Scotland suffer front-row blow with Lion unavailable for Pumas Test

Two-time Lions tourist Rory Sutherland has been ruled out of Scotland’s match against Argentina at Murrayfield on Sunday after suffering from concussion.

Sutherland had only been on for 13 minutes when he went off for an HIA in the All Blacks game last weekend, returning after 10 minutes to finish the match as Pierre Schoeman’s replacement at loose-head.

However, the 33-year-old has now been declared unavailable, to give coach Gregor Townsend another selection headache.

Scotland have been without the services of Zander Fagerson thus far, and he is reckoned to be 50:50 for this weekend.

Speaking to the press after the All Blacks game, Gregor Townsend said: “Zander is probably going to return to full training next (this) week. Maybe 50-50 for Argentina, but we hope he’ll be able to come back.

“We’d aim for him to play some part, probably more Tonga than Argentina, that’s a case of if he’s back available, then if he’s selected. So we’ll just see how he is.

“His knee is better this (last) week, so after having a quieter start to the week, he’s built up again, there’s been no reaction.

“We’ll see again how he is next (this) week, but the aim would be if he’s available for selection, we’d probably want to involve him because he’s a quality player and that sets him up for that second half of the season as well.”

With Murphy Walker released back to Glasgow, Townsend has brought Leicester’s Will Hurd and Walker’s club team-mate Jamie Bhatti into the squad.

Nathan McBeth is a strong contender to fill Sutherland’s place on the bench, having played against the USA from the bench.

Meanwhile, jet-heeled Sale Sharks winger Arron Reed will miss the final two November Tests because of a quad injury.

Reed scored against Samoa in the last of his four caps in July but hasn’t featured for Scotland since.

Updated Scotland squad for the 2025 Quilter Nations Series (caps in brackets):

Backs (16)

Fergus Burke – Saracens (2)
Jamie Dobie – Glasgow Warriors (16)
Darcy Graham – Edinburgh Rugby (49)
Adam Hastings – Glasgow Warriors (35)
George Horne – Glasgow Warriors (39)
Rory Hutchinson – Northampton Saints (10)
Tom Jordan – Bristol Bears (10)
Blair Kinghorn – Toulouse (61)
Stafford McDowall – Glasgow Warriors (15)
Kyle Rowe – Glasgow Warriors (15)
Finn Russell – Bath Rugby (88)
Ollie Smith – Glasgow Warriors (11)
Kyle Steyn – Glasgow Warriors (26)
Sione Tuipulotu – Glasgow Warriors (31) – Captain
Duhan van der Merwe – Edinburgh Rugby (50)
Ben White – Toulon (30)

Forwards (25)

Ewan Ashman – Edinburgh Rugby (30)
Josh Bayliss – Bath Rugby (11)
Jamie Bhatti – Glasgow Warriors (36)
Magnus Bradbury – Edinburgh Rugby (20)
Gregor Brown – Glasgow Warriors (11)
Scott Cummings – Glasgow Warriors (44)
Rory Darge – Glasgow Warriors (33)
Jack Dempsey – Glasgow Warriors (28)
Matt Fagerson – Glasgow Warriors (58)
Zander Fagerson – Glasgow Warriors (75)
Grant Gilchrist – Edinburgh Rugby (83)
Patrick Harrison – Edinburgh Rugby (4)
Will Hurd – Leicester Tigers (9)
Nathan McBeth – Glasgow Warriors (4)
Elliot Millar Mills – Northampton Saints (10)
Andy Onyeama-Christie – Saracens (9)
D’arcy Rae – Edinburgh Rugby (4)
Dylan Richardson – Edinburgh Rugby (7)
Fin Richardson – Glasgow Warriors (1)
Jamie Ritchie – Perpignan (60)
Alex Samuel – Glasgow Warriors (2)
Pierre Schoeman – Edinburgh Rugby (43)
Marshall Sykes – Edinburgh Rugby (5)
George Turner – Harlequins (48)
Max Williamson – Glasgow Warriors (8)