Scotland sweat on Allister Hogg

Scotland coach Matt Williams has been rocked by another setback with the news that Edinburgh back rower Allister Hogg could miss the start of the RBS Six Nations Championship through injury.

The hugely promising 21-year-old was set to undergo a scan on a knee injury in Glasgow on Tuesday after he was injured in Sunday's Heineken Cup victory over Perpignan.

Williams is already resigned to being without openside flanker Donnie Macfadyen for the opening Six Nations fixture with France in Paris.

Another back rower - 2001 British and Irish Lion tourist Simon Taylor - has also yet to return to action after the knee injury he sustained in the final match of last year's championship.

Hogg's Edinburgh team-mate, centre Ben MacDougall, will be out of action for six weeks after he fractured his thumb in the same match.

Williams was hoping more players might take part in Tuesday's training session - 24 players were unable to train at Murrayfield on Monday, citing bumps and bruises from the weekend's matches.

The mounting injuries come on the back of a bout of bloodletting at the Scottish Rugby Union, but Borders scrum-half Chris Cusiter said that mood in the camp was still positive.

"Its hard I'd say right now, but players know that the only place they can make a difference is on the field and I think we all want to get there as soon as we can," he told the Scotsman newspaper.

"In some ways its quite easy now for players because of the motivation of the Six Nations; every player wants to be involved in it and the only way to achieve that is to keep your head down, train hard and try to get yourself selected, so its perfect for allowing players to keep their focus.

"Hopefully, the focus is going to be on the Six Nations for the next two months and thats what we need; thats the showpiece for northern hemisphere rugby and its good for us in Scotland that its coming around soon so we can get the focus back on the rugby which is what is important.

"We have to believe we are going in the right direction and forget all the talk that is going on and put in some good performances.

"It is great in that respect that the Six Nations is now not far away."