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Fly-half Finn Russell has been called into the Scotland squad for Sunday’s Autumn Test against New Zealand in place of the injured Adam Hastings.
Hastings has returned to his club Gloucester after being forced off against Fiji with a head knock and is also having a knee injury assessed.
Coach Gregor Townsend picked Hastings, Blair Kinghorn and Ross Thompson ahead of Russell, 30, in his initial squad.
“If Adam is out, Finn would be in the mix,” Townsend said after the Fiji win.
Lions stand-off Russell pressed his case for a recall when he scored a try and kicked three conversions and a penalty for his club Racing 92 as they defeated Perpignan 44-20 in France’s Top 14.
Townsend said he left Russell out of his initial squad because of question marks over the number 10’s “form and consistency”.
The former Lions and Scotland fly-half said he had not spoken to Russell since informing him last month he was not in the original squad, but the head coach said that was not unusual.
Kinghorn was given the fly-half role for Scotland’s opening Autumn series match, narrowly failing with a late penalty that would have given his side victory against Australia.
Hastings was not available for that match because he plays his club rugby in England and it fell outside the international window, so Thompson – who has three caps – provided cover on the bench.
The 25-year-old former full-back Kinghorn and Thompson, 23, will be the other contenders to start at number 10 against the All Blacks on Sunday.
Russell’s relationship with Townsend has at times been strained, none more so than in 2020 when the former Glasgow fly-half walked out on the squad prior to the Six Nations and publicly criticised his coach’s methods.
The pair reconciled and Russell, who has 62 caps, returned to the fold, but was dropped by Townsend from the starting line-up for last season’s Six Nations finale against Ireland days after being one of six players to have an unauthorised night out at an Edinburgh bar.
New Zealand crushed Wales 55-23 in Cardiff while Scotland laboured to a 28-12 win against Fiji to follow the narrow defeat against Australia.
Scotland play Argentina, who defeated them in a summer series and shocked England at Twickenham on Sunday, six days after facing the All Blacks at Murrayfield.
Meanwhile Glasgow hooker George Turner is still part of the Scotland squad despite an injury concern after scoring one of Scotland’s four tries on Saturday.
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