South African-born props Allan Dell and WP Nel have been selected in Scotland’s 40-man squad for the November Tests.

Dell retained his place in the group after he was also part of the squad that did duty against the USA, Canada and Argentina in June.

Coach Gregor Townsend has recalled Nel, who missed the mid-year tour due to injury.

There are three uncapped players – loose forward Blade Thomson, lock Sam Skinner and centre Sam Johnson – in the squad.

Nine players – John Barclay, Mark Bennett, Lewis Carmichael, Cornell du Preez , Zander Fagerson, Richie Gray, Stuart Hogg, Tim Swinson, Duncan Taylor – were not considered for selection because of injury.

Scotland face Wales on 3 November, before meeting Fiji, the Springboks and Argentina on 10, 17 and 24 November.

‘We had a productive summer tour in which a number of players made their first outing for their country. A lot of those players have continued to perform well for their clubs and have merited re-selection in a strong group,’ Townsend said.

‘We also welcome Blade and both Sams into the squad. We are looking forward to working with them and getting our squad back together for the first time since the summer. It will be a very challenging series, with the Wales Test providing a very tough contest before three huge matches at Murrayfield later that month.’

Scotland squad:

Forwards – Alex Allan, Simon Berghan, Magnus Bradbury, Fraser Brown, Allan Dell, David Denton, Matt Fagerson, Ross Ford, Grant Gilchrist, Jonny Gray, Rob Harley, Murray McCallum, Stuart McInally, Willem Nel, Gordon Reid, Jamie Ritchie, Sam Skinner, Blade Thomson, Ben Toolis, George Turner, Hamish Watson, Ryan Wilson.

Backs: Alex Dunbar, Dougie Fife, Chris Harris, Adam Hastings, George Horne, Pete Horne, Sam Johnson, Huw Jones, Lee Jones, Blair Kinghorn, Greig Laidlaw, Sean Maitland, Byron McGuigan, Ali Price, Henry Pyrgos, Finn Russell, Matt Scott, Tommy Seymour.

Photo: scottishrugby/SRU