In-form wing Rowe believes he’s in with a good shout of replacing injured Graham

Glasgow wing Kyle Rowe has declared himself ready to step into the Scotland starting lineup in the absence of the injured Darcy Graham for Saturday's Guinness Six Nations opener away to Wales.

The 25-year-old has scored seven tries so far in his first season since returning to Warriors following the demise of previous club London Irish last summer, including three in his last two outings before meeting up with Gregor Townsend's squad.

Edinburgh wing Graham will miss at least the first two matches of the championship, in Cardiff and at home to France, with a quad issue.

Townsend must decide whether to replace Scotland's joint second-highest try-scorer of all time with Rowe, who has one injury-stunted cap to his name, his Glasgow teammate Kyle Steyn, who has just returned after three months out, or the uncapped Sale flyer Arron Reed.

"You never want to see anyone getting injured, but Darcy's injury has given me an opportunity to potentially get a starting spot," said Rowe. "If not, I'm just looking to get better as a player and person over this period. My main goal is to try and get as many games in the Six Nations as possible.

"Glasgow and Scotland are pretty similar in terms of attack and defence so it's a pretty seamless transition from one set-up to another.

"I feel like what I've done over the course of the first half of the season has put me in good stead for potential selection.

"It's about taking the confidence I've got in my game at the minute and bringing it to Scotland."

The Scotland squad are currently training in Spain before travelling to Wales on Thursday, and Rowe acknowledges he faces a stiff challenge in the days ahead as he bids to prove he deserves the chance to add to his solitary cap.

"The back three is such a competitive area, even with Darcy being out," he said. "We've got Duhan [van der Merwe], Blair [Kinghorn], Kyle, myself, Arron and Ross Mccann, who are all capable of playing at the top level.

"All of the players in the backline can score tries, so we're prettydangerous.weallgointo training looking to prove to the coaches we can play at this level, so we'll see what happens."