Georgia are being lined up to replace Japan as one of Scotland's opponents in an eight-team tournament this autumn.

Scotland had originally pencilled in a warm-up match against the Georgians at Murrayfield on 24 October.

SRU will seek another opponent for that date, with the Georgia match making up part of the eight nations tournament.

• Eight-team tournament to be held

England, Wales, Ireland and Fiji will be in the other section, with the tournament scheduled to be staged on four consecutive weekends from 14 November to 5 December.

Each team face their equivalent in the other pool on the final weekend, with the venue for those games to be decided.

Scotland had agreed to face Japan in an autumn international before the coronavirus outbreak, but that Test match was to be folded into the new competition.

However, Japan's coaching staff have not been able to enter the country because of Covid-19 restrictions, hampering the side's preparations.

"I know Japan have had some concerns about travel and restrictions and that's part of the challenge we are all facing globally," RFU chief Bill Sweeney told BBC Sport.

"We would still love it if they were able to come, but we have got fall-back options should that not be the case. Ideally we would keep it at eight [teams]."

Scottish Rugby are also still awaiting word from their Welsh counterparts regarding a venue for their outstanding 2020 Six Nations match on 31 October.

Cardiff has seemingly been ruled out due to the unavailability of the Principality Stadium, with Twickenham mentioned as an alternative.

BBC