Scotland: Beattie misses training, Horne lay-off

Johnnie Beattie has only been given a 50-50 chance of making the Italy game. Picture: SNS/SRU

• Johnnie Beattie misses training as Scotland number eight is given “50-50” chance of featuring against Italy

• Peter Horne faces nine months on sidelines after anterior cruciate ligament injury

• Rob Harley ready to step in for Beattie should he fail to be fit for game in Pretoria

• Injuries have decimated Scotland squad, who have run out of back rows

Interim head coach Scott Johnson reckons Beattie has no better than a 50-50 chance of making the game after picking up a thigh injury in training, although he will give the 27-year-old as long as possible to make the match.

Meanwhile, Scotland and Glasgow centre Peter Horne faces nine months on the sidelines after tests confirmed he has suffered cruciate ligament damage.

The 23-year-old sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury during Scotland’s defeat by South Africa on Saturday.

A Glasgow statement read: “He will undergo a period of physiotherapy prior to an operation, which is expected to keep him out of action for around nine months.”

Glasgow Warriors head coach Gregor Townsend said: “We’re all gutted for Peter. He epitomises everything that’s good about the club, with his workrate and desire to improve.

“This earned him the players’ player of the season award last season and his first Scotland cap in South Africa.

“His reaction to such a serious injury on the field last week, showed how much he was willing to sacrifice himself for the good of the team, as he fought to get back up after his injury to be involved in Alex Dunbar’s try.”

Beattie replacements

If Beattie is does fail to make the start, Rob Harley, who joined the squad earlier this week, will start at flanker with David Denton moving to number eight. The real problem, however, is that Scotland have run out of back rows and would have no cover on the bench for a unit where they have lost players to serious injuries in both the earlier matches on tour.

“We have no-one else,” Johnson said. “We would probably have to put Fraser Brown (the bench hooker) in as the reserve cover and bring in Stevie Lawrie (as additional cover at hooker). It is all I have got really, we will have to do what we have to do.

“We will see how Beattie pulls up in the morning. He is a tough lad. His rugby is surprisingly tough, you talk about some of his skills but he is resilient and has played injured before.

“Last week he was wounded with a bad wing but I thought he tackled superbly. He has the ability to put it out of his head, so we will go late with it - one, because we have no choice and, two, because he has the character to carry it.”

After a tour where Scotland lost two of their original selection before leaving the UK and seen another five go home injured, it is the kind of late problem Johnson could have done without as the team try to turn their encouraging performance against South Africa last time out into victory this time round.

Part of the issue is that while Italy, Scotland’s final opponents in the third-fourth place play-off match of the South African Incoming Series, base a lot of their play round their impressive back row led by Sergio Parisse, Scotland were struggling anyway.

None of the specialist openside flankers made the start of the tour, and the two players pressed into service in the role in the two opening fixtures have both picked up serious injuries and gone home, making Alasdair Strokosch, the latest to wear the number seven jersey, the sixth choice at best.

Not that that worried Johnson too much.

“He (Strokosch) is the one who is most natural at seven - of those we have here anyway. He has played it before in France. We had a lot of discussions, we looked at his work last week and he played pretty well when he had to move to seven. He has a good instinct for it because he likes the physicality,” he said.

“It is what it is, you have got to understand that and if that is what it takes, we will go out there and do it.”

Italy have sprung a few surprises in a team that shows 10 changes from the side that were hammered by Samoa last week, but have bulked up their back row in preparation for Scotland, with both teams judging that could be the key match-deciding battle.

For Scotland, the big task is to back up the encouraging elements of their spirited display against South Africa last week and, in showing they can produce that level of performance two weeks running, turn encouragement into a winning result.

Injuries

Pat MacArthur, Horne’s club and international team-mate, received better news after being told he will be fit for the start of the new season.

The hooker, who was injured during Scotland’s defeat to Samoa the week before, when he also won his first cap, has suffered medial ligament damage and will be fully fit in eight weeks.

Another Glasgow player whose Scotland tour ended early, back-row forward Ryan Wilson, is to undergo further tests on a shoulder injury he picked up in the defeat to South Africa.