Scotland’s defeat by Ireland came at a cost, with both Darcy Graham and Finn Russell invalided out of the match after they ran into each other at Murrayfield. The incident in the 21st minute forced the home side into a backline reshuffle and both players must now be considered doubts for Scotland’s next Six Nations fixture, against England at Twickenham on February 22. The head injuries sustained by Graham and Russell when they collided at the midpoint of the first half against Ireland was a real cause for concern. Graham came off worse and was taken to hospital after receiving treatment on the pitch for around 10 minutes. He was released on Sunday night, having been diagnosed with a concussion and will now be managed in line with protocols. He will almost certainly miss the England game, perhaps more depending on the seriousness of the injury. It’s terrible luck for Graham, who was ruled out of the previous two Six Nations Championships through injury. It also leaves Scotland short of options on the wing. Duhan van der Merwe will still start on the left wing at Twickenham but the other berth is up for grabs. Kyle Steyn would be the natural replacement for Graham but Townsend indicated that the England match would come too soon for the Glasgow Warriors captain who is still recovering from a knee injury. Glasgow’s Kyle Rowe came on as a replacement in Scotland’s opening win over Italy and would appear to be in pole position. Rowe dropped out of the squad for the Irish game as Townsend decided on a six-two bench split of forwards and backs. Another option is Arron Reed, the Sale Sharks flyer, who was not part of the original Six Nations squad but was called up ahead of the Italy match. Scotland are also likely to consider Jamie Dobie who is first and foremost a scrum-half but has been used out wide regularly by club and country, including against Ireland on Sunday. Russell also came off after the collision with Graham and although the Bath stand-off passed a head injury assessment it was felt by the Scotland coaching staff that he was not in a condition to return to the fray. “There were a couple of things he wasn’t remembering about plays,” explained Townsend. “So we made the call not to put him back on. “He will now be classed as a failure, delayed symptoms. I don’t know whether that will be just seven days. It’s based on his record and passing HIA too. There’s no [club] game for Finn next week anyway. We’re hoping he’ll make a full recovery in time for it [England].” If Russell doesn’t make it, Townsend is likely to stick with Tom Jordan. The Glasgow Warriors back moved to stand-off from inside centre after Russell went off and it’s a familiar role for the player who plays the vast majority of his club rugby at 10. The other option is to bring in the uncapped Fergus Burke but it would be a daunting Test baptism for the Saracens fly-half. Losing Russell would be a huge blow for Scotland. His Calcutta Cup record is beyond compare, having won five and drawn one of his last six outings against England. Townsend’s team are chasing an unprecedented fifth win in a row over their oldest rivals but England will be favourites after their weekend win over France. Townsend feels Steve Borthwick’s side are starting to reap rewards for their performances after three losses in a row to the southern hemisphere heavyweights in the autumn, albeit by narrow scorelines. “They’ve been a really good team now for a while,” said the Scotland coach. “I think their defeats [in November] were against quality opposition, and they were within three or four points of beating New Zealand, Australia . . . . South Africa was a close game. “They’re going to be strong at home - we know that. And on the back of a win I think they’ll be even more confident of where their game is. “I think going to Twickenham is always a challenge, and even though we won there two years ago, that took a huge effort, and that’s the level we have to deliver in two weeks’ time.” Townsend will take his squad to Spain next week for a training camp ahead of the England match. Scotland have used the facilities at the Oliva Nova resort on the Costa Blanca in recent seasons but usually before the championship begins. “It’s worked well,” said the coach. “It means that - touch wood - we get guaranteed warm-weather training, then we fly directly on the Thursday into London. “You’re flying to the venue for away games, so it just gives a chance to get guaranteed training, but also be together. And it’s worked really well. I think the three occasions we’ve done it, we’ve won at Twickenham [twice], and at Cardiff last year. So it’s meant that we’ve gone into those games well prepared.” Townsend is hopeful that French-based duo Ben White and Blair Kinghorn will be rested by their clubs this weekend. White’s Toulon are due to play Montpellier away on Saturday night while Kinghorn’s Toulouse will take on Clermont Auvergne away on Sunday evening. “Chatting to the French coaches, they’ve been pretty good with their plans for Blair and Ben,” said Townsend, who knows that having the pair fresh would help his Calcutta Cup preparations. “Look, it might change, but just now I think they [the French clubs] realise that someone like Ben and Blair, they’ve been here three weeks, they’ve trained hard, maybe their clubs are going well in the league, which helps. It’s up to the coaches, so hopefully we’ll get them for a week’s training.” It’s not clear if this also applies to Jonny Gray, who plays for league leaders Bordeaux-Begles. Meanwhile, Cam Redpath is expected to play again for Bath this weekend as he strives to return to match fitness following the leg injury that has kept him out of the first two rounds of the Six Nations. The centre started as Bath beat Ampthill in the Premiership Cup last Saturday and is also likely to be involved against Bristol in the same competition this Saturday. Amid the despondency of another defeat by Ireland, it shouldn’t be overlooked that Van der Merwe produced one of the great Murrayfield finishes in the north-west corner of the north and west stands at the end of the first half. After a one-handed offload from Stafford McDowall, van der Merwe took to the air to evade Sam Prendergast and ensure none of his body was out of bounds as he touched down. It was acrobatic brilliance from the Edinburgh man who became the first Scotland winger to score a try against Ireland at home in the Six Nations. You have to go back to 1999 and the final Five Nations Championship for the last home winger to bag a try at Murrayfield in this fixture, and that was Cammie Murray who scored two in the 30-13 win during Scotland’s last title-winning season. Van der Merwe, who produced a similarly spectacular finish against Italy two years ago, now has a record 31 tries in 46 games for the national side.