RICHIE Gray is certain that Scotland now have the personnel to challenge for the Six Nations Championship, and is convinced that, after years of under-achievement, over-confidence will not be a problem.

Since the Toulouse lock made his debut in the annual tournament back six years ago, Scotland have finished outside of the bottom two only once - in 2013, when they came third. But Gray, who won his 50th cap at last year’s Rugby World Cup, is sure that the squad can build on the performances at that tournament and contend at the top of the table rather than merely scrapping with Italy to escape the Wooden Spoon.

“I think we can be competitive this year,” said the 26-year-old said, who is expected to be named alongside his younger brother Jonny in the team to play against England at BT Murrayfield on Saturday. “As a group we’ve been together a while, and building up to the World Cup we got to know each other better. There’s a bond there now.

“It’s all about confidence. A large chunk of the boys play for Glasgow and Edinburgh and I think there’s a far better understanding between us now.

“What a challenge and what an opportunity for the team to go out against England in the opening game. From a team point of view I’d love to do something in a Scotland jersey. I would love to go out and see us challenge for the title at the end of the championship.

“That would be brilliant, and I genuinely believe we have the players and the staff who can do it. I believe our time is now. We’re certainly close, without getting too carried away.”

Scotland received a lot of plaudits at the World Cup for the manner in which they played in their quarter-final against Australia, but Gray believes the improvement in their play was evident in the pool stages too. At the same time, however, he knows there were equally apparent flaws which need to be ironed out over the coming weeks.

“Things went well in the World Cup and we came close to a semi-final, but the manner in which we played throughout was pleasing,” he continued. “We played our brand of rugby, the game we wanted to play, and I think that was important.

“It was high tempo, pretty ferocious stuff at times, and by and large we were happy with how it went. We’re conscious, though, that we have to make improvements. We also can’t get carried away with what happened in the World Cup, because we have to get better. Yes, we’re confident going into the Six Nations, but we have a lot to work on still.

“There will be a few teams who’ll want to put things right after the World Cup, especially England. I suspect they’ll want to right a few wrongs. That makes them dangerous opposition.

“England will try and rough us up in the pack. They’ll try and dominate that area. The first thing Eddie Jones [England’s new coach] wanted to do was ensure he had a strong pack and build on it.

“We will fight fire with fire: you have to do that. If you’re defending a lineout you have to fight fire with fire. We’ll make sure we’re ready for it.”

Meanwhile, Adam Hastings, the son of former Scotland captain Gavin, will make his debut for the Scotland Under-20s against their English counterparts tomorrow evening. Coach John Dalziel has included two other debutants besides the stand-off in his starting 15 - scrum-half Hugh Fraser and right-winger Darcy Graham.

Scotland women’s coach Shade Munro has chosen two new caps in his starting line-up - centre Lisa Thompson and winger Rhona Lloyd - as well as a third uncapped player on the bench, prop Debbie Falconer.

Scotland U20s (v England U20s at Broadwood, tomorrow, 8pm): B Kinghorn (Edinburgh); D Graham (Hawick), R Hutchinson (Northampton), T Galbraith (Melrose), R Nairn (Harlequins); A Hastings (Bath), H Fraser; M McCallum (both Heriot’s), J Kerr (Boroughmuir), C Sheldon (Leeds Beckett Univ), A Davidson, S Cummings (both Glasgow Hawks), J Ritchie (Edinburgh), M Smith (Glasgow Hawks), A Miller (Melrose). Substitutes: L Anderson (Ayr), B Christie (Loughborough Univ), A Nicol, C Hunter-Hill (both Stirling County), S Burnside (Boroughmuir), C Shiel (Currie), G Taylor (Melrose), B Robbins (Currie).

Scotland Women (v England Women at Broadwood, tomorrow, 6pm): C Rollie (Murrayfield Wands); M Gaffney (Hillhead Jordanhill), H Smith (Lichfield), L Thomson (Melrose), R Lloyd; L Martin, S Law (all Murrayfield Wands); T Balmer (Worcester), L Skeldon, L Smith (both Hillhead Jordanhill), E Wassell (Murrayfield Wands), D McCormack (Richmond), J Forsyth (Hillhead Jordanhill), K Dunbar (Murrayfield Wands), J Konkel (Hillhead Jordanhill). Substitutes: S Quick (Murrayfield Wands), D Falconer (Stirling County), H Lockhart (Hillhead Jordanhill), F Sims, A Stodter (both Saracens), J Maxwell (Leeds Beckett Univ), L Harris (Eccles), E Sinclair (Murrayfield Wands).