This year’s names to frantically google? Saracens back-rower Andy Christie and London Irish scrum-half Ben White, who are two of five uncapped players in Gregor Townsend’s squad along with Rory Darge, Ben Vellacott and Kyle Rowe.
Christie (22) represented Scotland at youth level, playing for the Under-16s and has played with Saracens since 2018. Had Dylan Richardson been fit, might we have seen him instead?
White (23), signed for London Irish last year from Leicester Tigers and featured in their victory over Edinburgh Rugby last weekend. Former Scotland 7s and U20s cap Kyle Rowe also plays for London Irish. With George Horne struggling for form and Jamie Dobie still very inexperienced at this level, White could be the Scott Steele of 2022 and end up playing on the flank.
Now looking like the front-runner for a bench spot covering scrum-half, Vellacott missed out on selection in the autumn but his recent form has proven too good to ignore for the heat of a Six Nations campaign. Another welcome name to see on the squad list is Cameron Redpath who has recovered from a massive injury layoff and will be looking to supplement his single (though impressive) cap.
Ewan Ashman, Jamie Hodgson, Josh Bayliss, Javan Sebastian, Pierre Schoeman, Rufus McLean and Sione Tuipulotu all received their first Scotland caps in the Autumn and are included once again as Townsend moves to prepare a younger squad to build towards the next World Cup.
The squad will meet up at Oriam on Monday 24 January for a training camp before reconvening the following week ahead of the Calcutta Cup clash.
Stuart Hogg once again captains his country while the senior leadership group will this year be stacked with British and Irish Lions experience – and test experience at that.
There are call-ups for Jonny Gray, Magnus Bradbury and prop WP Nel who missed out on selection in the Autumn. Northampton centre Rory Hutchinson also earns a squad selection having not featured for Scotland in 2021.
Notable omissions include Glasgow forwards Oli Kebble and Fraser Brown, as well as Premiership backs Adam Hastings and Huw Jones. Although there are a lot of centres in there it does leave cover at standoff looking a little thin.
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