McMillan, who has just left Glasgow to move south to Leeds, is joined in the squad by Colin Shaw and Fergus Thomson, who have both been involved in the Glasgow set-up this season. Jeffrey said: "This is the strongest squad available to us for the World Cup and the management are very happy with how it is looking. This will be an extremely difficult tournament for us with matches against South Africa, England and Russia. These will all be tough games.
"The boys have worked hard since the Six Nations. We have been working with a squad of 40 who have all been under a pretty arduous fitness regime. It’s a credit to all the players in the World Cup preparation squad and there were some bitterly disappointed boys when I called round to reveal our final squad at the beginning of this week."
THE SQUAD
Backs
Brian Archibald (Stirling County)
Iain Berthinussen (Gala)
Douglas Brown (Boroughmuir)
Robert Dewey (Kirkcaldy)
Ben Duncan (Tynedale)
Stephen Gordon (Glasgow Hawks)
John Houston (Hawick)
Neil Hunter (Gloucester)
Stephen Jones (Newcastle Falcons)
Brendan McKerchar (Durham University)
Mark McMillan (Stirling County)
Colin Shaw (Glasgow Hawks)
Forwards
Robert Blake (Birmingham University)
David Callam (Hawick) CAPTAIN*
Neil Cochrane (Watsonians)
Stuart Corsar (Aberdeen GSFP)
Alasdair Dickinson (Heriot’s)*
Ian Dryburgh (Watsonians)
Ross Ford (The Borders)*
Scott Forrest (Glasgow Hawks)
Craig McGrath (Bristol Shoguns)
Grant Strang (Aberdeen GSFP)
Alasdair Strokosch (Boroughmuir)*
Fergus Thomson (Glasgow Hawks)*
Sean Tomes (Newcastle Falcons)
Colin White (Stirling County)
* member of Scottish Institute of Sport
As a taster of what the Scottish supporters have to look forward to, Scotland U21's take on their Irish counterparts before Saturday's international against The Barbarians at 12.45. Jeffrey said: "The match on Saturday will give the boys a great chance to get together and prepare. It will be a big challenge but will also provide a means of gauging how far we have come since the Six Nations."
The first games of the World Cup are on Friday 11th, with the double header in Glasgow being held at New Anniesland when Ireland take on Tonga, then Australia face France. For a full fixtures list, click here. (vm)