Dundrennan's Stafford McDowall makes Six Nations debut for Scotland

Stafford McDowall made his Six Nations debut on Saturday.

The Dundrennan centre was handed his second Scotland cap when he was named in Gregor Townsend’s starting XV for the final round clash with Ireland.

The 26-year-old played for just over an hour in Dublin as Scotland went down 17-13, the win seeing Ireland claim the Six Nations in the process.

McDowall, who plays his club rugby for Glasgow Warriors, received his first cap against Italy last year.

And he has hailed the impact Warriors head coach Franco Smith has had on his career.

The former Stewartry Shark said: “Two years ago, I wasn’t getting picked by Glasgow at all. I played something like 12 games in two years, a lot of them off the bench for five or six minutes.

“That’s in the past now and I just want to try and push on from here and try and get more caps.

“Franco just put a bit of faith and a bit of confidence back in me.

“The way he tells you to play is just to go and express yourself.

“Getting that backing from the coach and being able to go and play my game and having the confidence to bring out my strengths has really helped me. I’m really enjoying having him as coach and I’m glad he’s staying around for a while.”