Stuart McInally misses out on Scotland's World Cup selection

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has left out hooker Stuart McInally from the 33-man Rugby World Cup squad that was announced on Wednesday.

McInally, who led the Dark Blues in the 2019 Rugby World Cup had already announced that he will be retiring post the showpiece event in France as he is set to pursuit a career as a commercial airline pilot. He went on to win his 49th cap for Scotland in the recently concluded warm-up fixture against France in Saint-Etienne.

George Turner, Dave Cherry and Ewan Ashman are the preferred hookers in the squad named by Townsend.

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Apart from McInally, scrum-half Jamie Dobie, tighthead prop Murphy Walker and back-row Josh Bayliss have also been released from the 37-man training squad.

Ben White has overcome an ankle injury to retain his place in the squad that will be captained by Edinburgh back-row Jamie Ritchie.

Jack Dempsey, who was part of Australia's squad in the 2019 edition has retained his place with Ewan Ashman, Dave Cherry, Jamie Bhatti, Pierre Schoeman, Rory Sutherland, Javan Sebastian, Sam Skinner, Luke Crosbie, Rory Darge and Matt Fagerson set to make their World Cup debut.

Zander Fagerson, George Turner, Scott Cummings, Hamish Watson , Darcy Graham, Chris Harris, Blair Kinghorn, George Horne and Ali Price were part of the 2019 Rugby World Cup campaign while Grant Gilchrist, Richie Gray and Finn Russell will be featuring in a World Cup for the third time.

Scotland are grouped in Pool B alongside defending champions South Africa, Ireland, Tonga and Romania.

Scotland's 33-man squad:

Forwards: Ewan Ashman, Jamie Bhatti, Dave Cherry, Luke Crosbie, Scott Cummings, Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey, Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson, Grant Gilchrist, Richie Gray, WP Nel, Jamie Ritchie (c), Pierre Schoeman, Javan Sebastian, Sam Skinner, Rory Sutherland, George Turner, Hamish Watson

Backs: Darcy Graham, Chris Harris, Ben Healy, George Horne, Huw Jones, Blair Kinghorn, Ali Price, Cameron Redpath, Finn Russell, Ollie Smith, Kyle Steyn, Sione Tuipulotu, Duhan van der Merwe, Ben White