Scotland’s Guinness Six Nations campaign plunged deeper towards complete disaster before a ball has even been kicked when following Finn Russell’s departure yesterday, star winger Darcy Graham was ruled out with ligament damage.
The diminutive wing, with five tries in just seven appearances for Scotland, was a certain starter for the opening game in Dublin against Ireland but suffered a knee injury in training at the prep camp at Heriot-Watt University’s Oriam facility earlier this week.
The 22-year-old will not travel with the team to the training camp in Spain on Sunday after an MRI scan confirmed the damage, and a Scotland team statement revealed “Graham is not expected to feature in Scotland’s opening rounds of the championship.”
That would suggest he is definitely out of the Calcutta Cup game against England on February 7 and probably out of the game in Rome against Italy on February 21.
Russell’s departure from camp on Thursday after a disciplinary issue was bad enough, but the championship preparation could hardly have got off to a worse start for Gregor Townsend, who is under pressure after a poor 2019 campaign including a failure to reach the last eight of the World Cup in Japan.
There will be a welcome back for Russell into Scotland’s Six Nations plans, sources in the Scotland camp stress – but the star stand-off has to accept the disciplinary action and show contrition to coaches and his team-mates.
Russell left Scotland’s preparation camp at Oriam on Wednesday after being excluded from the squad after missing training on Monday following a late night drinking session in the team hotel on Sunday.
Russell is now back in Paris and is not responding to requests to state his case, but it’s understood he feels the punishment for Sunday’s night’s “breach of team protocol” – exclusion from the Scotland team to play Ireland in the Guinness Six Nations opener in Dublin in a week – was unduly harsh.
He had a meeting on Wednesday with head coach Gregor Townsend – captain Stuart Hogg is also said to have been present – which was described as “conciliatory” but declined the offer to stay with the squad at Oriam and in Spain next week to help with team preparations for the Ireland game.
Whether he can return for the Calcutta Cup game has therefore to be in some doubt, but the Scotland team management are hoping to keep channels between coach and player open for a possible return later in the championship.
However, Russell has to “show some contrition” according to a squad source, for his breach of team protocol. Scotland’s squad rules are not set in stone, but are designed around the “accepted norms of a modern high-performance sporting environment”.
Coaches and team-mates both attempted repeatedly to get Russell to leave the hotel bar – the team were allowed a drink in moderation on arrival on Sunday night – but he refused to do so, eventually leaving the hotel altogether, reportedly to go to his family home in Falkirk.
In the meantime, Scotland have covered Russell’s absence in terms of numbers at least with a recall for Duncan Weir, the only full-time stand-off of any note really available to them.
The Worcester Warriors player last appeared for Scotland as a replacement in 2017 and last started a test match in – coincidentally – Dublin against Ireland in March 2016. The 28-year-old former Glasgow and Edinburgh has 27 caps for his country.
He and fellow squad member Cornell du Preez will play for Worcester against Wasps in the Gallagher Premiership today before joining up with the squad as they head to Spain.