Given the length of the injury list that was confronting him just a few weeks ago, Gregor Townsend would have been relieved to a certain extent when it came time to select his Scotland team for tomorrow’s Calcutta Cup match at Twickenham. There are still a few clouds in the sky, but the overall picture is not nearly as overcast as it was.
Of the four players who had hoped to complete their recoveries from injury in time to be chosen to face England, two - Stuart Hogg and Duhan van der Merwe - have made it into the starting line-up announced yesterday. The other two, Zander Fagerson and Hamish Watson, are not in the 23 this week but should be available for the home game against Wales in eight days.
Ideally, all four would be fit and in the starting 15, but arguably the two most essential players are the ones who have been passed fit. In WP Nel and Luke Crosbie, Fagerson and Watson have very able deputies, whereas given Darcy Graham’s continuing absence, the loss of Hogg and Van der Merwe in addition would have left the back three looking particularly threadbare.
