Scotland hooker Lana Skeldon has gone to hospital and is getting an X-ray on the ankle injury she suffered in the 27-21 Summer Test defeat to Ireland in Cork on Saturday afternoon.
Time will tell if the experienced front-rower, who seemed to be screaming in pain in the 31st minute before being taken off with what looked like a leg injury in the reverse at Virgin Media Park, makes it to the Women’s Rugby World Cup in England later this month and into September.
Scotland have already lost playmaker Meryl Smith (ACL) and second-row Hollie Cunningham (hamstring) for the showpiece event.
They definitely would have gone while, if she is fit, Skeldon will be one of the first names on the teamsheet down south in the pool games versus Wales and Fiji in Manchester on August 23 and 30 respectively and versus Canada in Exeter on September 6.
The Hawick native, 31, first played for Scotland in 2011 and now has 81 caps to her name.
Before the Guinness Women’s Six Nations earlier in the year she had a four-month injury lay-off with a torn calf.
“She was taken away to hospital just to have a look at it,” head coach Bryan Easson said after the match.
“It is an ankle injury and she’s going for an X-ray, so hopefully we’ll find out sooner rather than later. But as to [exactly] what it is, we don’t know yet.
“I felt that was a huge turning point, a huge momentum shift in the game because I thought for 30-plus minutes we were good.
“We’ll assess Lana and she’s in good hands. When you get an injury like that you need really good medical provision and we have that and she went straight to hospital.
“As soon as we know anything, we’ll certainly update people.
“[After being worried when I heard her in pain] I was given probably more optimistic news at half-time.
“But that doesn’t mean good, bad or indifferent. It was just more me being concerned that Lana was okay and she seemed to be in good spirits prior to going to hospital.
“We’ll just have to wait and see what comes. We’ve got two or three days before we make final decisions around the World Cup squad.
“We’ll give Lana every opportunity, obviously. But if we do have to make a change, we have had players in with us training anyway.”
The World Cup 32-strong group will be named this coming week.
Meanwhile, the withdrawal of winger Rhona Lloyd in the lead up to the Ireland game was just precautionary and she will be fine to be named in the squad for the World Cup.
“She was selected and she then had a little twinge in her quad during the captain’s run on Friday so we felt that it wasn’t worth the risk,” Easson said.
“If it had been a World Cup game, we would have played her probably.
“But, it wasn’t about this game. Obviously, the World Cup is just around the corner and we felt it wasn’t the right decision to play her here. So, no longer term worries at all. It was precautionary.”
Tighthead prop Elliann Clarke went off in the 54th minute of the game in Ireland and that was just a precaution too.
The head coach explained: “She’s fine. She had a little bit of a twinge in her neck. Again, we probably could have kept going with her, but there was no need to push that any further than we needed to.”
And, at time of speaking post-match, Easson was still waiting to hear the outcome of sub Leia Brebner-Holden’s HIA.
Scotland squad that played Ireland: Chloe Rollie; Coreen Grant, Emma Orr, Lisa Thomson, Lucia Scott; Hannah Ramsay, Caity Mattinson; Anne Young, Lana Skeldon, Elliann Clarke, Emma Wassell, Rachel Malcolm (C), Rachel McLachlan, Alex Stewart, Evie Gallagher. Subs: Elis Martin, Leah Bartlett, Molly Poolman, Adelle Ferrie, Eva Donaldson, Leia Brebner-Holden, Beth Blacklock, Evie Wills.
Scorers: Tries: Lisa Thomson, Lucia Scott, Emma Orr. Cons: Lisa Thomson (3).
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Lana Skeldon is pictured being taken off in the Ireland-Scotland game
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