Scotland Six Nations squad named and there are five uncapped players

Gregor Townsend has thrown a couple of curve balls in his 39-man Scotland squad for the 2022 Guinness Six Nations.

Five uncapped players have been called up, including Saracens back-row forward Andy Christie and London Irish pair Ben White and Kyle Rowe.

As expected, Rory Darge has been selected and the fifth uncapped man is scrum-half Ben Vellacott. The home-based pair are rewarded for excellent performances for Glasgow and Edinburgh, respectively.

But there is no place in the squad for Adam Hastings, the Gloucester stand-off. Glasgow half-backs Jamie Dobie, George Horne and Ross Thompson also drop out, along with Harlequins centre Huw Jones.

Scotland coach Gregor Townsend has named a 39-man squad for the 2022 Guinness Six Nations. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group)

Cam Redpath, who enjoyed such a stunning debut for Scotland in last season’s Calcutta Cup win at Twickenham then missed the rest of the campaign, is back after a wretched time with injury.

There are also recalls for Edinburgh trio Mark Bennett, Magnus Bradbury and WP Nel and Northampton centre Rory Hutchinson.

There is no place for hookers Fraser Brown or Dave Cherry but Sale’s Ewan Ashman is included.

Scotland’s first game of the championship is against England at BT Murrayfield on Saturday 5 February.

Scotland 2022 Six Nations squad

Forwards

Ewan Ashman - Sale Sharks – 2 caps

Josh Bayliss – Bath Rugby – 2 caps

Jamie Bhatti - Glasgow Warriors – 22 caps

Magnus Bradbury – Edinburgh Rugby – 14 caps

Andy Christie - Saracens – uncapped

Scott Cummings – Glasgow Warriors – 21 caps

Rory Darge – Glasgow Warriors – uncapped

Matt Fagerson – Glasgow Warriors – 17 caps

Zander Fagerson – Glasgow Warriors – 42 caps

Grant Gilchrist - Edinburgh Rugby – 48 caps

Jonny Gray - Exeter Chiefs – 64 caps

Nick Haining – Edinburgh Rugby – 10 caps

Jamie Hodgson - Edinburgh Rugby – 3 caps

Stuart McInally – Edinburgh Rugby – 43 caps

WP Nel – Edinburgh Rugby – 43 caps

Jamie Ritchie - Edinburgh Rugby – 31 caps

Pierre Schoeman - Edinburgh Rugby – 4 caps

Javan Sebastian – Scarlets – 1 cap

Sam Skinner – Exeter Chiefs – 15 caps

Rory Sutherland – Worcester Warriors – 16 caps

George Turner - Glasgow Warriors – 20 caps

Hamish Watson - Edinburgh Rugby – 45 caps

Backs

Mark Bennett – Edinburgh Rugby – 22 caps

Darcy Graham – Edinburgh Rugby – 22 caps

Chris Harris – Gloucester Rugby – 31 caps

Stuart Hogg – Exeter Chiefs – 88 caps - Captain

Rory Hutchinson – Northampton Saints – 5 caps

Sam Johnson - Glasgow Warriors – 21 caps

Blair Kinghorn - Edinburgh Rugby – 28 caps

Rufus McLean - Glasgow Warriors – 2 caps

Ali Price - Glasgow Warriors – 46 caps

Cameron Redpath – Bath Rugby – 1 cap

Kyle Rowe – London Irish – uncapped

Finn Russell – Racing 92 – 58 caps

Kyle Steyn - Glasgow Warriors – 3 caps

Sione Tuipulotu- Glasgow Warriors – 1 cap

Duhan van der Merwe - Worcester Warriors – 13 caps

Ben Vellacott – Edinburgh Rugby – uncapped

Ben White – London Irish – uncapped