Josh Bayliss a surprise call-up by Gregor Townsend

THE ‘Toony Tombola’ has turned up another surprise selection with a call-up for Bath back-row forward Josh Bayliss to the 36-man training squad which will prepare this week for next Sunday’s Six Nations round-three clash with France.

The 23-year-old, who was a member of the England Under-20s squad which reached the Junior World Cup Final in 2017, qualifies for Scotland through his Aberdeen-born grandmother and has featured for Bath in every game of the 2020-21 season so far.

Prop Zander Fagerson is not listed in the latest squad update, however Scottish Rugby has announced that they will appeal his disciplinary hearing ban of four matches following a red card against Wales in round two of this Six Nations campaign.

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Glasgow Warriors scrum-half Jamie Dobie has also been added to the squad as a full member, having previously been invited to train at the start of the campaign.

Adam Hastings also takes his place in the squad having trained with the national team since the end of January to help his return from injury.

Returning to the Scotland squad are Jamie Bhatti, currently with Bath, Worcester Warrior Cornell du Preez and Glasgow Warriors duo Rob Harley and Sam Johnson.

Centre Cameron Redpath and back-row pair Gary Graham and Blade Thomson have all returned to their clubs as they continue to recover from their respective injuries. Allan Dell has also been released.

“We welcome Josh [Bayliss] into our squad as we look to build on our opening two games of the Championship,” said head coach Gregor Townsend. “We have been following his performances with Bath and a combination of his form and a couple of injuries in our squad, have given us the opportunity to involve him for the first time.

“We are also delighted to add Jamie Dobie to our group following his impressive outing for Glasgow on Friday night and the quality he showed while training with us prior to our game against England.”