Luke Crosbie will miss the remainder of the Guinness Six Nations due to a shoulder injury, while Richie Gray has been ruled out of the championship due to a bicep injury.
WP Nel and Darcy Graham are reported to be recovering well from their injuries and they will resume training with Edinburgh this week ahead of potential re-integration after the first fallow week.
With the squad otherwise at fairly full strength and Rory Darge also expected to be in the mix for selection this week ahead of the second round visit of France, no full replacements have been announced at this stage.
Glasgow Warriors Max Williamson and Alex Samuel (both locks) are training with the squad this week, along with Jamie Dobie and Euan Ferrie. Javan Sebastian is fully in the squad now but faces a battle from the two newest Scotland caps for his bench spot.
Gray’s place alongside Scott Cummings will go to one of Glen Young, Sam Skinner or Grant Gilchrist, most likely Gilchrist. Nevertheless, it is a huge blow for Scotland at lineout time where for both Glasgow and Scotland the lineout seems to go better when Gray is in it. After his yellow card at the weekend, George Turner comes under increasing pressure from Johnny Matthews with Ewan Ashman failing to hit his darts when Scotland badly needed to retain possession.
In the back row positions, the shuffling could be more extreme with squad co-captain Rory Darge likely to take the 7 shirt. Jamie Ritchie might shuffle to blindside but it seems equally possible that he drops out entirely and Saracens’ Andy Christie could have his club form rewarded with a start, leaving Ritchie, Matt Fagerson, Jack Dempsey and Josh Bayliss all competing for Number 8 and a bench role.
It will be an interesting week ahead for Townsend for sure, starting with a review as to how the second half against Wales went quite so badly wrong.
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