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Stuart Hogg and Finn Russell withdraw from Scotland squad for Italy game
By PA
Scotland duo Stuart Hogg and Finn Russell have withdrawn from the squad ahead of Saturday’s final Guinness Six Nations match against Italy.
The influential pair went off in the closing stages of Sunday’s defeat by Ireland with ankle and knee injuries respectively and are returning to their clubs for treatment.
Edinburgh fly-half Charlie Savala has been called in to the squad, while Josh Bayliss has returned to the group after being released to play for Bath at the weekend.
It remains to be seen if Richie Gray will be fit for this weekend’s match at BT Murrayfield. The 33-year-old lock was forced off after just six minutes on Sunday with suspected rib damage. He has remained with the squad for the time being, raising hopes that he might be available to face Italy.
A statement on Monday from Scottish Rugby read: “Stuart Hogg sustained an ankle injury and will be unavailable for this weekend’s match against Italy. He will return to his club in due course for further management of this injury.
“Finn Russell suffered an injury to one of his knee ligaments. He will return to Racing 92 to continue his rehabilitation.
“Richie Gray sustained an injury during the Ireland match and will remain with the squad to be continued to be assessed by medics.”
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There is nothing particularly significant about Ireland in this regard compared to other Tier 1 nations. To look at 'strategy' for illegal play its best to see what teams push boundaries with new laws. SA have milked two tries at ruck block downs. The strategy is to charge the first few before the ball is out at about 4 seconds but pull out and put up hands in reigned apology. The referees usually allow the scum half to clear without awarding a penalty in this scenario. The problem with that being that the scrumhalf is now taking over 5 seconds through no fault of his own. Having achieved a few slow balls > 5s , the SA forward can now pick a scrum to charge dead on 5s. Now if the scrum half waits, he will concede a penalty, as we saw against Scotland. With the new rule in place, any early charge should result in an immediate penalty.
SA also got an offside block against England which was pivotal again after a couple of 'apologetic' offside aborted charges forcing England to clear slowly.
Go to commentsYep, you're not the sharpest tool in the shed are you?
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