Scotland sweat on Tuipulotu knee scan after captain misses Australia win at Murrayfield

Scotland are awaiting specialist assessment on captain Sione Tuipulotu’s knee after the centre was ruled out of Sunday’s 15-12 victory over Australia at Murrayfield before the match had even kicked off. Tuipulotu felt something in his knee after a collision with Blair Kinghorn during Saturday’s captain’s run, was sent for a scan, and was subsequently withdrawn from the squad.

The injury follows a knock Tuipulotu picked up late in Scotland’s defeat by New Zealand the previous week, though he had trained fully on Wednesday and Thursday and was expected to start against his native country.

“We’re not sure what it is,” head coach Gregor Townsend said. “He needs to see a knee specialist as soon as possible so we should get that prognosis back Monday or Tuesday. It is not clear-cut if it is a serious injury or not, so we will find out over the next 48 hours.”

In Tuipulotu’s absence, Rory Darge stepped up as captain and delivered a player-of-the-match performance to steer Scotland to victory. Tom Jordan filled in at inside centre, with Stafford McDowall called up from his farm in the south-west of Scotland to take a place on the replacements’ bench.

“Tom was excellent when he played a couple of seasons ago and I thought he was excellent today,” Townsend said. “And leadership doesn’t rely on one person or two people. There are other guys like Rory Darge, who led very well by his actions and also just his calm demeanour.”

Tuipulotu would likely have been rested anyway for Scotland’s third November fixture against Japan next Saturday, with Townsend expected to rotate his squad to give fringe players a chance to press their World Cup claims.

Scotland also lost lock Scott Cummings to a strained thigh adductor muscle after just 25 minutes against the Wallabies. Cummings is likely to miss the Japan game, though Townsend offered cautious optimism after an initial ultrasound. “It doesn’t look too bad; he’ll probably get an MRI scan as well,” the head coach said.

Young replacements Gregor Brown and Max Williamson were praised for their physicality after stepping in for Cummings, with Townsend highlighting the importance of front-five presence in a match that was largely decided through pick-and-go exchanges around the ruck.