Six Nations: Calcutta Cup defeat sees Scots slip out of top ten

SCOTLAND have fallen out of world rugby’s top ten after their 13-6 defeat by England on Saturday.

Andy Robinson’s squad are now 11th, having swapped places with Samoa. Wales go up two places from eighth to sixth in the IRB’s official world rankings, while Ireland, who lost 23-21 at home by the Welsh on Sunday, make the opposite move.

The top ten is otherwise unchanged from last week, with Tonga in ninth just ahead of their South Seas rivals. Twelfth-placed Italy are now immediately behind Scotland in the rankings, and are the only Six Nations team to be lower.

There was one piece of good news for Robinson yesterday, however, with the announcement from team doctor James Robson that the players who had been injured in the Calcutta Cup match were responding well to treatment. “Scotland physiotherapists Paul McGinley and Stephen Mutch have spent today intensively treating a number of the squad following the weekend match against England,” Robson said yesterday.

“The players are responding positively to that treatment, in particular Richie Gray, David Denton, Alastair Kellock and Nick de Luca.” Those four had been mentioned by Robson on Sunday as “the most significant” casualties from the game, all of them having received dead legs.

Their recovery makes it more likely that Robinson will only be forced into one change to his starting line-up for Sunday’s game against Wales – the replacement of tight-head prop Euan Murray, who declines to play on the Sabbath.

Geoff Cross, who came on as a replacement against England, is set to take Murray’s place. Alasdair Dickinson should move up on to the bench provided he gets over the shoulder injury which saw him ruled out of the opening weekend of the RBS Six Nations Championship.