Double injury blow for Townsend
SCOTLANd’S plans for the autumn Tests have been dealt a blow with prop Zander Fagerson and centre Mark Bennett both set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
Fagerson had surgery in South Africa after sustaining an ankle injury in Glasgow Warriors’ victory over Toyota Cheetahs on Saturday and is likely to miss the November matches with Wales, Fiji, South Africa and Argentina.
And the latest prognosis on Bennett’s hamstring problem indicates he will miss the Six Nations as well as the autumn programme.
The Edinburgh centre was expected to be back playing in the New Year but the latest examination of his injury brought the news that the injury is worse than was feared.
Meanwhile Stuart Hogg, who didn’t play for Glasgow against the Cheetahs, has been sent home because of an ankle injury. However, he should be ready to turn out against the dragons at Scotstoun in a fortnight.
The Scotland full-back tweeted: ‘Pretty frustrated to be heading home today. Another challenge to get the ankle sorted & get back fit. Thanks for the support.’
A Glasgow Warriors statement read: ‘Zander Fagerson, 22, has successfully undergone surgery in Bloemfontein on an ankle injury he sustained in the win over Toyota Cheetahs.
‘He will travel to Cape Town in the next few days and return home to Scotland with his teammates next weekend where he will receive further assessment.
‘A more accurate assessment of the injury and an estimated recovery period will be provided in due course.
‘Stuart Hogg will return home from South Africa having failed to recover from an ankle injury sustained against Munster before we flew out to South Africa.
‘Robbie Nairn and Adam Nicol will join up with the squad in Cape Town as they prepare for this Saturday’s game against the Southern Kings.’
Fagerson tweeted: ‘Thanks for all the messages last night... Tough game against a physical Cheetahs side and stoked for the lads to get the win.
‘Unfortunately I picked up a knock so I will be sidelined for a while but I will bounce back. Massive thanks to all the medical staff who helped yesterday.’
With Fagerson out, Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend will likely turn to WP Nel to play at No 3 in the November Tests, with Simon Berghan in reserve.
Nel, who has 22 caps for Scotland, is strong at the set piece but lacks Fagerson’s mobility in open play.
Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill said he was disappointed to lose Bennett for an extended time, especially as the Ayrshireman and his fellow international Matt Scott had the makings of a good centre partnership that had caught the eye of Townsend.
With Scott’s physicality and Bennett’s quick hands, the Scotland head coach was hoping to give them a run together either in November or in the Six Nations. He will have to put any thoughts of doing that on hold for the foreseeable future.
‘Mark had surgery on his hamstring and will be out for five to six months which is longer than we first thought,’ said Cockerill.
‘What are we up till then, January, February, March? Yeah. He will miss the Six Nations as it stands today.’
Cockerill, whose team take on Leinster in dublin at the weekend, remains unhappy at the standard of refereeing in Edinburgh’s first three Pro14 matches and wants a meeting between coaches and officials to improve the current situation.
‘There has to be consistency across the refereeing group in this competition,’ said the Edinburgh head coach, whose team recorded their first win of the season on Friday by beating Connacht 17-10 in a tight encounter.
‘I want the standard of officials to be better because if we all just ignore it then that’s where we’ll always be.
‘Should Tappe Henning (head of refereeing at the SRU) be getting involved? Yeah, potentially. I don’t know what involvement he has with the Pro14. He obviously has development with the Scottish referees along with dave Pearson.’