ROSS Ford, Scotland's most capped player, is in danger of missing this month's Tests after picking up a chest injury in Scotland training. It has ruled him out of tonight's Edinburgh game against the Ospreys at Myreside while he went for a scan to determine the extent of the damage.
Richard Cockerill, the Edinburgh coach, says he has no real idea how bad the damage is, except that it was bad enough to need further tests. The hooker had been due to make his comeback from a calf problem but picked up the new injury training with the national side.
"We are trying to determine how long he’ll be out," Cockerill added. "He got a pectoral injury. He’s gone to see the specialist. Whether he’s fit for Scotland next weekend I don’t know; he’s with the Scotland squad and being assessed by their medical team."
The Edinburgh team announcement a few hours before Glasgow Warriors played last night gives a reasonably clear picture of next week's likely Scotland selection. It looks as though Gregor Townsend, the national head coach, has held back players from his starting XV but allowed bench players and those not likely to be involved in the match-day squad to go back to their clubs.
On that basis it looks as though Darryl Marfo, the Edinburgh loosehead, is likely not only to win his first cap next week but also to do it from the start, having apparently beaten Glasgow's Jamie Bhatti to the run-on spot.
"I’m obviously delighted for guys to get their opportunity," said Cockerill. "Darryl [Marfo] has worked very hard. Through circumstance he’s got an opportunity – you’re starting to test the depth of your squad.
"Darryl’s worked very hard. He came in as fourth choice loosehead for Edinburgh and he’s done exceptionally well. Scotland wouldn’t have picked him if they didn’t think he could play at that level. I hope he gets an opportunity and I’ll be very interested to see how he plays. Set-piece-wise, he is very physical and very good."
The saving grace for Edinburgh, with all their starting front row on Scotland duty and injuries to Allan Dell and Alasdair Dickinson adding to the problem, is that Rory Sutherland is back from a long-standing groin problem and wins a place on the bench as he tries to ease his way back.
"He’s had two run-outs at club rugby [with Hawick] and he’s got through that very well," said Cockerill. "He’s been rehabbing the last two months, getting ready to play. He hasn’t played [for Edinburgh] in a year or so but he’s good to play now. He’s not injured – it’s just about match fitness.”
He is joined on the bench by Magnus Bradbury, ready for his first action since being sacked as captain following a late-night drinking incident.
Stuart McInally and WP Nel are also held back for Scotland, as are Ben Toolis and Hamish Watson, so it is very much a test of Edinburgh's strength in depth against an Ospreys side who are even harder hit by national demands.
"The reason I’ve rotated [the team] is because we are going to miss large parts of our squad for long periods of the season," Cockerill explained. "I didn’t want to carry on playing the same team and then have to make mass changes and bring in guys who just haven’t played.
"Instead, we’ve been rotating seven, eight, nine guys pretty much every week. Hopefully that’s put us in good stead. Obviously we’ll miss players of the calibre of our Scotland internationals but we’ve got a good group of guys that will be very competitive, physical and motivated against Ospreys."
After beating Benetton Treviso last week, Edinburgh are fourth in their conference, four points clear of the Italians, and anxious to start putting pressure on the sides above them, rather than be worrying about the teams below.
Edinburgh: B Kinghorn; D Fife, J Johnstone, P Bureligh, T Brown; J Tovey, N Fowles; M Rizzo, N Cochrane, S Berghan, F McKenzie, G Gilchrist, L Crosbie, J Ritchie, C du Preez. Replacements: C Fenton, R Sutherland, M McCallum, M Bradbury, L Carmichael, S Hidalgo-Clyne, G Bryce, C Dean.
Ospreys: D Evans; D Howells, J Hook, A Beck, T Habberfield; S Davies, B Leonard; P James (C), S Baldwin, D Arhip, L Ashley, B Davies, O Cracknell, G Mercer, R McCusker. Replacements: S Parry, G Thomas, M Fia, R Thornton, J King, R Morgan-Williams, L Price, K Fonotia.
Referee: A Brace (Ireland)
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