Injured Allan to miss New Zealand trip

EDINBURGH prop Alex Allan will no longer travel to New Zealand as part of the John Macphail Scholarship after he sustained a leg fracture in training last week.

The 21-year-old was set to fly out tomorrow to spend 15 weeks benefitting from the state-of-the art facilities and specialist coaching offered by the Canterbury RFU’s high performance unit.However, the injury has ruled him out of the opportunity.

Glasgow stand-off – and fellow scholarship nominee – Finn Russell will still depart tomorrow as planned with Allan’s replacement to be announced early next week.

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Scottish Rugby Union head of performance development Stephen Gemmell expressed his sympathy for Allan.

He said: “We are disappointed that Alex [Allan] will miss this opportunity, and wish him a speedy recovery.

“Finn [Russell] will fly out to Christchurch this weekend and begin training as originally planned and then will be joined by Alex’s replacement as soon as possible.”

The Macphail Scholarship, now entering its ninth year, was established in memory of former Scotland hooker John Macphail, who died in 2004. It assists the development of Scottish talent and previous winners also include the Edinburgh flanker Roddy Grant, stand-off Harry Leonard and hooker George Turner.