Flanker Jamie Ritchie is utilized to miss Scotland’s World Cup opener with Ireland, according to head coach Gregor Townsend.
The Edinburgh forwards was a late entrance to the Dark Lady‘ training camp at Nagasaki last week after suffering a broken cheekbone in Murrayfield from Georgia.
He underwent surgery in Edinburgh to have a metal plate plus Townsend admits he is not likely to be fit for the clash against Joe Schmidt’s world No 1-ranked side Sunday.
The club-mate Magnus Bradbury, who was called up as a preventative backup of ritchie, stays in Japan for today.
Townsend, talking at his official launching press conference before the championship, said:“Jamie had surgery on Monday so he joined us Thursday. He’s still recovering from jet lag as well as the operation, and he’s not working out with us.
„We anticipate him to resume training next week. He will probably soon be back in full training then although he is unlikely to be available for the Ireland match.
„It was a fractured cheekbone which Jamie suffered. So it is quite a regular surgery for players who suffer that sort of harm he’s got a ceramic plate in there.
„We feel that two-to-three week turn around can be accomplished fairly easily. We all know some players can return in much less time than that but we’re going to target to the Samoa game rather than Ireland.“
Townsend was abandoned sweating on the fitness of five players from the Blues‘ showdown after that 36-9 triumph over Georgia.
Ritchie was the very serious concern while Jonny Gray and forward Blade Thomson limped off with hamstring complaints, but there were worries following Ben Toolis and Blair Kinghorn both suffered head knocks.
Townsend admits he is mightily relieved that all his casualties are set to play a role in the championship although there was further anxiety when prop Allan Dell afterwards reported a twinge of his own.
He said:“The nice thing is everyone is still in the squad, which is a huge boost.
„The very last press conference we had (the accidents ) were at the front of my head as we ended up having six harms (contrary to Georgia).
„We had four players that went into hospital that day and two that had to be removed because of head injuries.
„However, they all are available to perform at the World Cup. Jamie won’t probably be fit for the first game but the remainder are all be available for selection this week“

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