Russell ruled out of France clash

Scotland have suffered a major blow ahead of their Six Nations match against France, with Finn Russell ruled out due to a head injury.

Influential fly-half Russell emerged as a doubt for Saturday’s fixture in Paris after he was injured in Racing 92’s Top 14 clash with Toulouse over the weekend.

On Tuesday, Scottish Rugby confirmed he had “not satisfied the requirements of today’s component of the graduated return to play protocol”, meaning he can no longer be considered for selection.

Peter Horne, who came off the bench in Scotland’s home defeat to Ireland last time out, and Adam Hastings are the likeliest candidates to start at 10 in Russell’s absence.

BREAKING | Scotland stand-off Finn Russell has been ruled out of this Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations Test v France.

https://t.co/e9CzHbwCKW pic.twitter.com/UdUAqym462

— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) February 19, 2019

Head coach Gregor Townsend also added Worcester Warriors stand-off Duncan Weir to his squad on Monday.

France named their team to face Scotland on Tuesday, with Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack making up a new-look pairing in the halves. Morgan Parra and Camille Lopez, the starting nine and 10 in the losses to Wales and England, have dropped out of the matchday 23.

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