs: Mark Bennett, Darcy Graham, Chris Harris, Stuart Hogg, Rory Hutchinson, Sam Johnson, Blair Kinghorn, James Lang, Rufus McLean, Ali Price, Kyle Rowe, Finn Russell, Ollie Smith, Kyle Steyn, Sione Tuipulotu, Duhan van der Merwe, Ben Vellacott, Ben White.
@Scotlandteam
