Magnus Bradbury back for Edinburgh – and perhaps also Scotland

Magnus Bradbury, right, in training with Edinburgh team-mate Cameron Fenton

The 23-year-old, who started the season in superb form for his club and can play six or No.8, has been out of action since towards the end of October with a dislocated shoulder.

And Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill has stated that the man with four international caps to his name is in the reckoning to face the Dragons on Guinness PRO14 duty this weekend.

“Magnus Bradbury is available for selection,” Cockerill said ahead of Friday’s BT Murrayfield match up.

“It’s been four months for him and he has worked hard to get back. He’ll get good minutes at the weekend for us and we’ll see if Scotland come calling for him after that.”

Yesterday it was confirmed that Ryan Wilson will miss the final three rounds of the Guinness Six Nations having suffered knee ligament damage in Saturday’s loss to Ireland at BT Murrayfield.

And with the like of John Barclay, Hamish Watson and Blade Thomson already on the treatment table, Scotland’s stocks in the key back-row spots are looking a bit fragile meaning that Bradbury could be back in the big time sooner rather than later.

Cockerill had less positive news on two other back-row options for club and country though.

There were hopes in some quarters that Watson would be back fit from his hand injury to play his part for Scotland in round three in Paris on February 23, but Cockerill said: “He will certainly miss France.

“They may get him in for the last two games [against Wales on March 9 and England on March 16], we will see.

“The back-row injuries are starting to mount up for Scotland aren’t they?”

And Lewis Carmichael, the second-row/back-row who earned his first two Scotland caps on last summer’s tour, has torn his ACL.

“Lewis got back to playing [after a long-term concussion problem] then slipped, had an accident at training and tore his ACL so he is out for the season,” Cockerill confirmed regarding the 23-year-old.

“It happened three or four weeks ago. He has had surgery, but that is his season finished.”

For the crucial match for Edinburgh’s play-off hopes, Cockerill will be able to call on second-row Ben Toolis after Scotland duty, but the likes of Stuart McInally, Simon Berghan, Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie and Blair Kinghorn are likely to sit this one out.

Another man set to be in the stands on Friday night as he continues to deal with an ongoing concussion issue is Matt Scott.

The 28-year-old centre has been out since October and the head coach said: “Matt is still recovering from concussion.

“It is a very ‘on topic’ injury just now and we don’t know enough about it and if guys are still having a little bit of symptoms Around headaches you need to measure what is wrong.”

Meanwhile, Barclay ran for the first time this week as he continues to recover from a ruptured Achilles Tendon, but Cockerill is still cautious around the 32-year-old’s return to play date.

“John is making progress, he ran for the first time on Sunday,” he said.

“He is heading in the right direction but we don’t have an exact date as to when he will be back.

“That is a little optimistic [to say he will be back in March], but we will see. As soon as he is fit and ready to go he will come back into the Edinburgh squad.

“At this point, as he has just started running on Sunday, it is hard to say exact dates, but we will continue to work with him closely.”