Scotland coach Vern Cotter names squad for final campaign

Vern Cotter is hoping Scotland can give him a memorable final Six Nations campaign before the New Zealander coach steps aside for homegrown talent Gregor Townsend. Cotter, who has turned Scotland round both in terms of morale and performance levels from the demoralised unit he took over in 2014, named a 37-man squad for the tournament which kicks off with a daunting home match with Ireland at Murrayfield on February 4. Scrum-half and points kicker Greig Laidlaw -- who is heading to 54-year-old Cotter's old club Top 14 giants Clermont next season -- retains the captaincy and will continue his half-back partnership with fly-half Finn Russell. "We now prepare to enter the Six 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," said Cotter. "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." Despite his positive impact, Cotter's contract was not renewed principally because selectors feared losing Townsend to a foreign club, after the former international built up a good reputation in charge of Glasgow Warriors. Cotter, who will take charge of Top 14 outfit Montpellier next term, has recalled centre Matt Scott, who has won his place back after being left out of last November Tests with 12 tries in 18 appearances for his English club Gloucester this season. Scott is no rookie with 36 caps to his name but Cotter has named an uncapped scrummaging duo in New Zealand-born prop Simon Berghan, 26, and 25-year-old backrow forward Cornell du Preez, who was born in South Africa. Berghan, who joined Edinburgh in 2013, is eligible to represent Scotland through his grandfather whilst du Preez became eligible to represent Scotland last year after completing three years of residency in the country. "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," said Cotter. "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 looking group that's been together for a while."