Murray may make Scotland return

Scott Murray could be in line for a sensational return to the Scotland side for the Calcutta Cup clash with England at Murrayfield on Saturday.

The 32-year-old lock was dropped from the squad for the opening 2008 RBS 6 Nations game with France as coach Frank Hadden sought to inject some youth into his ageing second row.

But an injury crisis could see the Montauban man, Scotland’s most-capped player with 87 appearances, recalled to the squad for the meeting with Brian Ashton’s resurgent side at the weekend in Edinburgh.

Leicester’s Jim Hamilton has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament with the sprained ankle he picked up against Ireland while Llanelli star Scott MacLeod is doubtful with a shoulder injury.

Finally, Ally Kellock, Hadden’s fourth-choice lock for this campaign, suffered a recurrence of the knee injury which has plagued him for much of this season in Glasgow’s victory over the Ospreys on Friday evening.

That leaves Hadden with Craig Hamilton as the next in line despite the man from Stranraer not advancing his claim in Scotland’s A team games this season.

Murray has been on the bench for his French club in the past two games but Hadden may feel his experience could be vital against England’s towering pack of forwards.

His other possibility would be to move captain Jason White up from the back row to a position he has filled against England in the past – but he has yet to recover from the injury which kept him out of the game against Ireland.

Meanwhile Hadden was today awaiting news of Nick De Luca’s ankle problem, sustained in Friday’s Magners League clash with Newport-Gwent Dragons, which could force him to miss the England game.