Glasgow Warriors lock Richie Gray and new signing Peter Horne have been included in Scotland under-20 coach Rob Moffat’s 26-man squad for the IRB Junior World Championship in Japan.

Moffat gave his players every opportunity to stake a claim for a place in the final cut, making his selection just in time for the IRB deadline this afternoon following a full contact XV-a-side head-to-head amongst his players yesterday at Lasswade.

Moffat said: “Yesterday was a great opportunity for the players to play another match of high intensity rugby which helps the development of our game and was part of our programme for the World Cup. If we have got that right then this should be an even stronger squad than that of the 6 Nations.

“The World Cup is a fantastic environment to be in. Some of these players will go on to play professional rugby and this is the time for them to stand up and make that known. It’s up to them to make their mark on that stage and if these boys keep improving and developing then we can definitely look forward to the World Cup.

“One of the games in our pool is against England whom we lost in the 6 Nations. We also face Samoa and Japan and they are unknown quantities in some respects so we’re not getting carried away here. We know where we are and what we’ve got to do so importantly, with three weeks to go before we go to Japan, we continually develop our game.”

Seven new faces join the squad following the side’s most successful 6 Nations in history with Scotland under-19 captain, Grant Gilchrist earning a place alongside fellow forwards Robert Harley, Ryan Wilson and Grant Shiells, while Alex Dunbar, James Knight and Steven Aitken have been drafted into the backs.

Scotland have one final preparation fixture against Ireland under-20 on Sunday 24 May at Fort Matilda, Greenock (kick-off 3pm) before leaving for Japan the following Friday (29 May) where they will face Samoa (Friday 5 June), England (Tuesday 9 June) and hosts Japan (Saturday 13 June) in Pool B.

Backs
Peter Jericevich (Glasgow Hawks)*, Henry Pyrgos (Wimbourne), Andrew White (Glasgow Hawks)**, Alex Dunbar (Selkirk)**, Robbie Johnston (Leeds University and Leeds Carnegie), James Knight (Bedford), Ashleah McCulloch (Aberdeen Grammar)**
Steven Aitken (Aberdeen Grammar)**, Grant Anderson (Ayr)*, Peter Horne (Glasgow Warriors), Paul Loudon (Durham University and Edinburgh Accies)

Forwards
Fraser Brown CAPTAIN (Watsonians)*, Finlay Gillies (Heriot’s)**, Gavin Cameron (Stirling County)**, David Morton (Bridgwater and Albion), Douglas Orr (Haddington)**, Grant Shiells (Kelso), Nick Campbell (Glasgow Hawks)**, Grant Gilchrist (Stirling County)*, Richard Gray (Glasgow Warriors), Robert Harley (West of Scotland)**, Struan Dewar (Heriot’s)**, Chris Fusaro (Heriot’s)*, Stuart McInally* (Watsonians), Ryan Wilson (London Scottish)

* Denotes a member of the Scottish National Contracted Academy
** Denotes a member of the Scottish Rugby National Academy supported by the Scottish Institute of Sport