GLASGOW Warriors centre Mark Bennett should find out early next week if he will be fit for the start of the Six Nations Championship. The 22-year-old will miss tomorrow’s crunch Champions Cup match against Northampton because of the shoulder injury he picked up against Racing 92, and is due to see a specialist on Monday to find out how long he needs to stay on the sidelines.

Warriors head coach Gregor Townsend thinks next week’s last Pool 3 game against Racing 92 at Rugby Park will be too early for Bennett to make his return, but is optimistic about his chances of making it for the Calcutta Cup match on 6 February. “Mark had a number of injuries after the weekend,” Townsend said. “The shoulder obviously was the worst one.

“It didn’t look good at the beginning of the week, but it’s looking better now, so he’s got an appointment on Monday with the consultant that he had a shoulder operation [with] before. We’re crossing everything that he doesn’t need an operation, but we’ll find out after Monday.”

Asked if Bennett might be cleared to play next week, Townsend added: “No, I wouldn’t have thought that.

“Yeah,” he continued when asked if he hoped Bennett would be all right for international duty. “And talking long term whether he needs an operation or not, so let’s hope - because he’s improving and he’s getting more movement - that he’ll get the all-clear next week.”

While Bennett has been added to the Warriors’ injury list, Alex Dunbar has come off it, and will play at centre alongside Sam Johnson, who is making his first start. Peter Horne and Richie Vernon are still unavailable, but at least Bennett’s return means Finn Russell can go back from centre to his normal position of fly-half.

Ali Price continues at scrum-half, and Grayson Hart is on the bench after missing out last week because of injury. Winger Lee Jones was ready to move into the No 9 slot in Paris if Price had been injured.

Jones is on the right wing, with Sean Lamont, who celebrated his 35th birthday yesterday, on the left. Taqele Naiyaravoro drops to the bench.

The only change in the pack sees Sila Puafisi comes in at tighthead prop for Zander Fagerson. Tim Swinson and Simone Favaro have recovered from injury and are among the forwards replacements.

The Warriors need to win, ideally with a bonus point, to keep their hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals alive. The five pool winners goes through automatically, and are joined in the draw for the last eight by the three runners-up with most points.

Racing, who play Scarlets tomorrow, are top of the pool with 17 points. Northampton are on ten, a point ahead of Glasgow, while Scarlets are out of the running on two. The Warriors are at home to Racing in next week’s final round of pool games. That match has been switched to Rugby Park because the Scotstoun pitch is unplayable after heavy rain.

Glasgow Warriors (v Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens, tomorrow, 5.30pm): S Hogg; L Jones, A Dunbar, S Johnson, S Lamont; F Russell, A Price; G Reid, P MacArthur, S Puafisi, L Nakarawa, J Gray, R Wilson, C Fusaro, A Ashe. Substitutes: S Mamukashvili, A Allan, Z Fagerson, T Swinson, S Favaro, G Hart, D Weir, T Naiyaravoro.