Nick Haining, Sam Skinner and Rufus McLean have all been added to Scotland’s 34-man squad for their Guinness Six Nations match against Ireland on Sunday.
Exeter Chiefs second row Skinner, who has ten Scotland caps to his name, scored a brace for the reigning Premiership champions at the weekend as they overcame Bath Rugby 38-16.
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He is joined in the squad by Edinburgh back-row forward Haining and Glasgow Warriors’ American-born back McLean, who has earned his first senior call-up.
The trio were not included in Gregor Townsend’s squad for Scotland’s scheduled clash with France last month, which was postponed due to a coronavirus outbreak in the Les Bleus camp.
Scotland will be without Richie Gray for the contest at BT Murrayfield after he sustained a head knock in Glasgow’s defeat to Leinster in Dublin while Zander Fagerson is also unavailable.
Fagerson was sent off against Wales and lost his appeal against a four-week suspension, although he could still feature in the Championship after the game in Paris was postponed.
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Glasgow teammate Adam Hastings will also miss the visit of Ireland after he received a three-game ban for his red card in his club side’s Guinness PRO14 defeat at Leinster.
Townsend’s men are currently fifth in the Guinness Six Nations table after defeating England at Twickenham for the first time in 38 years to win the Calcutta Cup on the opening weekend.
They followed up that famous result with a narrow 25-24 defeat to Wales in Round 2 while Ireland overcame Italy last time out following defeats to Wales and France.
Scotland squad
Backs: Jamie Dobie, Darcy Graham, Chris Harris, Stuart Hogg, Sam Johnson, Huw Jones, James Lang, Sean Maitland, Rufus McLean, Duhan van der Merwe, Ali Price, Finn Russell, Scott Steele, Duncan Taylor, Jaco van der Walt.
Forwards: Ewan Ashman, Simon Berghan, Jamie Bhatti, Dave Cherry, Alex Craig, Scott Cummings, Matt Fagerson, Grant Gilchrist, Jonny Gray, Nick Haining, Rob Harley, Oli Kebble, WP Nel, Cornell du Preez, Jamie Ritchie, Sam Skinner, Rory Sutherland, George Turner, Hamish Watson.
