Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend on Tuesday named four uncapped players in a 40-man Scotland squad for the Six Nations and welcomed back a clutch of experienced internationals.
Scotland finished fourth in last year's tournament with victories against Ireland, Wales and Italy. The Scots ended 2017 with a narrow loss to the All Blacks and a spectacular 53-24 win over Australia.
The potential debutants are Edinburgh trio Blair Kinghorn (full-back), Nathan Fowles (scrum-half) and Murray McCallum (prop) plus Glasgow prop D'Arcy Rae.
The squad is also boosted by the return of several experienced players, absent from recent campaigns, including scrum-half Greig Laidlaw, lock Richie Gray, centres Mark Bennett and Duncan Taylor and back-row David Denton.
Laidlaw, Gray and Bennett have not featured for the dark blues since last year's championship, while it was 2015 when returning prop Jon Welsh last saw international action and longer still for veteran hooker Scott Lawson.
Scarlets backrower John Barclay will continue to captain the side. He took the mantle from Laidlaw in last year's championship and led Scotland to victories in six of nine Tests.
"With the announcement of this 40-man squad, we are now entering the key stages of our preparation for this year's" Six Nations, said Townsend.
"It's a bigger squad than we originally planned -- which is largely down to the competition for places -- with a number of players having performed well in the autumn Tests and a few others putting their hands up for selection in recent weeks."
SQUAD
Scotland Six Nations
Forwards
John Barclay, capt (Scarlets),
Simon Bergh Simon Berghan
Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow),
Magnus Bradbury (Edinburgh)
David Denton (Worcester)
Cornell Du Preez
Grant Gilchrist
Jonny Gray
Richie Gray
Luke Hamilton
Rob Harley
Scott Lawson
Murray McCallum
Stuart McInally
Gordon Reid
D'Arcy Rae
Ben Toolis
George Turner
Hamish Watson
Jon Welsh
Ryan Wilson
Backs
Mark Bennett
Alex Dunbar
Nick Grigg
Chris Harris
Stuart Hogg
Pete Horne
Ruaridh Jackson
Huw Jones
Lee Jones
Blair Kinghorn
Greig Laidlaw
Sean Maitland
Byron McGuigan
Ali Price
Henry Pyrgos
Finn Russell
Tommy Seymour
Duncan Taylor
Nathan Fowles
