Scotland’s depth chart at hooker has taken another hit ahead of the Six Nations with Glasgow hooker Gregor Hiddleston facing up to two months out with an ankle injury.
Hiddleston, 22, was not included in the Scots’ initial 37-man squad but was name-checked by head coach Gregor Townsend as a player close to selection and unlucky to miss out.
One of the four hookers named, Dylan Richardson, is expected to miss the whole tournament after picking up a shoulder injury with Sharks last weekend.
Hiddleston, a likely call-up if anything befalls one of the other three – Ewan Ashman, Dave Cherry and Paddy Harrison – is now in a similar boat after hobbling out of Glasgow’s European Champions Cup defeat at Harlequins with an ankle issue.
“It’s a syndesmosis injury,” explained Warriors head coach Franco Smith on Friday. “We will determine this week if surgery is required, but it’s usually around about a six-to-eight-week injury.”
Hiddleston is one of 10 players currently on Glasgow’s injured list, with another 13 on Scotland duty, as they prepare to host Connacht on Sunday in a URC fixture postponed from Friday because of the impact of Storm Éowyn.
Smith also reported that Scotland lock Scott Cummings, who was forced off early against Quins with a broken forearm, will also see a surgeon early next week.
Cummings is also likely to miss most of, if not all, the Six Nations, but Smith said whether he has an operation will not hinder the player’s rehabilitation period.
“He sees a surgeon on Tuesday to make a final decision on that, but regardless of whether he’s going to be operated on or not, the recovery timeframe is exactly the same,” he said. “It’s just what is the best option at this stage.”
A more positive development will see Scotland full-back Ollie Smith play his first game for Warriors on Sunday since suffering an ACL knee injury in a European game against Bayonne over 13 months ago.
Smith made a comeback for a Scotland Under-23 side against Italy in December but has had to be patient for his chance at Glasgow given a recent glut of important fixtures.
While he has also played regularly on the wing in the past, Smith will start at outside centre, with Huw Jones and Stafford McDowall among those retained by Scotland and Sione Tuipulotu facing several months out with a chest injury.
“At Glasgow Warriors, you don’t have the luxury of having a preferred position, you have to be able to adapt and play different roles,” Smith said.
“Ollie’s one of those guys. He can play wing and full-back but he’s played centre for us before and, going forward, we might see him more often there, you never know.
“He’s been knocking on the door for quite a while, he’s been rugby-ready for about a month. Unfortunately, the type of games we played didn’t allow us to just chuck him in for the sake of re-introducing him. There were some important games. So this is the ideal opportunity for him.”
Alongside Smith at centre, Duncan Munn will start his first game for Warriors, while hooker Joe Roberts, flanker Macenzzie Duncan and wing Kerr Johnston could all make their senior debuts off the bench.
Prop Nathan McBeth, who won his first Scotland caps on last summer’s tour of the Americas, will return from three months out with a knee injury as a replacement, while Jack Mann has been released by Scotland to start at number eight.
Fly-half Duncan Weir will captain Warriors for the first time, on his 159th outing for the club.
