Scotland squad named for Six Nations

Scotland Head Coach Vern Cotter has recalled Gloucester centre Matt Scott when he named his 37-man squad for the Six Nations.
Scott has earned a recall after missing out in the autumn Tests by impressing at Kingsholm this season, scoring 12 tries in 18 games for the Cherry and Whites.
Newcastle’s Jon Welsh has also been named after missing the autumn games and there is a first call-up for the uncapped duo of prop Simon Berghan and flanker Cornell Du Preez.
Du Preez arrived at Edinburgh in 2013 from the Kings in South Africa and qualifies for Scotland on residency while Berghan is eligible through a Scottish grandfather despite being born in New Zealand himself.
Scotland are awaiting the results of a scan on WP Nel’s neck which should tell them his availability for the Six Nations, the Edinburgh prop injured himself against Harlequins on Saturday.
Saracens centre Duncan Taylor returns to the squad after missing out on selection in the autumn due to injury.
Cotter confirmed that David Denton (Bath), Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh), Pete Horne (Glasgow), Rory Hughes (Glasgow) and Rory Sutherland (Edinburgh) were all unavailable due to injury.
“It’s a well-balanced and exciting group that have played a lot of rugby together, know each other well and are ambitious to do well in a Scotland jersey,” said Cotter.
“I think if we get our mind-set right we can be competitive and push for wins in every game in this campaign.”
He added: “When you look down the list of names from Greig Laidlaw as captain, a solid locking group that’s been together for a while, a familiar group of loose forwards who have played consistently well for their clubs, with John Hardie expected to return to fitness shortly.
“The backline gives us a little versatility with Huw Jones able to play several positions, as can Duncan Taylor, Duncan Weir returns alongside Finn [Russell] who’ll be working to run games, with settled back-three options available to us once again.”
“We now prepare to enter the RBS 6 Nations and face our first opposition, Ireland, at home next month who are now ranked highly in the world, and deservedly so, after wins over New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, so it’s a tough start.
“I think the addition of bonus-points will probably open up the games a little more and I think that’s a good thing. I think we’ll see a little more play and perhaps a few more risks in the game, which is exciting.”
Scotland squad: Alex Allan, Simon Berghan, Allan Dell, Zander Fagerson, WP Nel, Gordon Reid, Jon Welsh, Fraser Brown, Ross Ford, Stuart McInally, Jonny Gray, Richie Gray, Grant Gilchrist, Tim Swinson, Ben Toolis, John Barclay, Cornell Du Preez, John Hardie, Rob Harley, Josh Strauss, Hamish Watson, Ryan Wilson, Greig Laidlaw (Captain), Ali Price, Henry Pyrgos, Finn Russell, Duncan Weir, Mark Bennett, Alex Dunbar, Huw Jones, Matt Scott, Duncan Taylor, Stuart Hogg, Damien Hoyland, Sean Maitland, Tommy Seymour, Tim Visser