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Key Scotland duo Zander Fagerson and Finn Russell have been “training fully” as they bid to prove their fitness ahead of Sunday’s Test against Argentina at Murrayfield.
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Fagerson has not played since early April due to calf and knee problems. The tighthead was not deemed ready to return against New Zealand last Saturday, but the Scots’ backroom staff are confident he will be involved for the visit of the Pumas or Tonga a week later.
Scrum coach Pieter de Villiers said on Wednesday evening: “Zander has been training fully, which is fantastic news.
“Tomorrow (Thursday) is obviously our biggest training day. We’ll see how he holds up and then make a decision from there.
“We’re positive that he will make an appearance for us in this tournament at some stage, whether it be this match or the next match.”
Stand-off Russell was substituted in the 74th minute on Saturday after struggling with a combination of knee and ankle problems.
“Finn has been training fully as well, so we’re optimistic for him to be available,” said De Villiers. “We’ll obviously see how the niggles progress. There are still a few days left, but he has trained fully today, so that’s great news.”
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De Villiers is confident the Scots have banished the disappointment of an agonising 25-17 defeat by the All Blacks and are primed to deliver a strong performance against an Argentina side who have been above them in the world rankings for the past year.
“The boys are really fired up and ready to go,” he said. “They know how well they’ve competed against the number two team in the world. That also brings confidence in that we’ve been physically up there.
“Now it is important to keep growing. We’re a team that is consistently performing well against top teams, but we also want to see those victories coming now. That’s where we want to continue to grow.
“Argentina have beaten the All Blacks recently, they’ve beaten the Springboks, they’ve beaten Australia, they’ve beaten many of the top teams.
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“So it’s very important for us to make sure that we quickly learn from last week and get ready for a very tough game this weekend against a world-class side.”
