Scotland star’s World Cup is over after he falls down stairs after family barbecue at team hotel

Rugby star Dave Cherry’s part in Scotland’s World Cup campaign has ended after he fell down stairs and injured his head.

The freak at the hotel where the team is staying has brought the hooker’s participation in the event in France to a premature end.

It’s understood that Cherry was returning to his room at the team’s base near Nice on Monday following a barbecue arranged for the families when the accident occurred.

He was treated at the time by team doctor James Robson and was then taken to hospital overnight as a precaution before being released the following morning.

The Edinburgh hooker’s misfortune has resulted in a remarkable and unexpected career swansong for Stuart McInally who has been drafted in to replace him.

McInally had announced in April that he would be retiring after this year’s World Cup to concentrate on becoming an airline pilot, but was left disappointed when Townsend left him out of his final 33-man squad.

Cherry, who was a second-half replacement for George Turner in the 18-3 defeat by South Africa in Marseille on Sunday, flew out of France yesterday to return home, where his fiancee Olivia is due to give birth in the coming weeks.

Head coach Townsend said: ‘It’s very difficult for Dave – and it’s sad. At least he got to play in a game. His wife’s just about to give birth so at least he’s got something positive to go back to. He did well to get himself into the World Cup squad and he did well at the weekend. He would have had more involvement as we went through the pool.’

McInally, 33, was part of Townsend’s 41-man provisional training group for the tournament. When he was omitted in August, it seemed like a dispiriting end to his career for the man who captained the Scots at the last World Cup in Japan.

However, the long-serving Edinburgh forward was invited out to France last week to provide cover after hooker Ewan Ashman sustained a head knock in training and he attended Sunday’s match in Marseille before being told his services were no longer required and flying home on Monday.

McInally’s roller-coaster summer then took another twist when he was summoned back to the south of France yesterday on Wednesday.

‘He’s been called out twice now,’ said Townsend, as he reflected on whirlwind period for the veteran.

‘On Monday I was chatting to him back at the hotel and I said: “You can stay until tomorrow or go back today, it looks like Ewan is on track to make a full recovery, so there’s no reason to stay”.

‘And then he came back out two days later and he’s trained today. He’s obviously kept training, he’s been topping up (his fitness) and he’s always said he’d be ready for the opportunity. Maybe he would have been thinking that would have happened last week, but it’s now happened for him.

‘Stuart is a very experienced player for us. He’s obviously been at World Cups before and had trained really well throughout the (pre-tournament) camp and had played well so we’re fortunate that we have someone with his experience and quality to step in.’

With first-choice hooker Turner set to start in the next game – against Tonga in Nice on Sunday week – with Ashman on the bench, McInally is not likely to feature until Scotland play tournament favourites Romania the following week in Lille.

The Scotland players had three days off following Sunday’s defeat by South Africa, with the players’ families invited into the camp.

The team trained yesterday (thurs) for the first time Sunday’s bruising encounter with South Africa with Townsend adamant there will be no hangover from their opening-weekend setback as they prepare to play Tonga.

‘I don’t think morale was ever affected,” he said when asked if he felt the short break was beneficial to the players.

‘We knew this would be an opportunity to spend time with families because our next games (after Tonga) are pretty much game then into six or seven-day turnarounds, so it will be quickly into that process.

‘We saw the families all together in the hotel for the last two or three days and that was really good, but the mindset they came in to train with today was excellent.

‘They worked really hard. That was a tough session, tomorrow’s will be tough again, and Sunday’s will be tough. We know we’ve got an opportunity now to push things a bit harder and then we get back into a normal Test week, which starts on Tuesday for us.’