By Ryan Moran
- Three players born overseas make the final 31.
- Josh Strauss the only uncapped player to make the squad.
- Scotland in World Cup Pool B with South Africa.
EDINBURGH, UK- Scotland become the last to publicly name their squad. Vern Cotter has named two South African born and one New Zealand born player in their 31 man squad.
Josh Strauss makes the squad without having a cap to his name. The back row is one of two South African born players to make the squad alongside WP Nel. Strauss becomes eligible under Scottish nationality before the start of the Rugby World Cup whereas Nel became eligible over the summer. New Zealand born John Hardie also made the squad, claiming Scottish nationality through his grandmother.
With two new back rows coming into the squad, two other back rows have had to make way. John Barclay and Blair Cowan were not part of the final 31 having made it through the first trim of the squad. Vern Cotter cut the squad from 42 down to 31.
Alasdair Dickinson, Ross Ford and Sean Lamont are set for their third consecutive World Cup while Richie Gray, Alasdair Strokosch and Richie Vernon embark on their second. Cotter named Greg Laidlaw as the captain for the tournament.
The whole 31 man squad is as shown below:
Props: Alasdair Dickinson, Ryan Grant, Gordon Reid, Willem Nel, Jon Welsh.
Hookers: Fraser Brown, Ross Ford, Stuart McInally.
Second row: Grant Gilchrist, Jonny Gray, Richie Gray, Tim Swinson.
Back row: David Denton, John Hardie, Josh Strauss, Alasdair Strokosch, Ryan Wilson.
Scrum half: Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Greig Laidlaw (Captain), Henry Pyrgos.
Stand off: Finn Russell, Duncan Weir.
Centre: Mark Bennett, Peter Horne, Matt Scott, Richie Vernon.
Wing: Sean Lamont, Sean Maitland, Tommy Seymour, Tim Visser.
Full back: Stuart Hogg.
The World Cup kicks off on Friday 18th September when England face Fiji at Twickenham.
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