Warriors pair Duhan van der Merwe and Rory Sutherland have been named in Scotland’s 39-man squad for the Guinness Six Nations.
The pair both arrived at Sixways from Edinburgh Rugby last summer having toured South Africa with the British and Irish Lions.
Wing van der Merwe has scored eight tries in 14 international appearances – three for the Lions last summer – since he made a try-scoring debut against Georgia at Murrayfield in October 2020.
Loosehead prop Sutherland returns to Scotland’s squad having missed their Autumn Nations Series because of a side muscle injury.
He has won 16 Scotland caps since he made his international debut as a replacement against Ireland in Dublin six years ago and played in two of the Lions’ Tests in South Africa last summer.
Scotland will gather for a training camp on Monday January 24 and re-assemble ahead of the opening match of the competition, the Calcutta Cup clash with England at BT Murrayfield on Saturday February 5.
“When you look through the squad this is the most competitive I’ve seen it in so many areas and that’s testament to the strength and depth we have,” said Scotland Head Coach Gregor Townsend.
“We are able to call-up several new players into the squad such as Andy Christie, Kyle Rowe and Ben White. We have been aware of all of the uncapped players for a while now and recently they have all experienced a breakthrough in terms of their performances at club level.
“A key part of the squad selection was rewarding form and that definitely applies to Ben Vellacott and Rory Darge who have been excellent for their clubs this season.
“We’re delighted to be able to include Cameron Redpath in the squad after missing the last few months with injury. He managed to get a game under his belt prior to the squad selection so we’ll see how he performs for Bath and in our training over the next couple of weeks.
“The Guinness Six Nations is the best competition we have in rugby so to be involved in it is a real privilege, especially starting with our oldest rivals in front of a sold-out home crowd.”