Finn Russell is gearing up for a return to action against South Africa as Scotland prepares to challenge the reigning world champions in Pretoria this weekend.
However, head coach Gregor Townsend acknowledges that selecting his final team could present a significant challenge, particularly after strong performances by Tom Jordan and Fergus Burke in their recent victory over Argentina.
Russell was absent during Scotland’s thrilling 47-38 triumph in Cordoba, which marked a sensational start to their Nations Championship campaign.
With Russell away, Jordan took the starting position at fly-half against Los Pumas, while Burke made a notable impact coming off the bench.
Townsend’s squad dazzled by scoring seven tries, clinching a bonus-point victory that propelled Scotland back to fifth place in the world rankings.
Russell missed the win over Argentina but is back in the frame for the South Africa clash
The assumption was that Russell would come straight back into the team, but Townsend feels there is now genuine competition in the most important position in the team.
Asked whether Russell is 100 per cent, the Scotland head coach replied: ‘Yeah, he should be. He has been training well, both at the end of last week and now here in South Africa.
‘The guys who weren’t involved did a session on Saturday after the team run and he’s trained fine again since then.
‘I think he’s definitely over the calf injury. He may have been fit at the weekend had we really needed him.
‘We just felt that he needed more training to really be available for the tough test matches ahead of us, especially this one this weekend.
‘The depth at 10 is very, very good. We’ve got players who have played for us on a number of occasions.
‘I think of Adam Hastings, who’s not on this tour, and Dan Lancaster, who started for Glasgow over the last few weeks of the season.
‘Then you’ve got Fergus, who showed his class again last weekend. He was arguably the form 10 in England towards the end of last season with Saracen.
Tom Jordan deputised against Los Pumas and staked his claim for the No10 jersey
‘He came off the bench twice against Argentina and really added to our attack. Tom showed what a competitive Test player he is. That competition is important.
‘If Finn had been available for that game, I’m not sure whether we would have started him.
I think this tour is one that we would have wanted to give opportunities to the other 10s.
‘We’re really encouraged that both Tom and Fergus played at the weekend and played well. Now it makes it interesting for the next two games what we’re going to do in that position.’
Scotland flew to Pretoria immediately after their victory over Argentina on Saturday and have spent the last few days acclimatising.
The game will be played at the iconic Loftus Versfeld stadium, where the altitude invariably plays a big factor.
As they often do, the Springboks named their team early at the start of the week after kicking off with a dominant win over England last Saturday.
Although they are not at full strength, with head coach Rassie Erasmus making ten changes in total, they are still a hugely formidable outfit.
Former World Player of the Year Pieter-Steph du Toit starts in the back row, with Jesse Kriel, Damian Willemse, Canan Moodie and Handre Pollard all in the starting XV.
Facing South Africa on their own patch will be a new experience for the vast majority of the Scotland camp, albeit Russell did it with the Lions in 2021.
Asked about the scale of the challenge, Townsend added: “Absolutely, this is as tough as it gets in world rugby.
‘South Africa are the No 1 team in the world, the back-to-back world champions, so it really doesn’t get any tougher. It’s an iconic stadium as well, which really adds to it.
‘From our perspective, no one in our group has played South Africa for Scotland away from home.
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has a decision to make over his No10
‘It’s a unique opportunity for us, obviously the biggest challenge in world rugby.
‘Having seen how quickly they got into their game against England last weekend, they looked like they’d been playing together for months.
‘They’re a team that knows their identity. I think everybody in world rugby knows their identity and they’re very good at what they do.
‘It’s a great challenge, as you say, a great marker of where we are and where we need to go all in this game.
‘There’s going to be moments, or more than just moments, where the Springboks have the upper hand.
‘We’ve learned from previous experiences, but this is a new one. I can’t wait to see how our players react and how they come together.
‘We’re growing our identity of how we play as a team, but also how we react to incidents in the game, errors, even if things are going our way, so they get another opportunity to do this on Saturday.’