Scotland's World Cup hopes have suffered a third major blow in as many days after scrum-half Ali Price was ruled out for the remainder of the tournament.
Price suffered a foot and ankle knock in Sunday's abject defeat to Ireland and will play no further part.
Edinburgh's Henry Pyrgos is now flying out to Japan to join up with Gregor Townsend's squad.
But the news means more disappointment for the head coach as it follows on from the dismal 27-3 loss to Joe Schmidt's team and Monday's confirmation that flanker Hamish Watson's World Cup campaign is also over due to a serious knee injury.
📸 With four tonnes of kit and cargo loaded on the freight post match, the Scotland squad boarded a high-speed shinkansen this morning for Kobe, where we face Samoa a week today #AsOne 🏴 pic.twitter.com/MeWCatZW69 — Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) September 23, 2019
Price was spotted on crutches as the team boarded a bullet train to Kobe yesterday.
But he has now been given the news he was dreading after an X-ray confirmed he would have to return home for treatment.
The change will mean a second World Cup appearance for Pyrgos.
He is scheduled to arrive in Japan on Thursday and take his place in the 31-man group preparing to face Samoa at the Kobe Misaki Stadium on Monday.
Townsend said in a statement: "We're disappointed for Ali to have to return home so early in the tournament.
"Both Ali and Hamish had invested a lot of effort into being in their best physical shape for the World Cup and it's a shame that they've only been involved in one game, however we have a lot of belief in our wider group and the two new players, Magnus Bradbury and Henry Pyrgos, who have been given this opportunity."
