Scotland’s management are clinging to hope that two-time British & Irish Lions full-back Stuart Hogg will return for next weekend’s visit to Twickenham, but claim he will not be risked unless he proves himself fully fit.
The visit to London offers the last chance to salvage something from yet another failed Six Nations Championship campaign as the Scots bid for their first victory at the English game’s headquarters since 1983.
After Saturday’s latest injury crisis saw two of the back three roles occupied by players who were out of position, with Adam Hastings at full-back and Glasgow Warriors half-back partner Ali Price on the wing, the return of Hogg could not be more timely.
With a World Cup to be contested later this year, however, Scotland’s most valuable asset will be treated as such.
“If he’s not able to do full training and come through full training then we wouldn’t select him,” said head coach Gregor Townsend.
“He’s shown in the past that he can recover well and has proved that he is able to play after a break. Currently he’s not able to do full training so things will have to change over the next two days for us to consider him for selection. We’ve been liaising with Stuart and the Glasgow medics to see how he’s doing so we’ll get another update over the weekend.”
The importance of Scotland’s most incisive player was once again obvious in his absence on Saturday as relentless second half pressure generated just a single try, allowing Wales to maintain their pursuit of a third Grand Slam under Warren Gatland – which would match the total number Scotland have achieved in more than a century’s competition – with an 18-11 win.
After an abysmal showing in Paris a fortnight earlier, when Scotland’s inability to perform away from home was once again exposed, Townsend took solace from having come closer this time around, in spite of his side having suffered a second successive home defeat
“I felt at times that we had certainly improved from the Ireland game in terms of the pressure and the breaks we were getting in that area, but it’s something that’s a continual work-on for us. We know that teams that convert the opportunities when they have that pressure are more likely to win games,” he said.
He also reckoned that the injury problems that have afflicted Scotland in the course of this campaign could yet serve them well in the longer term.
“We have looked at more players in this campaign than we planned to,” said their coach.
“Those players, from today’s evidence, have done very well. We’ll see where we are.
“We did feel that was much closer to who we are and to the rugby we aspire to play and probably our best performance of the season, so there are a lot of positives to build on. We know that we’re going to have to play very well to win next week so I’m sure that is the number one goal, with new players coming into the group if there are injuries.”
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