Scotland Six Nations squad announced, former England wing included

McConnochie, who won two caps for England in 2019, is now eligible to be selected due to World Rugby’s eligibility rules allowing a capped player to switch allegiance to another country they are eligible to play for following a three-year cooling off period.

Healy, who will move to Edinburgh ahead of the 2023/24 season, qualifies through his maternal grandparents, having represented Ireland at under-20 level.

Second-row Cameron Henderson joined Leicester Tigers ahead of the 2020/21 season, having previously been a part of both the FOSROC Scottish Rugby Academy and Stirling County’s FOSROC Super6 squad. He was selected for the ultimately cancelled 2021 summer squad for matches with England A, Romania and Georgia.

McDowall has been in great form for Glasgow Warriors this season and recently captained the club for their away win against Perpignan in the European Rugby Challenge Cup.

In a squad headed up by captain Ritchie, who led Scotland in all four of the 2022 Autumn Nations Series fixtures, there are returns for experienced players such as Saracens’ Sean Maitland, who has 15 tries from his 53 caps, and centre Huw Jones, who re-joined Glasgow Warriors ahead of the current season and will hope to add to his 31 Scotland appearances, and 12 tries.

There are 10 players who have earned at least 50 Scotland caps, with Exeter Chiefs full-back Stuart Hogg, on 96 appearances for his country, approaching a landmark figure on the eve of the championship.

Tickets are still available for the final fixture of the 2023 Guinness Six Nations, as Scotland host Italy at BT Murrayfield on Saturday 19 March HERE.

Scotland Six Nations squad:

Ewan Ashman (Sale Sharks) 6 caps

Josh Bayliss (Bath Rugby) 3 caps

Simon Berghan (Glasgow Warriors) 31 caps

Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow Warriors) 25 caps

Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors) 57 caps

Dave Cherry (Edinburgh Rugby) 8 caps

Andy Christie (Saracens) 4 caps

Luke Crosbie (Edinburgh Rugby) 2 caps

Jack Dempsey (Glasgow Warriors) 4 caps

Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) 28 caps

Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) 54 caps

Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby) 59 caps

Jonny Gray (Exeter Chiefs) 72 caps

Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors) 69 caps

Cameron Henderson (Leicester Tigers) uncapped

WP Nel (Edinburgh Rugby) 50 caps

Jamie Ritchie (Edinburgh Rugby) – CAPTAIN – 36 caps

Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh Rugby) 16 caps

Javan Sebastian (Scarlets) 3 caps

Sam Skinner (Edinburgh Rugby) 23 caps

Rory Sutherland (Ulster Rugby) 22 caps

George Turner (Glasgow Warriors) 29 caps

Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby) 54 caps

Chris Harris (Gloucester Rugby) 39 caps

Ben Healy (Munster Rugby) uncapped

Stuart Hogg (Exeter Chiefs) 96 caps

George Horne (Glasgow Warriors) 18 caps

Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors) 31 caps

Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh Rugby) 38 caps

Sean Maitland (Saracens) 53 caps

Ruaridh McConnochie (Bath Rugby) uncapped

Stafford McDowell (Glasgow Warriors) uncapped

Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) 58 caps

Cameron Redpath (Bath Rugby) 4 caps

Finn Russell (Racing 92) 65 caps

Ollie Smith (Glasgow Warriors) 2 caps

Kyle Steyn (Glasgow Warriors) 5 caps

Sione Tuipulotu (Glasgow Warriors) 11 caps

Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh Rugby) 23 caps

Ben White (London Irish) 9 caps

Healy will join Edinburgh this summer on a two-year deal.

The 23-year-old represented Ireland at under-20 level but qualifies for Scotland through his grandparents.

Healy has featured for the Irish province since 2019, amassing 275 points from 47 appearances.

"It's clear how much they want to play. I'm looking forward to putting myself into a new environment and seeing how I go," Healy told Edinburgh's website.

"I'd like to thank everyone at Munster for their support over the last few seasons. I've loved every minute of my time playing with the club, but I felt now was the right time to take on a new and exciting challenge in Edinburgh."

The former Connacht ace has not played for Ireland in three years — and can move under World Rugby’s new eligibility rules.

His father, John Cooney senior, who was born in Blantyre in South Lanarkshire, , was a journalist who worked for the

Glasgow Herald before becoming European correspondent, and later religious affairs correspondent, for The Irish Times

Players can switch nations if they have been stood down from international rugby for three years and they, or a parent or grandparent, were born in the country they wish to represent.

DID YOU KNOW? He is the first player to play over 20 games for three different Irish province (Connacht, Leinster, Ulster)

“I have chatted to Fin Smith on three occasions now since the Six Nations and have chatted to other players who are dual qualified that have not made our squad,” said Townsend.

“He is definitely a player we think very highly of.

“He has played a lot of rugby at a young age and just turned 20 a few weeks ago. It was great to get to know the person as well. He has close links with my old club, his grandad played for Gala and the Lions and his mum is from a village three miles from Gala.

“It has been good to get that connection and see how his game is progressing. I thought one of his best games was at the weekend when he played Bath.

“I went down to watch the Premiership final against London Irish so yeah, he is progressing but we didn’t feel this tour is the right time for him and obviously he would have to make a commitment between us and England.”

“I grew up in Scotland and I qualified to play on residency so that’s what I did,” Mercer said.

“I played for Scotland’s U16s because, at the time, I just wanted to play international rugby and to test myself against the best.

“I tried to get into the Scotland U18s a year early but I didn’t get selected. The next year came around and I was gunning to play [for Scotland U18s]. Around the same time, I was looking at some different contracts and that’s when Bath offered me one. When you’re offered a contract by a team like that, you’d be stupid to turn it down so, of course, I accepted it.

“Unfortunately, that was when the coach of the Scotland U18s called me and told me he wasn’t going to pick me because I hadn’t committed to Scotland and to Scottish rugby.

“I remember that day pretty well, because, 20 minutes later, when I told the England U18s head coach I hadn’t been picked, he just said: ‘Come down and play for us then’.”

“After that, my first game for England U18s was against Scotland. Honestly, you couldn’t write it.”