Quick turnaround for George Turner can cap a positive year against Japan

George Turner is back in contention after taking part in this Scotland training session at the Oriam, on Monday. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group)

Turner suffered a rib injury early in Scotland' s victory over Australia and subsequently missed last weekend's 30-15 defeat to South Africa.

The injury was a major blow as Turner was looking to cement his place as Scotland's number two after seizing his chance earlier this year when injuries opened up opportunities.

The Glasgow player started in the wins over England and France and was looking to continue his and the team's progress this autumn.

Scotland did so by beating the Wallabies before losing out against the world champions.

And Turner is looking to make sure they quickly get back on track against Japan on Saturday in the fourth series match which will be shown on Amazon Prime.

"It was a great relief, not being out for a while," the 29-year-old said after fearing a more lengthy absence.

"After the injury I was told it could be six to eight weeks but it settled down quite quickly. The next day it wasn't too bad, I did what I was told and it settled itself down.

"It was actually in the scrum, it fell apart a bit, they kept going and my head got shoved down pretty hard and I felt my rib going. I was running around and it was going in and out, flopping about, so I had to call the medics."

New competition for the number two jersey emerged when Ewan Ashman came in for Turner and made quite the mark on his debut with a try against Australia.

"I really wanted to play in these games," Turner said. "I was gutted I had to come off early.

"There's a lot of hookers around, Ewan came on and had a great game. I definitely could not have finished that try the way he did.

"I am relieved not to be out for long but I was gutted to miss most of the Australia game and the South Africa game.

"They are world champions, a massive Test, it would have been amazing to play. But I got over that quickly and made sure I would be able to play this weekend.

"The boys want to right a few wrongs and smash this game.

"As a team we were talking about that earlier. We really feel we have come on a long way and we are in a good place and we know we can do better and push on.

"We want to do well at the weekend and finish the year well.”

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend is preparing to name his team for the final match in the series today (Thursday) and has no fresh injury concerns from the defeat to South Africa on Saturday, though Scott Cummings will also join Turner in being available for selection after recovering from a hand injury.

Kick off at BT Murrayfield is 1pm.

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