THE Scotland players hoping for places in the national team to face Samoa at the weekend will all be facing medical check-ups in camp today, but the early signs are that everybody in contention has come through the weekend unscathed.
A few players, mainly those likely to be on the bench, were released to their clubs and all appeared to have come through without significant damage. The most important was John Barclay, already named as Scotland squad captain, who made his comeback from an extended break after being concussed to feature in the Scarlets' scrappy win over Benetton Treviso.
He played a little more than an hour before trotting off the field, having proved his fitness with a solid performance at No.8, though he is more likely to be slotted into the blindside flanker role for Scotland. He was the only one of the four players in the squad who are based outside Scotland to have been picked for their club teams as the English sides fielded weakened teams in the Anglo-Welsh Cup.
Barclay was joined in the comeback stakes by Alex Dunbar, who would have hoped for a bit more than the 15 minutes he actually spent on the pitch after picking up a yellow card shortly after coming on in the 55th minute of Glasgow Warriors' win over Leinster on Friday night.
The other significant development could be that Rory Sutherland, the prop, also made his comeback after more than a year out and looked as though he had never been away with some dominant scrummaging and strong carries as the Edinburgh bench made a significant contribution to the late surge to claim a scoring bonus point.
He could yet come into contention this month since Gregor Townsend, the Scotland head coach, is already without three loosehead props and two hookers, meaning Darryl Marfo looks set for his debut cap while Stuart McInally will slot in at hooker – a promotion his club coach thinks he would have deserved even without injuries to his rivals.
"I think he should play, he has been the form hooker in Scotland," said Richard Cockerill, a hooker in his playing days. "He has been really good and has worked hard at his game. On form, he deserves to start for Scotland.
"He is a very good ball carrier, he works very hard in defence, he is a good leader, he has worked hard on his throwing. I just think he has a very complete game."
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