'Suited': Scotland have Zander Fagerson All Blacks standby in mind ahead of key day for prop

Fagerson has, in the words of forwards coach John Dalziel, been Scotland’s “go-to man” at tighthead prop for the best part of a decade but has not played for seven months.

A calf injury sustained in training in April caused him to miss the end of last season and ruled him out of the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia. Fagerson then suffered a setback in his recovery when he injured his knee. He is now back in training but Scotland face a dilemma around whether to throw him straight in against New Zealand.

“We know Zander very well and it's not that we've been working to a deadline,” said Dalziel. “Everything he's been doing to tick off to get to the stage, to be able to train two days a week, has been done. He's had the hours put into him to get himself to that stage, but what were not just going to throw him out there to play 70 or 80 minutes as we've maybe seen in the past.”

Gregor Townsend, the Scotland head coach, is expected to make a final decision on his team on Tuesday and Fagerson is not the only question mark. Rory Darge, his Glasgow Warriors team-mate is another who is only now returning to fitness. The flanker injured his knee in the opening game of the United Rugby Championship season and has not played since.

“Both of them made big strides last week,” said Dalziel. “Tomorrow will be a big day on that and I think Gregor will give an update after that but really, it'll be a case of trying to make the right decision for [Zander] as well.

“It's a long time to be out and I know we all want to see him back as soon as possible and we're hopeful that he'll be on track, but we'll do the right thing with him as well and see how he is to train tomorrow.”

Fagerson is far and away the most experienced tighthead prop in the Scotland squad, with 75 caps. The other four tightheads - Rae, Elliot Millar Mills, Murphy Walker and Will Hurd - have only 27 caps between them.

Rae, 30, was selected for Scotland’s autumn opener against the USA last Saturday and played the first half before being replaced by Walker. It was the Edinburgh prop’s third cap and first start for Scotland who thrashed the Americans 85-0.

“We've got good depth here around that and what we've been able to do in Zander's absence is to get caps into the guys like D’arcy Rae who's been around the Scotland squad for a long period of time and got his first start at the weekend,” added Dalziel.

“So it's been great for him to build that up and build that cohesion. His game is really suited to Test rugby as well, so while it's been disappointing not to have Zander, it's been excellent in terms of growing that depth. Because, you know, he [Fagerson] was our go-to man, he was playing big minutes, and that obviously meant that other guys around that won't get a lot of minutes.”

Rae has been in the picture for a while

Rae has been in and out of Scotland squads for over eight years. The former Glasgow and Bath prop was selected by Townsend for the 2017 summer tour shortly after the coach took over but had to wait until the 2019 Six Nations to win his first senior cap when he came on against Ireland. He won his second cap as a replacement against Fiji last autumn.

“I was lucky enough to have him in the under-20s and have watched his progress, and at Glasgow as well, and he always comes back round to international rugby because his game suits that kind of game,” added Dalziel

"He's in probably the best shape he's ever been in terms of his game and how he controls himself. I think he can be at his very best when the stakes are really high and in the big moments he comes to the fore.”

Dalziel also confirmed that Tom Jordan, Scotland’s versatile back, is available for the New Zealand game after serving a suspension. The Bristol player was sent off for a dangerous tackle against Exeter Chiefs last month and given a four-match ban which has now been reduced to three after Jordan successfully completed the World Rugby Coaching Intervention Programme on tackle technique, freeing him up to face the All Blacks.

Adam Hastings is also available. The stand-off went off at half-time against the Americans and failed a head injury assessment but has now been passed fit by the doctor.