Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has included four uncapped players in his 40-man Six Nations squad.

Glasgow Warriors prop D'arcy Rae has been called up for the first time alongside Edinburgh full-back Blair Kinghorn and his club teammates scrum-half Nathan Fowles and prop Murray McCallum.

Townsend has also been able to recall experienced players who have missed recent campaigns, with scrum-half Greg Laidlaw, lock Richie Gray, centres Mark Bennet and Duncan Taylor; and back-row David Denton all named in the squad.

Scarlets back-row John Barclay will continue as captain, despite previous skipper Laidlaw returning.

Townsend said that he had named a large group to compete for places after seeing a number of players shine in the Autumn Tests and in recent club action.

"With the announcement of this 40-man squad, we are now entering the key stages of our preparation for this year's NatWest 6 Nations Championship, he said.

"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.

"We welcome Blair Kinghorn into our group for the first time, who has been in excellent form with Edinburgh this season, and also three of our most experienced players in Richie Gray, Greig Laidlaw and Scott Lawson.

"We are looking forward to working with them and the rest of the squad to ensure that we build on the momentum the players generated in 2017."