Scotland Suffer Double Injury Blow as Ritchie and Millar Mills Ruled Out Before All Blacks Visit

Scotland's preparations for the visit of the All Blacks have been hit by a double injury blow, with Jamie Ritchie and Elliot Millar Mills both ruled out for the remainder of the Nations Championship. Ritchie, the former Scotland captain, suffered a suspected medial collateral ligament injury in Glasgow's United Rugby Championship win over the Lions last Friday and is expected to be out for four to six weeks. It is another setback in a difficult year for the back-rower, who also missed the rest of the Six Nations after a knee injury in Scotland's Calcutta Cup win over England in February. Millar Mills, the Newcastle prop, picked up a leg injury in the early stages of his club's Premiership defeat by Saracens on Saturday and lasted only a few minutes before leaving the field. Both men had been named in Gregor Townsend's original 37-man squad, so their withdrawals change a settled plan rather than simply trimming its edges. Townsend has called up three Edinburgh forwards as cover: uncapped tighthead Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, back-rower Freddy Douglas and experienced prop D'Arcy Rae, taking Edinburgh's representation in the squad to eight. Scotland open their November home campaign against New Zealand at Murrayfield on Saturday, November 7, sitting second in the Northern Hemisphere standings after beating Argentina and Fiji in July and losing to South Africa.