Glasgow Warriors captain Kyle Steyn has undergone surgery on the foot injury that will keep him out of Scotland's final Nations Championship match of the summer against Fiji.
Steyn is one of three Warriors players who will miss Saturday's season finale at Murrayfield, alongside lock Alex Samuel and flanker Rory Darge.
Samuel misses out with a knee injury suffered in the build-up to last weekend's defeat to South Africa, while Darge picked up a concussion in the match.
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Assistant coach John Dalziel confirmed Steyn has also had surgery on his foot, but allayed any fears over the severity of the injury as he revealed it was an issue Steyn has battled for some time.
"We've known for a while Kyle has had a problem a few times with a stress fracture in the foot.
"It was always planned before we even went on tour that he would get to this Monday. He did his part the first two tests. He was operated on yesterday."
Edinburgh Rugby pair Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe are the most likely contenders to take Steyn's place on the wing.
Graham featured from the bench in the win over Argentina but Van der Merwe, for so long a first-pick for head coach Gregor Townsend, has not yet featured.
The two-time British & Irish Lions tourist is, though, fit and raring to go, according to Dalziel.
"Duhan’s fit - he trained with us today," he said.
Townsend is expected to make several changes to his side, but Dalziel says the squad are preparing for a response from a Fiji side that shipped 11 tries in a 73-8 drubbing by England in Liverpool on Saturday.
Dalziel added: "This is a game we need to win against a really quality opposition. Their performance against Wales was outstanding, that's the true Fiji. And we know that first 30 minutes they could have been well up in that game.
“So we're going to expect a bit of a backlash at the weekend. We know the quality that we're playing against and we have to have a team out there that can win the Test match.”
But the Scotland forwards coach believes his players have physically and mentally recovered from the disappointment of falling short against the world champions in Pretoria and are ready for another physical test against the Fijians.
"How quickly they turn around is unbelievable now with the travel," he said of the players after training this afternoon [Tuesday].
"By tomorrow they'll be full contact again and build towards the weekend.
"We're resilient, we're fit, they're in a good place and really what I'm pleased with is the smiles on their faces, that disappointment this morning in the unit meetings and now it's into making sure that we finish this campaign well."
Hooker Gregor Hiddleston may get a first start for Scotland at the weekend after impressing in his cameos against Argentina and South Africa on his first two caps.
His club-mate Seb Stephen - the only uncapped player in the squad - could also be involved this weekend, and Dalziel has been hugely impressed by the Glasgow Warriors duo.
"Gregor was uncapped but had been in a couple of squads and during the whole Six Nations and not playing.
"I think he's taken that disappointment back to Glasgow and put that into his performances.
"If it was easy everybody would be doing, he's waited his time Gregor and he's looked every part of the Test player the last two weeks, there's been unbelievable numbers off the bench and to come on and score in his first Test was great.
"The previous campaigns being involved have really shown through for him and Seb the same.
"We've had Seb in on days as well and he's just been fantastic on this tour as well and ready if needed."
Before watching the senior Scotland side, Dalziel will be following another, with son Jake bidding to steer Scotland to a fifth-place finish in the Junior World Championship.
That would be an equal-best finish at the U20 tournament, tying with when Dalziel senior led the side back in 2017.
And he has been suitably impressed with the young Scots' performances in Georgia this summer.
"The growth in them even from their warm-up games to what they've taken into the championship and they're getting better every game.
"They're probably quite pleased to play Wales again, they probably feel they weren't at their best during the Six Nations when they played them so it's a great game for them to show their growth and finish that off really well."
And Dalziel senior will be keeping a close watch on the next generation of Scottish rugby stars.
"It's at a good time at half past five, we've got the afternoon captain's run but we'll be back for that," he said.
"All the boys in the squad have been watching with a keen eye and they're all looking forward to watching that. It's a big weekend for Scottish rugby."
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