Scotland's injury update on Glasgow duo in 'great form'

Lee Radford reported a clean bill of health for the Scotland squad ahead of their Guinness Six Nations opener away to Italy on Saturday.

Scrum-half Jamie Dobie had been struggling with a knee issue, while his Glasgow team-mate Jack Dempsey sustained a foot injury in training last week.

Defence coach Radford said at a press conference on Tuesday: “Yeah, all good, they trained today. Dobs looks well, both of them are in great form at the moment.

“They didn’t participate last week (for Glasgow) but the rest will have done them the world of good. I think they’ve had a 10-game streak there at Glasgow so it’s a fair amount of rugby.

“Hopefully they’ll be fresh for this weekend.

“We’re all good, nobody’s pulled out today, so everybody that was initially named is ready to go.”

Fixture

Six Nations

Italy

18 - 15

Full-time

Scotland

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Northampton defence coach Radford is preparing for his first Six Nations since becoming part of Gregor Townsend’s backroom staff in the autumn and the Englishman believes they are equipped for a fruitful championship.

“We’ve been there or thereabouts for a long time,” he said. “I think that next level is to knock some big ones off.

“Winning is a habit, once you knock a couple off I think that will do the world of good for the confidence.

“You’ve seen that with Glasgow on the run they’re on at the moment but likewise, we’re on one at Northampton as well.

“You just feel it around the place and I think it’s important we get a couple of those results to be able to kick on to that next level.

“In every competition you go in, you want to win it. I don’t like to go into a competition thinking we’re just participating, that’s been throughout anything I’ve ever done.

“We’ve got a good enough group to go somewhere in this comp.

“If we get our training right, we get our approach right, we get some luck – that’s always helpful – who knows?”