Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Scotland in Japan: Hamish Watson out of World Cup and Ali Price a doubt as Scots reel from opening defeat

Scotland's Hamish Watson receives medical attention during the 2019 Rugby World Cup Pool A match.
Scotland's Hamish Watson receives medical attention during the 2019 Rugby World Cup Pool A match.

Hamish Watson is out of the Rugby World Cup and AI Price is a significant doubt for the second pool game against Samoa as Scotland’s campaign went from bad to worse yesterday.

There at least was no chance of the Shinkansen bullet train which conveyed the Scots party out of Tokyo over the 330 miles to Kobe going off the tracks, but there’s a danger for Scotland that their campaign could after Sunday’s abject 27-3 defeat to Ireland in Yokohama.

Watson, who was caught in a pincer clearout of a ruck by the Irish props Cian Healy and Tadhg Furlong just before half-time, suffered a knee injury and while the full detail will depend on further examinations, the initial scan shows he’s played his last game at this World Cup.

It’s a huge blow as Watson is one of the most important players to the team – along with Stuart Hogg and Finn Russell – and is the only recognised openside flanker Scotland have in their player group.

Magnus Bradbury, a different kind of back row forward but one many thought should have been selected, was already with the squad as cover for Jamie Ritchie’s facial injury and was preparing to go home, but now will stay in Japan as Watson’s replacement.

As the squad went through Shinagawa Station in Tokyo yesterday, scrum-half Price was on crutches with a restraining boot protecting a “foot-ankle” problem that will be examined more closely over the next few days.

Assistant coach Danny Wilson said it was an issue that might rule him out against Samoa but with an eight-day turnaround until the game next Monday there was every opportunity he might recover to play.

“Honestly, it’s so early after the game, we’re waiting for the medical assessment to tell us exactly what it is, if it’s very minor or not,” said Wilson. “What we’re hoping is it’s just a case of bruising and that will be that.

“I honestly don’t know if it will even affect him one game. We’ve got a longer turnaround between last night and Monday, which does allow more time medically.

“If it was the four-day turnaround we have later in the tournament we might be having a different conversation but we have a fair bit of time. Once we get the relevant results then the process kicks in in terms of recovery and training again.”

Watson’s absence was a blow, but not an insurmountable one, he argued.

“Jamie Ritchie has shown himself capable of playing openside,” he said. “Jamie can play six and seven and Hamish has probably been the only ‘seven-seven’.

“But we have other players of quality, Ritchie, John Barclay has played openside and as you saw on Sunday (hooker) Fraser Brown has played there for Scotland more than once.

“Hamish will be a miss, he’s a quality rugby player and certainly gives you some go forward and carry. We missed that when he went off on Sunday but all we can do now is focus on the players we’ve got.

“We’re very confident in them and that we can put behind us the injury and the performance and move forward to Samoa.”