KEVIN Bryce turned up at Murrayfield yesterday expecting to have a few bumps and bruises checked over by James Robson, the Scotland doctor. Instead, the Glasgow Warriors hooker was told he was checking into the squad for the Rugby World Cup as a replacement for Stuart McInally, who has a neck injury.
The news came as a complete surprise to Bryce, who had been called up to the squad during the World Cup warm-up series as a precaution, but then released back to Glasgow after another hooker, Fraser Brown, recovered fully from a hamstring strain. “I never heard the news about Stuart,” Bryce explained just half an hour after he learned he was going to the World Cup. “I wasn’t aware I was going to be training with the squad.
“I just thought James Robson was going to check me over from the Glasgow game as I realised I was going to be back-up cover. I thought I’d come in then go straight home.”
In common with McInally, Brown and first-choice No 2 Ross Ford, Bryce is a hooker who began his rugby life in the back row. With John Hardie the only openside flanker in Vern Cotter’s squad, the head coach explained that it was Bryce’s ability to play in the back row of the pack as well as the front that saw him win selection.
“We’re lucky that Kevin has played in the loose forwards as well,” Cotter said. “He played against Canada on tour last year and came in there, so he’s able – as is Fraser Brown – to cover those positions.”
The neck injury that forced McInally out of the squad comes just weeks after he finally made his Scotland debut, against Italy. He would have won his first cap a week earlier against Ireland but for a stomach bug.
“Everybody feels for Stuart,” Cotter added. “Like everybody, he’s put in a lot of work, and he thought he was hopping on a plane down to the World Cup.
“That’s changed. We just have to move forward, although it’s very, very unfortunate and we all feel desperately for him.
“It’s one of those things,” he explained of McInally’s injury. “It bulged progressively. He had a weight session last week and we thought he’d strained his neck. He didn’t train, he then felt things further down his arm, the doc took him very quickly for an MRI – and he then found out that he had a bulging disc.”
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