The four-time hero for the Thistles in Saturday’s 57-17 drubbing of Fiji, Darcy Graham, has been ruled out of the Test against the Springboks. Graham suffered a concussion during the act of scoring his fourth try and he has failed his HIA protocol.

Following the win against Fiji, the coach Gregor Townsend said they were sweating over Graham’s availability. There was, however, some good news as well. “Yes, it’s mixed news, so the good news is that Kyle Rowe is much better than expected,” said Townsend.

“We literally got his scan results back in the last hour, so he has a chance for this week, we’re not ruling him out for this week, and obviously that means we’re not ruling him out for the tournament, which is positive.

Kyle Rowe. Photo: Scottish Rugby

“We all felt after the game that with a hamstring injury, it could be him missing the next few games, but no, he’s recovering well, and the scan provided positive news.

“Darcy, unfortunately, failed his HIA2 and his HIA3, so he’ll be ruled out for this weekend. These injuries take their natural time to recover, it’s a 12-day period, so he’ll do nothing for the next three days and then he starts the graduate return to play. If everything goes well, he’ll be available for Portugal.”

Sunday’s Test at Murrayfield kicks off at 18:10.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek cg