FRASER Brown returns from more than three months on the sidelines today when Glasgow take on the Dragons, and the 31-year-old could be making his Scotland comeback by the end of the week too.
The hooker, who suffered a neck injury in the Autumn Nations Cup defeat by Ireland at the start of December, has already been doing some training with the national squad as his return to action approaches. Playing in the PRO14 this afternoon then in the Six Nations against France on Friday night is a tight turnaround, but Brown is confident he can cope with the demands of those two games if required.
“I’d have to get picked of course!,” he said when asked if he would be ready for a Six Nations return. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m fit to go, otherwise I wouldn’t be playing on Sunday. I’m good to go and I’m just focussed on playing well, getting a good performance and a win under my belt.
“I’ve done four-day turnarounds before in both World Cups I’ve been to. I’ve done five-day turnarounds with Glasgow as well, Sunday to Friday. It’s not something you’re accustomed to every single week, but it’s something that players have done before, and we’ve got the best strength and conditioning coaches in position.”
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Glasgow’s hopes of finishing third in Conference A and claiming an automatic Champions Cup place were finally ended on Friday night when the Ospreys fought back from 19-3 down to Leinster to win 19-24. The victory was enough to secure third spot for the Welsh side behind Leinster and Ulster. However, a fourth-place finish might still be good enough to get into European rugby’s premier competition, and with the fifth-placed Dragons just four points behind them going into today’s match at the Principality Stadium, Brown and his team-mates still have a lot to play for.
Meanwhile, Edinburgh are set to give a first start to new signing Boan Venter in tomorrow[Mon] night’s match against Cardiff. The loosehead prop has so far only made two appearances off the bench, but should now go on a run of games in the No 1 jersey while Pierre Schoeman is out for a month or more with a knee injury.
Edinburgh need to beat the Blues to keep alive their hopes of a top-three finish in Conference B. They have two games after that which they will also have to win, against the Dragons a week today and against Benetton on a date still to be arranged.
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