SCOTLAND head coach Vern Cotter has announced his Scotland squad for the forthcoming Six Nations Championship.

The Kiwi's side open their campaign against Ireland at Murrayfield on February 4 in what will be Cotter's final contribution as national coach before he leaves to take charge of Montpellier at the end of the club season.

Current Glasgow coach Gregor Townsend will succeed Cotter as Scotland head coach this summer.

His squad is dominated by home-based players, with 28 of the 37 selected players representing either Edinburgh Rugby or Glasgow Warriors. 

Among the players to win call-ups are Gloucester centre Matt Scott, who missed out on selection for the Autumn Tests last November, and uncapped Edinburgh forwards Cornell Du Preez and Simon Berghan.

Cotter said: “It’s a well-balanced and exciting group that have played a lot of rugby together, know each other well and are ambitious to do well in a Scotland jersey.

“I think if we get our mind-set right we can be competitive and push for wins in every game in this campaign.

“When you look down the list of names from Greig Laidlaw as captain, a solid locking group that’s been together for a while, a familiar group of loose forwards who have played consistently well for their clubs, with John Hardie expected to return to fitness shortly.

“The backline gives us a little versatility with Huw Jones able to play several positions, as can Duncan Taylor, Duncan Weir returns alongside Finn [Russell] who’ll be working to run games, with settled back-three options available to us once again.

“We now prepare to enter the RBS 6 Nations and face our first opposition, Ireland, at home next month who are now ranked highly in the world, and deservedly so, after wins over New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, so it’s a tough start.

“I think the addition of bonus-points will probably open up the games a little more and I think that’s a good thing. I think we’ll see a little more play and perhaps a few more risks in the game, which is exciting.”