Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend confirmed on Tuesday that Finn Russell should be fit to face the Springboks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, providing a significant boost ahead of the Nations Championship encounter.
The Bath flyhalf missed last weekend's 47-38 victory over Argentina in Cordoba after sustaining a calf injury that had sidelined him for the final three matches of his club season. Russell trained fully with the squad on Wednesday of last week and has continued to progress through the week in South Africa.
"Yeah, he should be," Townsend said when asked about Russell's availability. "He trained fine today and he trained well at the end of the week. I think he's definitely over the calf injury. He may have been fit at the weekend. We just felt that he needed more training to really be available for the tough test matches ahead of us, especially this one this weekend."
Townsend, speaking from Scotland's base in South Africa, added that Russell might not have started against Argentina even if fully fit, as the coaching staff wanted to provide opportunities to other flyhalves during the tour.
The news was tempered by confirmation that Northampton prop Elliot Millar Mills will play no further part in this month's Nations Championship fixtures after suffering a calf injury early in Saturday's win. Mills was replaced by Zander Fagerson in the first half and has since returned home.
Scotland have climbed to fifth in the world rankings following four victories in their last five matches, but Townsend acknowledged the scale of the challenge awaiting his side. "From our perspective, no-one in our group has played South Africa for Scotland away from home," he said. "It's a unique opportunity for us, obviously the biggest challenge in world rugby."