Mark Dodson says Scotland selection of 'Edinburgh Six' is up to Gregor Townsend

Mark Dodson has said he will not get involved in deciding whether the six Scotland players disciplined for breaching team protocols during the Six Nations will be selected for the summer tour of South America.

National coach Gregor Townsend will name his squad on Wednesday, with Scotland scheduled to play an A international against Chile in Santiago on June 25 followed by three Tests against Argentina in July.

It is a gruelling programme involving travelling to provincial enclaves in Argentina and Townsend is likely to pick an enlarged squad for Scotland’s first games since their defeat by Ireland on March 19.

The end of the Six Nations campaign was blighted by the incident involving captain Stuart Hogg, Finn Russell, Ali Price, Darcy Graham, Sam Johnson and Sione Tuipulotu. The group were punished for reportedly leaving the team hotel to visit a bar in Edinburgh after returning from Rome following the win over Italy.

Dodson refused to say if the players had been fined.

“There were conversations that took place at the time between Gregor, the management group and the players generally and that is something that has been dealt with and we have moved on from there,” said the chief executive.

Asked if the transgression was likely to influence their selection, Dodson added: “That is for the national team and the national team coaches. I don’t get involved in that.”

Dodson is keen to move on from a disappointing Six Nations campaign which saw Scotland beat England and Italy but lose to Wales, France and Ireland. The focus, he said, was now on preparing for next year’s Rugby World Cup in France.

“The countdown begins. There are three games in Argentina, who are under a new coach. We did quite well the last time we went out