Scotland's Adam Hastings set to miss Six Nations with shoulder injury
Hastings, who has 27 caps, damaged his shoulder in their 28-13 Premiership defeat to Leicester Tigers on December 24th, his first outing since he sustained an injury while playing for Scotland against Fiji in November.
Gloucester said on Thursday that Hastings would undergo surgery, while head coach George Skivington said this week that he would "not be back any time soon".
Townsend already has concerns over the availability of other key players including Darcy Graham, Zander Fagerson, Hamish Watson and Rory Darge.
Scotland begin their Six Nations campaign against England at Twickenham on February 4th. Townsend's side finished fourth in 2022, with wins over England and Italy.