Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw will miss the autumn internationals series, including a Test against Australia, because of a broken fibula, his French club Clermont Auvergne said on Wednesday.
The scrumhalf does not require surgery but is expected to miss up to three months after tests discovered he had suffered a fracture during his team’s Champions Cup victory against Ospreys.
Stand-in skipper John Barclay is also a doubt for Scotland’s games against Australia, New Zealand and Samoa.
Barclay is battling to overcome a concussion problem.