Dell ready to ease Scotland’s injury crisis after return
British and irish Lion Allan Dell has returned to action with Edinburgh just in time to ease scotland’s front row problems ahead of the autumn tests.
Gregor townsend had been sweating over Dell’s fitness knowing that his fellow loose-head props Alasdair Dickinson and rory sutherland have been ruled out of the matches against samoa, New Zealand and Australia next month.
With such a lack of strength in the No1 jersey there was a chance that the uncapped Jamie Bhatti, in his first full season with Glasgow Warriors, or his understudy at scotstoun, Alex Allan, would have to play all three matches.
Dell may only have 20 minutes under his belt this season, which came in the narrow Pro14 win over Zebre at the weekend, but having him back in action allowed townsend a huge sigh of relief.
he was not among the original Lions picks and was part of the ‘Geography six’ — the players brought into the Lions squad because of their proximity to New Zealand — but he left Warren Gatland’s camp having learned a lot from being involved.
the 10-times capped scotland international played 12 minutes in the victory over the Chiefs after Joe Marler was sent to the sin-bin. that was more than Finn russell, who was called up at the same time, but only came on in the draw with the hurricanes when Dan Biggar required a head injury assessment.
Dell was rewarded on his return from Lions duty in June with a contract extension that will keep him at Edinburgh. But as soon as the ink was dry on his new deal, he picked up a back injury in pre-season training that kept him out of action until last weekend’s win over the italian outfit.
‘i found being out for a long time quite frustrating and it played on my mind a lot,’ said the south African-born prop, who qualifies for scotland through his Paisley-born grandmother.
‘that game against Zebre was my first game since the Lions in New Zealand, so i have been out two-and-a-half months.
‘i could lie and say i could have done 80 minutes easily out there, but, after one chase, i was blowing. You cannot simulate match fitness, especially a game like that when it is always moving.
‘it was good to get a few minutes out on the field and help grind out the win — and it was great to be back. Although i know scotland games are coming up, i am just looking at it one week at a time to see how my body holds out, but everyone will be looking at them and wanting to play.
‘Just now, i am just trying to train well and keep getting out there. We have London irish in the Challenge Cup away next weekend and that will be another big test.’
the way the Edinburgh scrum held up near the end when Dell came on for Darryl Marfo contributed greatly to the home win. During his short time on the park, Dell helped his side win two scrum penalties and the set-piece looked solid late on when Zebre were going for the win.
‘Cockers (head coach richard Cockerill) has us do hard pressure scrums in training,’ he said. ‘Every tuesday in forwards sessions, we have scrums on the line that simulate situations like that one we faced late against Zebre.’