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Jack Dempsey to miss Australia and chunk of Glasgow season
By Bryn Palmer
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has confirmed number eight Jack Dempsey will miss their final autumn Test against Australia and in all likelihood a key chunk of Glasgow’s season as he awaits a specialist verdict on his shoulder injury.
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The Warriors talisman was forced off in the 63rd minute of last Sunday’s 32-15 defeat by South Africa clutching his arm and left the national squad earlier this week.
Townsend said that although they are waiting on a specialist update, he anticipates Dempsey will be sidelined for “a number of weeks, potentially into the two-month territory”.
Such an absence would see the 30-year-old former Wallaby miss the first two rounds of Glasgow’s European Champions Cup campaign against Sale and Toulon, plus potentially their URC double-header against Edinburgh over the festive period.
Dempsey’s club-mate Max Williamson is also likely to be ruled out for a similar period, Townsend said, the lock having had surgery this week on a thumb fracture he suffered against the Springboks after coming on in the first half following Scott Cummings’ 20-minute red card.
A third Warrior, hybrid back-five forward Gregor Brown, will be sidelined for the next few weeks with a rib injury sustained in Scotland’s opening autumn Test against Fiji.
Glasgow prop Nathan McBeth is also still two or three weeks away from recovering from a knee ligament injury and will also miss the rest of Scotland’s international programme this month, which includes an ‘A’ game against Chile on 23 November, a day before their Test against the Wallabies.
While another Warriors back-rower, Matt Fagerson, will be favourite to move across from blindside flanker and take Dempsey’s No.8 spot for the Australia Test, this Saturday against Portugal represents a chance for any of starting trio Josh Bayliss, Luke Crosbie and Ben Muncaster – all of whom can play different positions across the back row including No.8 – to force their way into the match-day 23 a week on Sunday.
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Edinburgh back-rower Muncaster was picked for Scotland’s summer tour in 2002 as a 20-year-old and played in a non-cap game against Chile, but an injury-interrupted couple of seasons has hindered his progress.
But having played mostly at No.8 and blindside, he has impressed this term as an openside flanker, where he will make his senior debut on Saturday.
“Ben has had to be patient,” Townsend said. “He’s had to deal with disappointments and a lot of competition in the Edinburgh back row as well.
“We’d heard real positive things about him during pre-season and he grabbed his opportunity, playing number eight and then openside as well, showing his versatility.
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“Until that point, we’d probably never seen him as an openside but Edinburgh had talked about how he could play there. Certainly, speed is a big asset in that position – speed at getting off the line, the ability to tackle and get back on his feet quickly. And he’s got that carrying ability, with seven on his back, which means you have three ball carriers in your back row.”
Another player who has had to play a waiting game with Scotland is Northampton centre Rory Hutchinson, who has won just seven caps since his debut against France before the 2019 World Cup.
He missed out on the final squad for that tournament and again for the 2023 edition, despite strong form for Saints, with Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones Townsend’s favoured combination in midfield over the past two years.
Saturday will be Hutchinson’s first cap since starting two summer Tests at full-back in Argentina in 2022, forming a new centre partnership with captain-for-the-day Stafford McDowall, who previously led the side as a co-captain against Canada last summer.
“I think when you’ve waited for a while, as we’ve seen in training, guys are really keen to get the opportunity,” Townsend added.
“Rory’s got a huge, very high skill-set in terms of his passing ability, width of pass, taking the ball to the line and putting in the right pass, whether it’s front door or back door, as we would call it. And he’s really developed defensively.
“We talked about that being an area of growth for both him and Huw Jones over the last couple of years, and they’ve both really improved their defence. Huw now is one of the best defensive 13s around. Rory’s managed to really become a jackaller and won a lot of turnovers for Northampton.
“We’re excited about that combination. I think the blend between Stafford and Rory means that they can play off each other. And [fly-half] Adam [Hastings] has got two good options there, to be more creative as well.”
Townsend had originally planned to field Harry Paterson at full-back on Saturday, but the Edinburgh youngster pulled up with a tight hamstring in training on Wednesday, meaning Tom Jordan – who has agreed to sign for Bristol Bears next season – continues in the No.15 jersey and fit-again Kyle Rowe, who suffered his own hamstring injury against Fiji, returns on the bench against Portugal.
“Harry’s injury sounds very similar to Kyle’s, so we’re hoping it’s not any more serious than that,” the head coach added. “Kyle ended up missing two weeks and the timing’s not great for Harry.
“If it’s a two-to three-week injury, he misses the chance to play on Saturday, but also we have two matches next week (including the A game against Chile), so he’ll probably miss those ones too.”
Another non Scot.