GREGOR Townsend may have chosen to name co-captains of the senior Scotland squad for the Six Nations, with Finn Russell and Rory Darge taking over from Jamie Ritchie. But his under-20s counterpart Kenny Murray has gone in the opposite direction, naming Liam McConnell as sole skipper after the Edinburgh back-row forward shared the honour with Duncan Munn in last year’s Champiobship and then with Ben Afshar in last summer’s World Rugby Trophy. McConnell is one of 18 forwards in a squad of 35 selected by head coach Murray for the tournament, which sees the Scots kick off with a game against Wales in Colwyn Bay a week on Friday..

“We’ve been able to name a strong squad today, one which involves many players who, thanks to the involvement of the FOSROC Future XV, have shown a lot of improvement and great promise over the past season,” Murray said. “This includes the likes of Tom Currie, who had the second highest tackle completion rate of the whole Championship, and Amena Caqusau, who was in the top five try scores.

“We know how tough the Six Nations can be for this young group, so it has been vital for us to prep the guys the best we can for what should be another exciting competition. I’m looking forward to seeing Liam take on the captaincy role by himself this campaign, as he has been an outstanding leader for the group over the past year.”

Of the group of 35, 16 took part in either the Six Nations or World Trophy last year, and 25 played for the Future XV in the FOSROC Super Series.

Scotland beat Wales 18-17 in round two of last year’s Championship after kicking off their campaign with a narrow loss to England. They went on to lose their other three matches, including an 82-7 home loss to Ireland in round four.

Scotland squad for Under-20 Six Nations Championship:

Forwards: Callum Smyth* (Glasgow), Robbie Deans* (Edinburgh), Alex O’Driscoll (Saracens/Loughborough University), Ollie Blyth-Lafferty* (Edinburgh), Callum Norrie* (Glasgow), Jerry Blyth-Lafferty* (Edinburgh), Elliot Young (Exeter Chiefs/Exeter University), Ryan Burke* (Glasgow), Ruaraidh Hart* (Glasgow), Euan McVie* (Edinburgh), Theo Currie (Harlequins/Swansea University), Fraser Wilson (Hawick), Freddy Douglas* (Edinburgh), Monroe Job (Southern Knights), Liam McConnell* (Edinburgh, captain) , Johnny Morris* (Glasgow), Archie Clarke (Durham University), Tom Currie* (Edinburgh).

Backs: Murdoch Lock (Bath/Bath University), Eric Davey (Stirling Wolves), Hector Patterson* (Edinburgh), Isaac Coates* (Edinburgh), Andrew McLean (Boroughmuir Bears), Matthew Urwin* (Glasgow), Kerr Yule* (Glasgow), Johnny Ventisei* (Glasgow), Geordie Gwynn (Ealing Trailfinders/Brunel University), Ludo Kolade (Harlequins/Bath University), Kerr Johnston* (Glasgow), Jack Hocking* (Edinburgh), Fergus Watson* (Glasgow), Amena Caqusau* (Glasgow), Finn Douglas* (Edinburgh), Logan Jarvie* (Glasgow), Finlay Doyle (Loughborough Universit