Ruaridh McConnochie responds to 'snide' comments from former England teammates

Despite having played and scored for England in the 2019 World Cup, McConnochie has decided to take advantage of the recent change in rugby's eligibility rules which allow players who have not been selected for their country in three years to switch to another nation for which they qualify.

Upon the Scotland squad announcement, Jonathan Joseph wrote jovially: "Absolute disgrace."

England hooker Tom Dunn wrote: "Nothing that man won’t do for."

Speaking to the Mail Online, he was asked if he expects to be wound up by England teammates, McConnochie said: "Yes, probably. I’d expect nothing less! It would be weird if I didn’t.

"I look back on England with an immense amount of pride. I’ll never not be proud of my career and my journey up to now.

"I’ve got a lot to thank Eddie (Jones) for. He didn’t need to put the trust in me. To be able to go to the World Cup was unbelievable and something I’d never dreamed of.

"My family are all Scots. They’ve all grown up supporting Scotland and we as kids grew up supporting Scotland as well.

"It’s not paying them back, but it’s giving them an opportunity to text me saying “Welcome home. We can’t wait to start wearing our blue shirt again rather than supporting England”.

"I’m 100 per cent committed."

It was originally conceived as the Home Nations Championship and first contested by England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales in 1883. France joined in 1910 to create the Five Nations Championship.

There were 59 foreign-born players in the 2021 Six Nations. The player rosters for the 2022 competition number totalled of 73 foreign-born players

So far, with four of the six squads announced, the number for this years tournament currently tallies 38 with France and Ireland yet to name their squads.

Ireland boss Andy Farrell will name his squad on Thursday a 9 am.

There will also be players called up during the tournament, which will also contribute to the totally tally.

On 16 January 2023, Borthwick named a 36-player England squad for the 2023 Six Nations Championship

Bevan Rodd (Scotland)

Mako Vunipola (New Zealand)

Marcus Smith (Phillipines)

Manu Tuilagi (Samoa)

On 17 January 2023, Wales coach Warren Gatland named a 37-man squad for the Six Nations.

Bradley Roberts (South Africa)

Tomas Francis (Wales)

Taulupe Faletau (Tonga)

Christ Tshiunza (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

George North (England)

Nick Tompkins (England)

Alex Cuthbert (England)

On 17 January 2023, Scotland coach Gregor Townsend named a 40-player squad for the 2023 Six Nations Championship.

Ewan Ashman (Canada)

Simon Berghan (New Zealand)

WP Nel (South Africa)

Pierre Schoeman (South Africa)

Javan Sebastian (Wales)

Cameron Henderson (Hong Kong)

Sam Skinner (England)

Josh Bayliss (England)

Andy Christie (England)

Jack Dempsey (Australia)

Hamish Watson (England)

Ali Price (England)

Ben White (England)

Ben Healy (Ireland)

Chris Harris (England)

Cameron Redpath (France)

Sione Tuipulotu (Australia)

Sean Maitland (New Zealand)

Ruaridh McConnochie (England)

Kyle Steyn (South Africa)

Duhan van der Merwe (South Africa)

On 10th January Kieran Crowley announced a 34-man squad for the Italy's opening two matches of the  matches against  .

(5 Feb) and England (12 Feb)

Marco Manfredi (Germany)

Sebastian Negri (Zimbabwe)

Jake Polledri (England)

Stephen Varney (Wales)

Ignacio Brex (Argentina)

Ange Capuozzo (France)