Scotland head coach Vern Cotter on Monday announced what he described as a “tight” 27-man squad for the two-Test tour of Japan in June.
The squad is largely comprised of the players who featured at last year’s World Cup, where they beat Japan 45-10 in the pool stage, and this year’s Six Nations.
But Glasgow centre Mark Bennett was not included as he is hoping to earn a place in Great Britain’s sevens teams for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
“Being a two-match tour, rather than three, allows us to take a smaller squad — a tight group — though opportunities still remain for other players to come in,” Cotter said in a press release.
“This squad still has a lot of work to do to get better and this is another opportunity to analyse our last game against Ireland and the RBS 6 Nations Championship as a whole, in order to move forward.”
Scotland play Japan, the 2019 World Cup hosts, at Tokyo’s Toyota Stadium on June 18 before tackling the Brave Blossoms again at the Ajinomoto Stadium a week later.
Scotland squad for tour of Japan
Backs (12): Greig Laidlaw (capt, Gloucester/ENG), Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow), Finn Russell (Glasgow), Ruaridh Jackson (Wasps/ENG), Alex Dunbar (Glasgow), Peter Horne (Glasgow), Duncan Taylor (Saracens/ENG), Damien Hoyland (Edinburgh), Sean Maitland (London Irish/ENG), Tommy Seymour (Glasgow/SCO), Tim Visser (Harlequins/ENG), Stuart Hogg (Glasgow)
Forwards (15): Alasdair Dickinson(Edinburgh), WP Nel (Edinburgh), Moray Low (Exeter/ENG), Rory Sutherland (Edinburgh), Ross Ford (Edinburgh), Stuart McInally (Edinburgh), Fraser Brown (Glasgow), Jonny Gray (Glasgow), Richie Gray (Castres/FRA), Tim Swinson (Glasgow/SCO), John Barclay (Scarlets/WAL), David Denton (Bath/ENG), John Hardie (Edinburgh), Josh Strauss (Glasgow), Ryan Wilson (Glasgow) – Agence France-Presse
