Rory Sutherland will be fit for Calcutta Cup but concern over Jamie Ritchie

Richard Cockerill has confirmed that Rory Sutherland will be fit for Scotland’s Six Nations opener against England but concerns remain over Jamie Ritchie.

Jamie Ritchie is missing after suffering a head knock in training. Picture: Ross Parker/SNS

Both players have been omitted from the Edinburgh side to play Zebre in the Guinness Pro14 on Saturday.

Sutherland, Scotland’s first-choice loosehead prop, has a “stiff back,” said Cockerill. “Nothing too serious, but he’s not fit,” added the Edinburgh coach.

Asked if he would be fit to face England at Twickenham on February 6, Cockerill replied: “Yeah. Definitely.”

Rory Sutherland will miss the Zebre game due to a stiff back. Picture: Ross Parker/SNS

Ritchie’s situation is more worrying. The Edinburgh flanker suffered a head knock in training which caused him to miss last weekend’s narrow defeat by Glasgow and he remains sidelined.

“He hasn’t recovered sufficiently to be considered for selection,” said Cockerill.

“It’s right to be cautious, and we’ve got good back-row depth in the squad, so the sensible thing is to make sure that he’s 100 per cent right. Regardless of what fixtures are coming up it’s certainly something that we take very seriously and we need to make sure he’s 100 per cent right before he comes back to play.”

Cockerill has made five changes to his team as Edinburgh play their last game before a three-week Pro14 break.

Co-captain Henry Pyrgos is promoted from the bench to start at scrum-half in place of Nic Groom who drops out of the squad, with Charlie Shiel offering cover at nine from the bench.

Cockerill was keen to stress that the absence of Groom was nothing to do with last week’s hooter howler against Glasgow.

Mistaking the horn from a passing train for the half-time buzzer, Groom kicked the ball out of play inside his own 22. There were still 30 seconds of the first half remaining and the mistake proved costly as Glasgow had time to nab a penalty which helped them clinch a 23-22 win.

“No, it’s nothing to do with that at all,” said Cockerill. “It’s just Charlie Shiel’s a good player and he needs to be involved. It’s all part of the rotation process.”

The capital coach sounded slightly exasperated as he picked over the incident in which Groom was not the only culprit, with one of his team-mates advising the scrum-half to kick the ball dead. Safe to say, Groom and Co have been told in no uncertain terms that such mishaps must not happen again.

“We made it very clear that there are no hooters in the northern hemisphere,” said Cockerill, “and whoever was shouting ‘Kick it out! Kick it out!’ - don’t do that unless you know the time. It’s as simple as that: a bit of common sense.”

The other changes for Edinburgh see young wing Jack Blain replace try-scorer Jamie Farndale. Props WP Nel and Pierre Schoeman are promoted from the bench in place of Simon Berghan – who is among the replacements – and the injured Sutherland, with 21-year-old prospect Sam Grahamslaw targeting a fourth club appearance from the bench.

Back-row Luke Crosbie completes the changes with his first start since November, in place of Magnus Bradbury, who joins the replacements.

“It’s an important game,” added Cockerill. “We need a reaction from last week. I thought parts of our game were very good and parts were soft. We need to be right on top of all of that.”

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