Josh Macleod: Scarlets flanker faces blow to Wales chances

Josh Macleod leaves the pitch on crutches against Glasgow

Scarlets flanker Josh Macleod is facing a major blow to his Wales chances after damaging his hamstring against Glasgow.

Macleod left the arena on crutches after being forced off the field in the first-half of Scarlets 20-7 defeat.

With Wales set to meet up on Monday, hooker Ken Owens also suffered a shoulder injury.

"It was a shame for Josh to get that injury but we will see how that maps out for him," said Scarlets head coach Glenn Delaney.

Macleod, 23, was one of seven uncapped players named in Wayne Pivac's 38-man squad and will now be assessed before any decision is made with Taine Basham, James Davies and Shane Lewis-Hughes as possible replacements.

"We will have a look at that and see how he gets on," said Delaney.

"The medics are looking after him and it's pretty early to make an assessment and we will know in the next 24-48 hours.

"He has worked so hard to get in that Wales squad and I thought he was outstanding again today, making big plays and doing what he has been doing for us for the last 12 months."

Scarlets skipper Owens, 33, was a second-half replacement before being forced to leave the field himself while Scotland flanker Blade Thomson suffered an elbow injury.

Scarlets skipper Ken Owens has played 77 Tests for Wales

"Ken had a shoulder injury," added Delaney.

"He has some bruising and we will know more on him later. Blade had an elbow problem.

"They are both walking around and it's about managing it. It's pretty early when they get those joint related things, they tend to take a day or so to know what the severity is.

"There will be plenty of ice and recovery. It was a shame they both came off but sometimes that's rugby and you get a few bumps."

Scarlets were also not helped after Tongan lock Sam Lousi was sent off for the second time in 2020.

Sam Lousi saw red for his tackle on Ratu Tagive

On this occasion it was for a dangerous tackle to the head, following a red card against Munster in February for punching.

"It was more of rugby related incident with a big man and shorter man coming together in an upright position," said Delaney.

"That was my first take on it and we will assess what the impact was.

"We have not gone into it blow by blow, but my first look at it was that it did not look too dramatic, but we will go through the normal process and come to a conclusion."

Injuries and red cards completed a miserable night for Scarlets who lost their second successive game of 2020-21 season after an opening day defeat to Munster.

"That first half we will look at pretty critically," said Delaney.

"We were rueful, we did not take the opportunities when they presented themselves.

"In the second-half, we had a red card but we put some momentum into the game and looked good."

Blade Thomson leaves the field with an elbow injury

Scarlets have only scored one try in the last three games so is that a concern for Delaney?

"Not really," he replied.

"We were creating more chances and Steff Evans was a hairs breadth from scoring a pretty good one today.

"Last week we had nine penalties and today we had a nip and tuck game and it ended up two tries to one.

"So the reality is it is not something of major concern. We want to continue working on getting aggressive in our carries and creating chances and when you saw us in that second-half, we looked threatening and dangerous.

"Those opportunities will keep coming and we will score."