SCOTLAND HEAD COACH Vern Cotter has included uncapped props Zander Fagerson and Rory Sutherland in his squad for the upcoming Six Nations.

Cotter has retained 23 of his World Cup squad in the 35-man panel, while adding the new faces of Glasgow’s Fagerson and Edinburgh’s Sutherland as options in the front row.

Alex Dunbar and Duncan Taylor both return following the injuries which ruled them out of international action last season, but five others are still sidelined.

Fraser Brown, Grant Gilchrist, Henry Pyrgos, Jon Welsh and Richie Vernon all miss out with injury at this point.

Scotland open their tournament when they host England at Murrayfield on 6 February.

Cotter said: “There are positive signs that we can compete, and this championship will give us another opportunity to measure ourselves against very good opposition in a tough competition.

“The guys believe that we can compete, dominate and secure victories in these games.”

Scotland Squad for the 2016 Six Nations

Forwards

Hooker

• Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby) – 94 caps
• Pat MacArthur (Glasgow Warriors) – 6 caps
• Stuart McInally (Edinburgh Rugby) – 2 caps

Front row

• Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh Rugby) – 52 caps
• Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – uncapped
• Moray Low (Exeter Chiefs) – 29 caps
• Willem Nel (Edinburgh Rugby) – 8 caps
• Gordon Reid (Glasgow Warriors) – 15 caps
• Rory Sutherland (Edinburgh Rugby) – uncapped

Lock

• Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) – 19 caps
• Richie Gray (Castres) – 51 caps
• Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors) – 17 caps
• Ben Toolis (Edinburgh Rugby) – 1 cap

Back row

• Adam Ashe (Glasgow Warriors) – 6 caps
• John Barclay (Scarlets) – 45 caps
• Blair Cowan (London Irish) – 15 caps
• David Denton (Bath) – 32 caps
• Chris Fusaro (Glasgow Warriors) – 4 caps
• John Hardie (Edinburgh Rugby) – 5 caps
• Josh Strauss (Glasgow Warriors) – 5 caps

Backs

Scrum-half

• Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Edinburgh Rugby) – 8 caps
• Greig Laidlaw (capt, Gloucester) – 46 caps

Out-half

• Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors) – 15 caps
• Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors) – 21 caps

Centre

• Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors) – 13 caps
• Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors) – 14 caps
• Peter Horne (Glasgow Warriors) – 15 caps
• Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby) – 33 caps
• Duncan Taylor (Saracens) – 12 caps

Wing

• Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors) – 101 caps
• Sean Maitland (London Irish) – 20 caps
• Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) – 22 caps
• Tim Visser (Harlequins) – 23 caps

Full-back

• Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors) – 38 caps
• Ruaridh Jackson (Wasps) – 27 caps

Training with the squad

• Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby) – 12 caps
• Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors) – 17 caps

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