INFLUENTIAL Wales Luke Charteris is touch and go for Wales’ Six Nations clash with Scotland at Murrayfield a week on Saturday.

The former Newport Gwent Dragons captain has missed the first two rounds of the Championship after reporting for duty with a fracture in his hand and then suffering from a minor hamstring twinge.

Jake Ball has grasped his opportunity with a pair of strong performances against Italy and England alongside captain Alun Wyn Jones in the second row with the duo backed up by the Dragons’ Cory Hill.

Charteris will not feature for Bath in their Aviva Premiership fixture against Harlequins this weekend and faces a fitness race to be in contention for the Test against Scotland.

“He is back up and running,” said forwards coach Robin McBryde. “He did a bit of passing today, albeit he has still got a bit of protection on his hand.

“Everything is going in the right direction and it’s just step by step with Luke. With regards to how that load increases.

“If you ask Luke he’d be fit to play (in Scotland) but I’m not sure about the medics yet.”

Wales have a back row quandary after number eight Taulupe Faletau made his return from a knee injury as a replacement in the 21-16 loss to England in Cardiff.

Ross Moriarty has impressed as his deputy with Sam Warburton playing blindside and Justin Tipuric at openside.

“You’ve got to look at what the opposition are doing and the balance is going to be key,” said McBryde.

“From our side of things there is the type of game we want to employ and there are the threats that the opposition possess. A lot is in the mix.

“Shaun (Edwards) will have an input from a defensive point of view, Alex (King) and Rob (Howley) will have an attacking point of view… they tend to ignore what I say from a set piece point of view!

“We are blessed with all those names in the hat as well as James King, they all offer quite a bit. It’s a very keenly contested area and no doubt we’ll get it wrong! It’s a nice headache to have.”

The traditional back row dilemma in recent years is how Tipuric could break up the triumvirate of Dan Lydiate, Warburton and Faletau.

The chop-tackling blindside is out for the season with knee injury suffered in the autumn win against South Africa but Moriarty is ensuring the debate about who misses out continues.

The Gloucester back rower was arguably the best player on the pitch until he was controversially substituted with half and hour left.

“Ross has come on leaps and bounds,” said McBryde. “There was evidence last Saturday about how effective he can be both with and without the ball.

“His game in the tight has improved, we saw glimpses of that last summer against New Zealand when we used him time and time again at the lineout.

“His ball carrying is obviously a big plus but on Saturday he offered an all-round game. He put some telling tackles in as well.

“Ross is playing in a little bit of an unfamiliar position at 8, he doesn’t play it week in, week out, but did well with his delivery for the (Liam Williams) try because Ben Youngs was at his heels at the base of the scrum.

“It’s those micro-skills that an 8 does that are the work-ons but he is going to go on to bigger and bigger things.”