Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has called up Arron Reed to his Six Nations squad due to ongoing concerns over the fitness of Duhan van der Merwe.
The Edinburgh winger has been nursing an ankle injury sustained in his side’s Challenge Cup match away to Vannes 10 days ago and has yet to return to full training.
Losing van der Merwe would be a colossal blow on the back of Sione Tuipulotu and Scott Cummings both being ruled out for the duration of the tournament but Townsend is cautiously optimistic that the South African-born flier will be fine for Scotland’s opener against Italy a week on Saturday.
Reed, though, has been called up as a precaution in the meantime and to provide additional numbers in training.
Speaking at the official Guinness Six Nations launch in Rome, Townsend said: ‘We’ve called Arron Reed into the squad and he’ll be training today.
It’s to cover Duhan this week who has a couple of niggles so we’re still keeping an eye on how he’s tracking.
Tuipulotu (right) has already been ruled out, while there are concerns over Van Der Merwe
Arron Reed has been called up for the Six Nations as cover for Duhan van der Merwe
‘We don’t see any problems for next week but it might still need to be managed this week in training.
‘Because we were quite tight with our squad – Sione is missing and players are training in different positions – we still thought we would be okay but then with Duhan not training today, maybe not training tomorrow, we’d fail to make our training function.
‘We’ve brought in a couple of young guys as well but Arron is going to be officially added to the squad. And next week we will officially add more people to our squad.’
Dylan Richardson has become the latest player to drop out after picking up a shoulder injury at the weekend. But Townsend doesn’t plan on calling up any more hookers.
‘Dylan got a scan on Monday night and he’ll now go back to his club and I’d imagine he’d be ruled out for the Six Nations,’ he added.
‘That’s what we’re planning but it’ll be more about what his club decides and whether he requires surgery now. He certainly won’t be considered for the next couple of weeks.
‘We had four hookers in the squad, it was the only position where we had four players.
‘It’s a blow for Dylan but we won’t be adding anyone in there just yet.’
