Scotland call on Gray and Cherry for Six Nations

In time for the 2016 Six Nations, the experienced duo Jonny Gray and Dave Cherry will make their debut in the Scotland squad, and Liam McConnell and Freddy Douglas will take the young Edinburgh duo’s place.

23 forwards and 17 backs make up the 40-man squad that head coach Gregor Townsend chose.

Finn Russell’s star flyhalf will face off against Adam Hastings and Fergus Burke in front of the camera.

The scrum-halves are Ben White and George Horne, with Jamie Dobie thriving for Glasgow Warriors on the wing and Ben White as a replacement at number nine.

The specialist centers are served by Northampton Saints Rory Hutchinson, Glasgow team-mates Huw Jones and Stafford McDowall, and captain Sione Tuipulotu.

Duhan van der Merwe, Darcy Graham, Kyle Steyn, and Dobie will all be available at full-back in addition to Blair Kinghorn, Tom Jordan, Kyle Rowe, and Ollie Smith, who are all options at full-back.

In the scrap for back-row spots, McConnell, 21, and Douglas, 20, join Magnus Bradbury, Jamie Ritchie, Josh Bayliss, and Glasgow trio Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge, and Jack Dempsey.

Along with fellow hookers Ewan Ashman and George Turner, Cherry, 35, is chosen to play in Pro D2 for Vannes in France.

Elliot Millar Mills and D’arcy Rae support standout tighthead Zander Fagerson, along with Pierre Schoeman, Rory Sutherland, and Nathan McBeth, the trio who are the loosehead props.

Max Williamson and Alex Craig battle it out in the second row, along with Gregor Brown, who also serves as blindside flanker, with fellow stalwarts Grant Gilchrist and Scott Cummings, who have 81 caps.

Scotland and England meet in Rome on February 7 before making three consecutive Saturday trips to Cardiff.

Seven days after the final game of the series, Scotland are in Dublin for a visit to Murrayfield, France will travel to Murrayfield on March 7.

Chief sports writer for BBC Scotland, Tom English

On the assumption that Gregor Hiddleston, the outstanding Glasgow hooker, was in it but was simply missed at first reading, the temptation was to re-read it when the squad was announced.

He is not, though. It’s also unbearable. Both George Turner, 33, and Dave Cherry, 35, who has been playing second division rugby for a Harlequins side that has been playing poorly, are in. Since the most recent Six Nations, neither has played test rugby.

Hiddleston’s absence is completely perplexing. Amazing . The Leicester giant Cam Henderson also suffers a blow. Another head-scratcher, especially when Jonny Gray has left Bordeaux and been replaced, despite playing largely on the bench and not playing for Scotland at all for nearly a year.

Without including Henderson and Alex Samuel, which ignores two-form locks.