Scotland have suffered a double injury blow following the withdrawal of winger Kenny Logan and flanker Martin Leslie from the Six Nations encounter with Ireland at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Logan aggravated a knee-tendon injury while playing for Wasps in the 40-21 home defeat by Sale in the Zurich Premiership at the weekend.
And Leslie will be sidelined for at least a month after wrenching ankle ligaments during Edinburgh's 32-24 Celtic League defeat at Cardiff last week.
Having already picked a provisional squad of 25, Scotland coach Ian McGeechan has opted not to call up any substitutes for the pair and will reveal his final party of 22 on Thursday.
"That was the reason for holding squad get-togethers in July and then earlier this month," revealed McGeechan.
"The aim was to get our general approach over to as many potential team members as possible.
"It gave the younger and older guys an idea of our plans and an overall understanding of our principles so they wouldn't come in cold in this situation."
Despite losing two of his senior stars, McGeechan admitted his casualty list was not as high as he had feared.
"I sat with my fingers crossed all weekend - especially on Sunday when we had nine squad members in action in England," admitted the Scotland coach.
Logan's problem is not rated as serious, but McGeechan does not want to take any chances.
He said: "In order to prepare as thoroughly as possible for this game I wanted everyone to be fit by the start of the week.
"Kenny would probably not have been able to train until Thursday at the earliest, so I didn't want to take any chances."
McGeechan rejected suggestions that the time lapse of almost six months since the last championship match - due to the foot and mouth epidemic which caused the postponement of several fixtures - would make it hard for his players to get motivated for the Murrayfield showdown
"The players are excited about Saturday," he stressed.
"They are excited about playing for Scotland. I would be disappointed if they didn't feel that way."
PA