Confusion reigns on Gray's Six Nations availability

When Gregor Townsend named his Six Nations squad in the middle of January he said he was hopeful Jonny Gray would make his return from injury in Bordeaux's next game, against Sharks in the Champions Cup on 19 January.

Gray didn't feature. The word during the week, from Scotland's Six Nations training camp, was that Gray was going to play against Lyon on Saturday in the Top 14.

Gray didn't feature in that one either. Before the match, French outlet L'Equipe reported that assistant coach Christophe Laussucq said Gray had returned injured from the Scotland camp and was unavailable.

Bordeaux started with Guido Petti (Gray's regular partner in the club's biggest games) and Alexander Ricard. They brought 20-year-old Jacques Nguimbous off the bench. They lost 22-20. It was their first defeat at home this season.

The Scottish management aren't giving anything away at the moment, but if Laussucq is not playing games then it's a troubling development given Scott Cummings and Max Williamson are both already out of the Six Nations.

Gray has not played since the middle of December. Townsend would have been keen to get at least one game into him before the Six Nations starts against Italy on Saturday. Getting parachuted into such a contest having not played for six weeks was always going to be a big ask, but now, via Laussucq, there's this injury chat.

We await clarification from Murrayfield as to what is actually going on here. Townsend named five locks in his wider Six Nations squad - Cummings, Gray, Grant Gilchrist, Marshall Sykes and Gregor Brown, who's a hybrid of lock and blindside flanker.

If he has to dig deeper into the well he has Edinburgh's Sam Skinner, Scarlets' Alex Craig, Leicester's Cam Henderson and Glasgow's Alex Samuel. Solid back-ups, but Skinner apart, they lacks Six Nations nous.

Edinburgh back-row Luke Crosbie is another injury worry for Townsend. He played no part in Edinburgh's defeat by Scarlets on Saturday. With talismanic captain Sione Tuipulotu also out, the head coach does not have his troubles to seek with less than a week to go before the big show starts in Edinburgh.