Shedding captain Sione Tuipulotu to harm is a blow to Scotland’s Six Nations hopes however coach Gregor Townsend believes it’ll supply the prospect for others to make an influence.
Tuipulotu was dominated out of the match after being damage final week with Scottish Rugby asserting on Monday that he’ll bear surgical procedure on a pectoral muscle harm suffered in a coaching session with Glasgow Warriors.
“I believe it is a blow to the match and to our supporters that they do not see Sione enjoying,” Townsend stated on the match launch on Tuesday.
“However for the workforce you must settle for that accidents occur, and that is why you create depth over an extended interval.
“And we’ve got some actually good [centres] in our squad that now have a chance that they in all probability did not assume was coming alongside, and we’re backing them to go and seize that chance,” he added.
First-choice lock Scott Cummings can also be out after an arm fracture early on in Glasgow Warriors’ defeat by Harlequins within the European Champions Cup on Saturday. Nonetheless, Townsend didn’t dwell on the setbacks, preferring to stress Scotland’s progress in constructing the depth of their squad.
“We now have a extremely skilled group. I believe we had been near 700 caps in November, so they have that cohesion they usually perceive the sport we wish to play. They perceive what their teammates convey,” the coach stated.
“Now we have some glorious gamers. So we’ve got gamers that convey their very own strengths to the group and we all know that we’ve got some actual gamers of ability that may convey different gamers into the sport, and the sport that we wish to play will imply that our wingers will get extra touches of the ball. That is definitely the goal.”
Scotland have flattered to deceive in current Six Nations tournaments, profitable their final 4 Calcutta Cup matches towards England however ending third or higher solely as soon as within the final six editions.
They posted strong ends in final November’s internationals with dwelling wins over Australia, Fiji and Portugal however dropping at Murrayfield to world champions South Africa.
Scotland’s 2025 marketing campaign begins on Feb. 1 at dwelling to Italy.
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