Zander Fagerson could be set to make his Scotland return on Super Saturday having been named in Gregor Townsend’s 35-man squad preparing to take on Italy at BT Murrayfield.
The prop has not played since being sent off in the second half of his side’s Round 2 defeat against Wales but is now back in contention.
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Edinburgh duo Damien Hoyland and Ally Miller are the other two new faces in the squad, with Scott Cummings – who suffered a hand injury in Sunday’s defeat against Ireland – and Rufus McLean dropping out.
27-year-old wing Hoyland, who can also play at full-back, made his Scotland bow against Italy six years ago and has won four caps, the last of which came against Fiji in June 2017.
This is a first senior Scotland call-up for Miller, meanwhile, who has represented his country at Under-20 and Sevens level – featuring at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the latter.
The back-rower, 24, is to join Glasgow Warriors this summer and will link up with nine of his future teammates in the Scotland squad, including the returning Fagerson.
Finn Russell and Jonny Gray, both of whom came off injured in Round 4, are named in the squad.
The lineout is likely to be a key feature of Scotland’s training this week after six were lost on their own throw against Ireland and Townsend is keen to see his side improve at the set-piece.
“The pressure Ireland put on our lineout gave them a lot of ball throughout the game and stopped us getting a platform to build off,” the Scotland head coach said at his post-match press conference.
“We definitely wanted to move Ireland around, we just didn’t get the set-piece ball to threaten them with our plays, whether they were one or two-phase plays.
“We had to rely on getting counter-attack ball or getting ball from restarts or getting ball from turnovers.”
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Scotland’s clash with Italy kicks off Super Saturday and though the hosts’ Championship ambitions are now over, Townsend’s men still have their re-arranged clash with France to play following the visit of the Azzurri and will be determined to end on a high.
