Gregor Townsend gives Finn Russell update and confirms Scotland squad plans after prop injury

The fly-half missed their Nations Championship opening round win away to Argentina last weekend with a calf injury but has trained well this week ahead of the match at Loftus Versfeld. Townsend also confirmed that prop Elliot Millar Mills had returned home after sustaining an injury of his own during the win in Cordoba.

The Northampton Saints tight-head helped the Scots win a scrum penalty midway through the first half but then hobbled off. Townsend also added that there were no plans to replace him in the squad as they had already travelled with extra depth in that position.

Townsend disappointed for Millar Mills but happy with depth at tight-head ahead of South Africa test

He said: “It is a blow. Obviously a real blow for Elliot after getting to start for Scotland in such a big game and building on the form that he's been showing with the club and with us over the last season.

“The only position that we came with more depth was tight-head prop, so we were lucky in a way that we brought four tight-heads out here because D’Arcy Rae was coming back from injury and he'd been out with the Babas.

“Will Hurd played a semi-final for Leicester, so it means that there's no changes to our group. Will, D’Arcy and Zander are training fully, so while it's a blow for Elliot, we don't have to bring anybody else in.”

On Russell, the Scotland head coach said he “should be available” to play South Africa, adding: “He trained fine today. He trained well at the end of the week.

“Wednesday session he trained fully with the team, did his own thing I think on Friday and then the guys who weren't involved did a session on Saturday after the team run and he's trained fine today. I think he's definitely over the calf injury. He may have been fit at the weekend.

“We just felt that he needed more training to really be available for the tough test matches ahead of us, especially this one this weekend.”

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