Scotland make two additions to squad, with four players ruled out
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has had to reshuffle his squad for the November Tests.
They face Wales at the Principality Stadium this Saturday and preparations have been somewhat disrupted with six alterations necessary to his squad.
Scotland will be looking to avenge their 34-7 defeat to Wales in the 6 Nations last February. The sides will compete for the 'Doddie Weir Cup'. The match falls outside the international window so Townsend was already without several players including the likes of Finn Russell and Greig Laidlaw who are playing for their French clubs, while Stuart Hogg and Zander Ferguson are long-term injury absentees.
Harlequins back James Lang has been added to the squad for the 2018 Autumn Tests.
The 23-year-old made his first and second Scotland appearances on the summer tour earlier this year as part of the side that defeated Canada and Argentina in Edmonton and Resistencia.
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Lang has been drafted in as a replacement for injured Glasgow Warriors centre Sam Johnson, who sustained a knee injury in his club’s narrow Guinness PRO14 loss to Munster in Limerick on Saturday, and as cover for Edinburgh centre Matt Scott, who is suffering from concussion.
Meanwhile, the status of uncapped and in-form Edinburgh back Darcy Graham has been elevated from ‘training with’ the squad, to a full squad member.
The Scotland medical team also confirmed that back-row trio Magnus Bradbury, David Denton and Luke Crosbie (who was training with the squad) will return to the care of their clubs’ medical teams for further care and assessment on shoulder, head and jaw injuries respectively.
After the game against Wales in Cardiff, Scotland face Fiji on November 10th at Murrayfield, followed by games against South Africa and Argentina.
Watch: Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus looks ahead to November Tests
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Let’s see how the 6N goes, ireland weren’t looking too clever in the AIs and quite a few of their key players are reaching the back end of their careers. If they win the tournament then no doubt they will form the cornerstone of the squad. If England or Scotland manage to prevail against them, then different story.
Go to commentsWhile I do not believe Havili is big enough or powerful enough to play in the midfield at test level, he is an outstanding Super Rugby player at 12 and 15 when healthy and obviously is very respected throughout the Crusaders and a good choice for captain.
Codie Taylor's goal is to remain a world class level hooker up to and including the RWC 2027. To accomplish this, he must be carefully managed and maybe only needs to play 9-10 of 14 regular season matches in Super Rugby (and a similar number for All Blacks) to reach the RWC. So Taylor would not be an ideal choice as captain for the Crusaders at this point in his career.
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