Richie Gray is reported to have joined up with the rest of the Scotland squad already in Japan ahead of the planned tour. He is even set to feature in the opening on Saturday.

The 26-year old is expected in the training session to be held on Tuesday, with the final team announced on Thursday.

Gray who is one of only three specialist locks in Scotland’s 27-man squad, along with brother Jonny and Tim Swinson. The American football star player would have to be declared fit by the team’s coach. The assistant coach, Matt Taylor said:

“We will wait to see what mental and physical shape he is in. He has been very good for us lately, so how he turns up will determine whether he comes in to consideration.

“Today’s training is not a full-on session in terms of a lot of the contact, it’s more about organisation. We have a hard session on Tuesday, when the bulk of the work will be done, and we hope he [Gray] will be involved in that.”

Scotland is set to travel to Nagoya on Wednesday 15th June with the first test billed for Saturday, 18th. The team would then travel to Tokyo the nest day with another test on Saturday the 25th. Their opponents, Japan has already warmed up for the tests with their 26-22 victory over Canada in Vancouver at the weekend.

Taylor said the Japanese team is quick to contact and that they try to play a high-tempo game, so their team would have to go out to put up the best performance as the Japs want to put a marker down. Gray played his last match for Castres on Sunday and is set for his move to Toulose next season.