Edinburgh pair Lee Jones and David Denton have today been ruled out of Scotland’s summer tour to Australia, Fiji and Samoa through injury. Gloucester’s Jim Hamilton has also become unavailable as he will be serving a ban for punching.
Jones, 23, who scored his first try for Scotland in the RBS 6 Nations Championship match against France in February, has a fractured right shoulder blade, while 22-year-old Denton, who made his debut off the bench in the EMC Test win against Ireland last August, has damage to his left ankle ligaments.
Scotland team doctor James Robson said: “Lee suffered the fracture in the Heineken Cup semi-final loss to Ulster last month. Injuries of this nature typically resolve over the course of six to eight weeks, so he will not be available for the tour.
“David sustained the ankle injury in the final game of the league season against Treviso last weekend and subsequent scanning of the joint revealed damage to the ligaments. [He] will not require surgery but will now embark on a prolonged period of rehabilitation which will rule him out of the summer tour. His estimated return would be between eight to ten weeks.”
Hamilton was given a yellow card for punching London Irish hooker David Paice. Following what seemed to be a sneaky push on Paice during loose play there was some fisticuffs between the two, and the pair continued their antagonism on their respective paths to the bin with Paice doing a fair bit of yapping. Jim being the no-nonsense sort of character he is took umbrage, and the ensuing mass brawl (that saw the Big Stroker, Ansbro and Shingler mixing it up with the rest of them) left Dave Pearson no choice but to make the departures permanent.
Following a disciplinary hearing, both men have been banned for 7 weeks which means Jim won’t make the plane.
Finally, Scotland winger Simon Danielli is set to retire from rugby, as basically his body seems to have had enough. Danielli’s club Ulster has confirmed this afternoon that he has been forced to hang up his boots due to a back injury which has plagued the winger throughout this past season.
Danielli made a try-scoring full international debut for Scotland against Italy in 2003, ahead of that year’s Rugby World Cup. He went on to win 32 caps for Scotland, playing in two World Cups and scoring eight tries and he also played ten times for the Scotland A team including in their passage to the 2006 Churchill Cup Final in Canada. His last Scotland A game was the 35-0 victory over England Saxons at Netherdale in February 2012.
Speaking on the announcement of this news, Danielli said: “Representing Scotland has been the pinnacle of my career and I have so many great memories and friendships from these days, from all the amazing match day atmospheres at Murrayfield and the intensity that international rugby brings, to the fantastic tours I have been lucky enough to be a part of.”
The Scotland tour party for next month’s three Test tour will be announced next Wednesday (16th May).
With Jones and Danielli out, Robinson may consider Tom Brown as another small pacy back, but Joe Ansbro will also be back in the mix. A big loss during the Six Nations, Joe could potentially appear on the wing, although I’d rather see him in the centre. The absence of Jones almost guarantees that a certain T. Visser will be in the party too…
In the second row, Tom Ryder and Grant Gilchrist are probably the stand-out candidates to fill in (assuming he goes for 4 second rows) but Fraser Mackenzie could be another option if he has recovered from the injury that kept him out of the Six Nations, as could Tim Swinson of Newcastle/Glasgow. Mackenzie might be short of form though. Perhaps another option is using Harley in the second row.
Indeed that might be a way to get him or others on board as even without Denton (or Kelly Brown) there is still a terrific battle ahead for however many back-rowers Robinson opts to take. Similarly, picking Barclay as a 6 or 8 where he has played recently might be a way to get Fusaro into the squad while those slightly further up the pecking order are unavailable. And we know how well Fusaro does under those sorts of circumstances.
How about Strokosch / Harley, Fusaro / Rennie, Barclay / Ryan Wilson? And you’ve still got Richie Vernon, Johnnie Beattie and Roddy Grant to play about with too. Tough choices, especially given the pressure to see things turned around at international level after Edinburgh and Glasgow have returned the feelgood factor that the Six Nations shattered.
We’ll find out who has made the grade next week.
UPDATE: As Al says below, the Waratahs midweek match is off due to their Aussie squad commitments. Scotland team manager Gavin Scott said: “We have had confirmation from the Waratahs that due to injuries and the requirements of the Wallabies squad they would be unable to fulfil the fixture.
“We have looked into alternatives but, unfortunately, nothing else fits into our tour schedule.”
The Scotland playing party will now be 28-strong.
The tour dates are as follows:
Tuesday 5 June v Australia in Newcastle, NSW, kick-off 7.30pm local (10.30am BST)
Saturday 16 June v Fiji in Lautoka, kick-off 2pm local time (3am BST)
Saturday 23 June v Samoa in Apia, kick-off 3.30pm local time (3.30am BST).