British and Irish Lions forward one of four new faces in Scotland squad
Scotland and British & Irish Lions front-row Rory Sutherland.
British and Irish Lions front-row Rory Sutherland is one of four players who have been added to Scotland’s squad ahead of their Six Nations Test against Italy in Rome on Saturday.
The 29-year-old is joined by fellow prop Javan Sebastian, second-row Marshall Sykes and young scrum-half Jamie Dobie.
The addition of the quartet comes after centre Sione Tuipulotu, lock Alex Craig and front-row WP Nel dropped out of Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend’s squad.
Missed out on initial squad due to lack of game time
Sutherland, who played in two Tests for the Lions against the Springboks in South Africa in 2021, missed out on Scotland‘s initial Six Nations squad due to a lack of game time at his French club Oyonnax, while Sebastian has been in and out of the group through fitness issues.
Speaking on the Le French Rugby Podcast, Sutherland said it was disappointing to miss out on the initial squad, but he is now back in the selection mix for his country despite making few appearances for his club since last year’s World Cup in France.
Meanwhile, Glasgow Warriors half-back Dobie was left of the original squad due to an ankle injury but trained with them ahead of the tournament opener against Wales and has started the last two games for the Warriors.
Edinburgh lock Sykes has made one Scotland appearance, against Tonga in October 2021, while veteran front-row Nel, who was in action for Edinburgh against Ospreys on Friday, has not featured in this year’s Six Nations.
Scotland are already without the services of locks Richie and Jonny Gray as well as Cameron Henderson.
Tuipulotu set to miss the rest of the Six Nations
Glasgow Warriors centre Tuipulotu will miss Saturday’s clash with the Azzurri due to an injury he sustained in Scotland’s triumph over England and should miss the rest of the Championship as he is expected to be sidelined for at least eight weeks.
Excitement machine Darcy Graham is also ruled out through injury and will not participate in the Six Nations for the second successive year.
READ MORE: Surprise leaders in the Six Nations’ individual stats as Ireland stars miss out