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Gregor Townsend expressed sympathy for Dave Cherry after the veteran hooker\u2019s first World Cup was brought to a premature end following a fall down the stairs at Scotland\u2019s team hotel.<\/p>\n
It emerged on Thursday that the 32-year-old had withdrawn from the squad with concussion after he took a tumble and banged his head at the Scots\u2019 tournament base near Nice on Monday while the players were enjoying some down time with their families.<\/p>\n
The previous day, Cherry had played his first World Cup match as a second-half replacement for George Turner in the 18-3 defeat by world champions South Africa in Marseille.<\/p>\n
The Edinburgh hooker flew out of France on Thursday to return home, where his fianc\u00e9e Olivia is due to give birth in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
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Stuart McInally \u2013 cut from the provisional training squad last month \u2013 has been drafted in as Cherry\u2019s replacement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult for Dave, and it\u2019s sad,\u201d head coach Townsend said at a media briefing in Nice on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt least he got to play in a game. His wife\u2019s just about to give birth so at least he\u2019s got something positive to go back to. He did well to get himself into the World Cup squad and he did well at the weekend. He would have had more involvement as we went through the pool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cherry\u2019s misfortune has paved the way for a remarkable career swansong for McInally. The 33-year-old announced in April that he would be retiring from rugby after the World Cup to pursue a career as an airline pilot.<\/p>\n
McInally was part of Townsend\u2019s 41-man provisional training group for the tournament, but the head coach then omitted him when he named his final 33-man squad in August, seemingly ending the career of the man who captained the Scots at the last World Cup in Japan.<\/p>\n
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However, the long-serving Edinburgh forward was invited out to France last week to provide cover after hooker Ewan Ashman sustained a head knock in training and he attended Sunday\u2019s match in Marseille before being told his services were no longer required and flying home on Monday.<\/p>\n
McInally\u2019s roller-coaster summer then took another twist when he was summoned back to the south of France on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been called out twice now,\u201d said Townsend, reflecting on whirlwind period for the veteran.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn Monday I was chatting to him back at the hotel and I said \u2018you can stay until tomorrow or go back today, it looks like Ewan is on track to make a full recovery, so there\u2019s no reason to stay\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then he came back out two days later and he\u2019s trained today. He\u2019s obviously kept training, he\u2019s been topping up (his fitness) and he\u2019s always said he\u2019d be ready for the opportunity. Maybe he would have been thinking that would have happened last week, but it\u2019s now happened for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cStuart is a very experienced player for us. He\u2019s obviously been at World Cups before and had trained really well throughout the (pre-tournament) camp and had played well so we\u2019re fortunate that we have someone with his experience and quality to step in.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Scots trained on Thursday for the first time Sunday\u2019s bruising encounter with South Africa and Townsend was pleased to see Finn Russell come through the session after the talismanic stand-off took a couple of heavy hits against the Boks, one of which required lengthy on-field treatment.<\/p>\n
George Horne and Ashman also took part after concussion ruled them out of contention for the opening game and the pair are on track to return to the fold for the next match against Tonga in Nice on Sunday week.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, Finn trained,\u201d said Townsend. \u201cThere were two guys with red bibs on (George Horne and Ewan Ashman) today. It was a non-contact session although we did do a contact element.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe two guys with red bibs on didn\u2019t do that (contact element) but Finn wasn\u2019t in a red bib which means he\u2019s obviously able to do some sort of contact, which is a good recovery. He did the whole session.\u201d<\/p>\n
The only player who missed training on Thursday was back-rower Luke Crosbie, who was ruled out last weekend with a rib problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cLuke is on track, he\u2019s just ill today,\u201d reported the head coach. \u201cHe trained on Tuesday morning with the physios. He\u2019s now fully available for selection, but overnight he had a stomach complaint so that\u2019s why he wasn\u2019t training today.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other two (Horne and Ashman) came through the session fine and their next stage is to add contact which will be tomorrow. Ali Price went off (the training pitch) as a precaution with a tight groin, but I don\u2019t think it will be anything serious.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Scotland players had three days off following Sunday\u2019s defeat by South Africa, with the players\u2019 families invited into the camp.<\/p>\n
Townsend is adamant there will be no hangover from their opening-weekend setback as they build towards the Tonga showdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think morale was ever affected,\u201d he said when asked if he felt the short break was beneficial to the players.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew this would be an opportunity to spend time with families because our next games (after Tonga) are pretty much game then into six or seven-day turnarounds, so it will be quickly into that process.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe saw the families all together in the hotel for the last two or three days and that was really good, but the mindset they came in to train with today was excellent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey worked really hard. That was a tough session, tomorrow\u2019s will be tough again, and Sunday\u2019s will be tough. We know we\u2019ve got an opportunity now to push things a bit harder and then we get back into a normal Test week, which starts on Tuesday for us.\u201d<\/p>\n