SCOTLAND and Glasgow Warriors back Peter Horne could miss the entire Six Nations Championship after needing surgery on an ankle injury. The 27-year-old, who can play at stand-off or centre, also injured a knee in the Warriors’ home loss to Munster last week, and will be out of action for up to 16 weeks according to a statement by his team.
However, his coach, Gregor Townsend, is hopeful of a return well within that timeframe - one that could see him available for the latter stages of the tournament. “Peter works really hard generally, but even more so when he’s rehabbing injuries - unfortunately he’s had a few over the last couple of years,” Townsend said. “So he’ll be looking to get that down from 16 weeks.” Scotland’s last Six Nations game is on 18 March at home to Italy, which is 14 weeks on Saturday.
Warriors winger Rory Hughes has also undergone surgery after injuring a knee in the same PRO12 match against Munster. He is expected to be out of action for eight weeks.
As a consequence of his injury, Horne has been deregistered from Glasgow’s Champions Cup squad and replaced on the roster by lock forward Brian Alainu’uese. Winger Leonardo Sarto, who is recuperating from shoulder surgery, has also been replaced, in his case by stand-off Rory Clegg. Both men can be reintroduced later in the campaign, which resumes on Saturday when the Warriors play last year’s runners-up Racing 92 in Paris.
By contrast with Horne and Clegg, several other members of Townsend’s squad are close to making a return after injury. Back-row forward Adam Ashe is making a gradual return to full training, while locks Tjiuee Uanivi, Scott Cummings and Greg Peterson plus centre Richie Vernon should be back in action early in the New Year.
Edinburgh Rugby, meanwhile, have been given the go-ahead by the city council for their trial move to Myreside in the New Year. The first Edinburgh match due to take place at the Watsonians ground is the Challenge Cup tie against Timisoara Saracens on the weekend beginning Friday 20 January.
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