Greig Laidlaw has been ruled out of the rest of the Six Nations campaign after sustaining ankle ligament damage during the defeat against France.
The Scotland captain fell awkwardly after a tackle in the 25th minute of Sunday’s Test and left the Stade de France on crutches with his right foot in a protective boot. He returned to his club, Gloucester, for a scan.
“The extent of the damage is such that he will take no further part in the current championship,” the Scottish Rugby Union said in a statement. “Laidlaw will see a specialist later in the week to determine the best course of management and estimated time out of the sport.”
The 31-year-old is leaving Gloucester at the end of the season to join Clermont Auvergne and, depending on the extent of his problem, may have played his last match for the club.
The injury may also end his hopes of making the Lions squad for the summer tour to New Zealand and leaves Scotland, who face Wales at Murrayfield on 25 February, with a deep hole to fill.
Laidlaw is such a central figure for Scotland, as captain and goalkicker that in the past 13 months, before Sunday, he started 10 Tests and was replaced in two of them, for a total of 10 minutes. Henry Pyrgos started the second Test in Japan last summer, but was taken off after 49 minutes with Scotland losing and Laidlaw came off the bench to kick them to victory.
Pyrgos is still in the Scotland squad but has lost his place this season to Ali Price, who was handed his first cap off the bench against Georgia in November last year and made only his second appearance replacing Laidlaw in Paris. Sam Hidalgo-Clyne has won nine caps and was on the bench for four matches in last year’s Six Nations, coming off it once for three minutes.
The captaincy is another issue. John Barclay took over against France but the flanker lasted 10 minutes before going off with a head injury and is following the return-to-play protocol. The second-row Jonny Gray became the third captain on the day.
Wales have released Alex Cuthbert back to Cardiff Blues to work on his pace after the wing’s failure to tackle Elliot Daly in the closing minutes against England helped cost his side victory.
Cuthbert – a late replacement for George North, who had failed to recover from a dead leg – is the only member of Wales’s starting lineup who has been released, although the three players based in France or England will rejoin their clubs as they are not covered this weekend by World Rugby’s regulation on international release.
Cardiff are playing Treviso, who are one point off the bottom of the Pro12, and it should mean a less stressful Saturday for the 45-cap Cuthbert, whose international career at the age of 26 has reached a critical point. Four years ago, he was playing his way into the Lions squad for the tour to Australia where he scored a try in the first Test but three ordinary performances for Wales this season following a World Cup in which he struggled mean he faces a long road back.
Wales have not blamed him for the defeat against England with their skills coach, Neil Jenkins, describing him as an outstanding player but Cuthbert has been told he needs to regain the pace he had in 2013 when he scored two tries in the title‑winning match against England, and that will involve doing extra work outside set training sessions.
Daly’s try was scored after Wales, having won a turnover near their own line four minutes from time, quickly kicked the ball down field where George Ford caught it infield to launch the move that won the match. The kicker was the centre Jonathan Davies rather than the fly-half Dan Biggar or the full-back Leigh Halfpenny, the players who would have expected to receive the ball. They were both getting into position when the ball was released by the scrum-half Gareth Davies because Wales’s policy when the ball has been recovered in a defensive position is to use the forwards to take it up a few metres before passing to a kicker.
Davies’s decision caught Biggar and Halfpenny by surprise and left Jonathan Davies as the only option. With the wing Liam Williams on the floor having helped win the turnover, there was no chaser to put pressure on Ford who was able to measure his pass to Owen Farrell. The Wales defence then did not fan out wide, and the quick delivery from Farrell gave Daly the room to go outside Cuthbert, who had been guilty of watching the ball rather than his opposite number.
A year ago, another Cardiff wing, Tom James, was sent back to his region for the first fallow weekend after the match against Scotland because of concerns over his pace and fitness. He has not been seen in the red jersey since.
