Gregor Townsend insists Scotland won’t wallow in self-pity despite being hit with injuries to key players ahead of this year’s Six Nations. Captain Sione Tuipulotu will miss the entire championship due to a pectoral injury, with lock Scott Cummings ruled out due to a broken arm. Townsend is also without Kyle Steyn, Josh Bayliss and Dylan Richardson ahead of Saturday's opening clash with Italy at Murrayfield.

But the Scotland head coach insists there’s still plenty of cause for optimism and says his squad won’t feel sorry for themselves. ‘I don’t really get too disappointed because you go into a tournament and it’s inevitable there will be one or two injuries,’ said Townsend. ‘We’ve had two or three just in our last two weeks but, in other years, they’ve piled up over a month or two. Gregor Townsend says his squad remain positive despite a concerning injury list.

Skipper Tuipulotu is a huge loss but the Scotland team will have to cope without him. Townsend expects Stafford McDowall to be an able deputy for Tuipulotu during Six Nations. ‘So it’s part and parcel of our game and, ultimately, it means an opportunity for someone else to step up. ‘I would hope there’s still a lot of optimism. You never know until you play that first game to see where the team is.

‘But I’m sure our supporters will have expectation and optimism when they come to the game on Saturday and when they’re watching on TV. ‘As a coach, you are trying to create an undercurrent of optimism. 'You’ve got to sell your attacking gameplan, your defensive gameplan to the players and say: “This is going to bring us success”. ‘There’s a reason why we’re working hard and we believe we can do that. Optimism is always something we would want in a group.

‘This is a more experienced team in terms of caps than we played in our last game, which was a very good win against Australia, so this team should be able to build on what we did in November.’. Stafford McDowall has been selected in place of Glasgow team-mate Tuipulotu at centre, with Jamie Ritchie and Jonny Gray also returning to the team. Darcy Graham will play in his first Six Nations match in three years after missing the last two campaigns due to injury.

Tipped as a possible British and Irish Lion in the summer, Graham will be fired up to have a good championship. Scotland are delighted to have Darcy Graham back in his first Six Nations match in three years. Former Scotland captain Jamie Ritchie returns to the team which hosts Italy on Saturday. Head coach Townsend is looking for his team to get off to a winning start at Murrayfield. Asked about the possibility of players competing for Lions selection, Townsend said: ‘I think you’ll get scenarios, at clubs as well as international level, where players set goals for the year ahead.

‘Some of those goals will be to make the Lions squad, make the Scotland squad. Some of them will just focus on the process and be better in this area. ‘So it’s not something I’m trying to recall in conversation with Darcy in particular, but other players have talked about it as a goal. ‘I think Darcy focusing really on his game and how he can be better is brilliant. It’s brilliant to hear that, after November, he thought he could have done much more.

‘He is developing that wider game, that ball-playing ability, his aerial skills, too. 'It’s something he feels he can not only improve on, but can really be another weapon for him with the attacking kicks that you can get through more. ‘You’ll have seen that in the last few weeks with Edinburgh, he’s giving up to win those balls either cleanly or knocking them back. ‘Darcy brings so much, excites the crowd but also inspires his team-mates. His work and contact, his bravery, it has an influence, it’s infectious.