Nikki Walker is the first casualty of Scotland’s World Cup campaign.
He has been ruled out of the tournament in New Zealand after suffering knee ligament damage in the final EMC test against Italy on Saturday.
The 29-year-old Ospreys wing had replaced Simon Danielli in Scotland’s 23-12 win but managed only 20 minutes before suffering the injury in an innocuous clash.
Team doctor James Robson said: “Nikki has sustained damage to the medial collateral ligament in his right knee. He was seen by knee specialist, consultant Graham Lawson, at the Spire Murrayfield Hospital and scans revealed the specific ligament damage and additional areas of concern.
“Nikki will now undergo further assessment on those areas as the knee settles but that will take place on his return to his club, the Ospreys, under the care of their medical team, led by Chris Towers. The ligament damage rules him out of selection for the rugby World Cup.”
Scotland head coach Andy Robinson said: “Nikki has worked exceptionally hard in training and some of the running lines he made yesterday when he came off the bench were first class.
“It’s obviously disappointing for Nikki. We all feel for him but injuries do happen in sport and you just have to deal with them, and we wish him a speedy recovery.”
Team colleague Max Evans, who set up the first of Scotland’s two tries and was another rival for one of the wing positions, said the players left on the field felt the worst when they saw the stretcher coming for Walker.Devastated”My first question coming into the changing room was ‘how’s Nikki’ but he was away to hospital for his scan. We’re absolutely devastated for him but we all knew something could happen and we have to stay positive.
“It’s like what I’ve always said when asked about what happened to my brother Thom if you go in worried about getting hurt you’re going to get hurt. It’s been at the back of our minds I’m sure and we’re all grateful to be fit and available to go.”
Evans’ first-half dart from loose ball provided a debut test try for former Dundee HSFP prop Alasdair Dickinson, who makes his second World Cup in the squad named on Monday (link).
“Max did all the hard work all I had to do was catch the ball and dive over,” said Dickinson. “Mind you, it’ll be a 50-metre run by the end of the night, no doubt.”
The Sale Shark was happy with the lessons learned from the scrummage battle where Scotland sometimes struggled to hold the Italians’ double-shove.
“They’re notorious for that tactic, and we’ll look at why we didn’t always handle it so well, but we were fine on our own ball all day,” he said.
“There’s really loads to take from the game and being challenged by the likes of Martin Castrogiovanni is what you want, because taking on the best is the way you improve.
“Other teams will have seen that and target it but we’ll prepare and be ready for that.”