{"id":469695,"date":"2026-03-11T13:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T13:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/469695\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T13:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T13:40:09","slug":"scotland-handed-much-needed-double-injury-boost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/469695\/","title":{"rendered":"Scotland handed much-needed double injury boost"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lee Radford has no concerns about Scotland\u2019s ability to cope without their first-choice second-row pairing as they bid to land a first Guinness Six Nations<\/a> title this weekend.<\/p>\n

Gregor Brown and Scott Cummings<\/a> have both been ruled out of Saturday\u2019s showdown with title rivals Ireland<\/a> in Dublin after sustaining hamstring and calf injuries respectively in Saturday\u2019s exhilarating 50-40 triumph over France.<\/p>\n

Max Williamson and Grant Gilchrist<\/a> are the leading contenders to step in for the high-stakes encounter at the Aviva Stadium, with Alex Samuel<\/a>, Alex Craig<\/a>, Jonny Gray<\/a> and Euan Ferrie<\/a> the other locks in the mix.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s next man up, that\u2019s always the mentality,\u201d said defence coach Radford. \u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong, we\u2019re going to lose two fantastic players who have been great for us, but somebody\u2019s disappointment is another man\u2019s opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot (of the alternative options) have not played, but they\u2019ve been in and around it and how they\u2019ve prepared has been through the roof for fellas that are going to step up.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ireland <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Scotland <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cFor that reason I\u2019ve got every confidence in what they\u2019re going to do and they\u2019re going to step in this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Radford confirmed that influential backs Huw Jones<\/a> and Kyle Steyn<\/a> are set to be fit for the weekend despite going off with injuries on Saturday.<\/p>\n

In order to win their first title of the Six Nations era, Gregor Townsend\u2019s side must collect more match points against Ireland on Saturday afternoon than France<\/a> manage at home to England<\/a> later that day.<\/p>\n

The Scots have lost their last 11 games against the Irish but Northampton<\/a> defence coach Radford, who joined Townsend\u2019s backroom staff last autumn, is relishing the challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my first Six Nations and it\u2019s been an eye-opener for me the size of the competition,\u201d said the Englishman. \u201cI\u2019ve been lucky enough to be in some semi-finals with Northampton against Munster<\/a> and Leinster<\/a> as well, so I\u2019m fully aware of what a big occasion it\u2019s going to be over there and I can\u2019t wait.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll we can do and all we\u2019re going to do is prepare as well as we can, have as much energy as we possibly can, be as excited as we possibly can, embrace what a fantastic challenge Saturday\u2019s going to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re an organised outfit. They\u2019re very structured in how they play, are obviously well coached and have been on winning runs. That builds confidence, so put all those together and it makes for a tidy side.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut like every side you like to think there\u2019s something to go after there if we get things right, and hopefully we can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lee Radford has no concerns about Scotland\u2019s ability to cope without their first-choice second-row pairing as they bid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-469695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}