Blair insists Ford absence opens door for other Scotland hookers to impress
Scotland skills coach Mike Blair admits the loss of Ross Ford is a major blow but is confident they have replacement hookers in form.
Ford, Scotland's most-capped player, suffered a pectoral injury in training last week and is expected to be out for around four months following surgery.
Glasgow's Fraser Brown is also unavailable for the autumn Tests against Samoa, New Zealand and Australia, and Neil Cochrane was among three Edinburgh players called up by Gregor Townsend on Monday, along with recently-deposed captain Magnus Bradbury and prop Rory Sutherland.
Former Doncaster and Wasps hooker Cochrane could win his first cap at the age of 33 but Townsend has other options following Ford's withdrawal.
Blair said: "It is obviously a big blow but across club rugby and international rugby a lot of teams are getting a lot of injuries. Part of the system is that we have guys coming in ready to take their place when they are injured.
"Ross had a very good summer tour, I thought he reinvented himself a bit there - lots of power and support play, and he really led there - but this will give other players an opportunity.
"Stuart McInally, in particular, has had a fantastic start to the season with Edinburgh with his leadership role and George Turner has been a revelation with Glasgow."
Bradbury was left out of the original squad around the time he was stripped of the Edinburgh captaincy months after receiving the honour.
The 22-year-old missed several games last month after suffering a head injury during a night out but he returned for Edinburgh on Saturday to score the try that sealed a bonus-point win over Ospreys.
"It is brilliant to see Magnus doing that," said former Scotland scrum-half Blair. "I am sure it was a difficult time for him but he has shown the best way to react to that is rolling up your sleeves, getting on with your game and securing that bonus-point win against Ospreys.
"We got to know Magnus a fair bit on the summer tour, he obviously played in the Italy game at the start and he is a big, abrasive young guy.
"He is a new breed of back-row forwards coming through and I am looking forward to see what he can do in camp."
Blair insists the squad has reconvened in fine fettle, especially with Edinburgh and Glasgow enjoying victories at the weekend.
"I don't know if it is a record but every person in the squad of 38 who were playing at the weekend won," he said. "You are not often seeing that. So that brings with it a lot of confidence.
"Edinburgh have five wins on the trot, Glasgow are eight from eight in the PRO14, although obviously had a couple of not so good results in Europe.
"There is lots of confidence across all the players and that has to be good for us going forward."