THREE of Scotland's brightest young talents helped the SRU launch a new ticket initiative yesterday designed to persuade Scotland supporters to join the growing pro team fan base, but the players admitted they were frustrated their own season launch was still on hold.
Fergus Thomson, the Glasgow hooker, joined teammate James Eddie, also recovering from a shoulder injury, and Ross Rennie, the Edinburgh flanker who hopes to be back from a cartilage injury by October, as the SRU announced that anyone who buys a ticke
t to one of the autumn Tests with New Zealand, South Africa or Canada will earn a free Magners League ticket, including entry to the Boxing Day clash between Edinburgh and Glasgow – a fixture which last year drew a record league crowd of more than 6,000.
The injured trio should all be back in harness by then, but Thomson's delay is particularly agonising as a swifter operation might have seen him feature in this weekend's Magners League opener. The 24-year-old was due to have a persistent shoulder problem fixed at the end of the season and was left off Scotland's tour to Argentina, but he was then asked to captain Scotland A in the Churchill Cup in North America. After returning from the tour in June and going on holiday, it was only in late July that he had the operation. He was then told he faced three months rehabilitation, which means Scotland's number two hooker will not be seen in competitive action until at least October.
He admitted yesterday it was frustrating, but insisted, less than a year on from winning the first of his eight caps, he was pleased to be back in training.
"I had to get the capsule in my shoulder tightened up and I tore my rotator cuff and bicep tendon," he explained. "It was more a wear-and-tear injury, and it was always there last season affecting me to some degree. I went through phases where it was no problem and others where it was quite troublesome.
"I knew I had to get an operation when it got to that stage, but I don't think the seriousness of it was diagnosed immediately. Once it was, then I was in (for the op] and I'm just glad to have got it done now and be looking forward. I would definitely like to have been ready for the start of the season, but that's not the case."
A spokesperson for Glasgow Warriors added: "Fergus carried a shoulder niggle towards the end of last season which was manageable and managed appropriately by the Glasgow and Scotland national team medical staff, who always put the long-term health of their patient first.
"Going into the summer, he was available for selection for both Scotland and Scotland A. Following his involvement with the Scotland A team who reached the final of the Churchill Cup under his captaincy, he returned to Glasgow and was rested for the allocated period. "During his rest period, the injury did not recover as much as anticipated hence he underwent the operation during pre-season."
Rennie is reluctant to place a return date on himself, but is similarly hopeful he will be back in action before the Heineken Cup starts in the second week of October, while Eddie could be back in Glasgow's side this month.
Thomson added: "It is frustrating and will probably be more so when the season actually starts, but the one thing this has done is given me a good off-season.
"With the Churchill Cup and U-21s commitments, I've only had one proper off-season in the last six years, so hopefully with a good break I'll be fresher than ever and be playing my best rugby when I come back."
The full article contains 638 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
