Mercurial Russell sets flair aside as he helps Glasgow grind out a derby win
SOMeTIMeS the result is all that matters. Occasionally flair and style have to make way for a more pragmatic approach. Witness Glasgow in their win over edinburgh on Saturday. A lastgasp defeat at Murrayfield a week before to a team that played much of the game with 14 men meant that a similar outcome would not be accepted this time.
So, despite the return of the talismanic Finn Russell as the conductor of the Glasgow orchestra, his playlist was more sombre and downbeat.
‘It was never about being flash,’ Glasgow head coach Dave Rennie admitted. ‘Sometimes you just have to come out with a result.’ Not pretty then but effective. Russell managed to curtail his attack-minded ways in favour of a disciplined rather than showy performance in a man-of-thematch display.
There were no risky off-loads or clever cross kicks. Instead, he played a much more conservative game with plenty of short passes, a couple of kicks to the corner and plenty of encouragement for his forwards.
He ended up winning the game for his team with four successful penalties. lee Jones’ last-minute try, which was followed by yellow cards for Fraser McKenzie and Chris Fusaro for their part in a brawl, came when the game was already in the bag.
‘Today was about grinding it out,’ said Russell. ‘It was 3-0 at half-time and, as Dave said to us, if we can have them chasing the game 6-0, 9-0, 12-0, as we did, then they have to force a few things.
‘Our forwards were good and we managed to build positions because of that. The driving maul went well, the scrum was good and our pick and goes too.
‘We kept it tight when needed and managed to grind it out and do what we had to do. Also keeping edinburgh to nil was pretty impressive, defensively, from the boys.’
It wasn’t a game for the purists but it was one in which Russell claimed back the No 10 jersey from Peter Horne, who had taken possession for the previous two games. In his final season before his move to Racing 92, Russell clearly still has a lot to give.
‘Pete had a game against Montpellier and he played really well, so he got a game last week against edinburgh and I was lucky to get a game this week,’ said the Scotland international.
‘It is the sport we are in. It does not matter what position you play in. A guy will come in and if he does well, he deserves the spot the following week.
‘I didn’t go out there thinking I had a point to prove as sometimes that means you overplay it and try and force things. I just went out there and tried to play my best.’
As one of Glasgow’s more experienced players, Russell made his voice heard at the longer than usual half-time break after the game was held up for 20 minutes following a stadium evacuation. The fire brigade had to be called after someone smoking triggered the fire alarm in the north stand two minutes before the break.
both teams agreed to end the half at 38 minutes and not try to make up the two minutes in the second period.
‘There was even chat depending how long the break was we may
not go back on,’ said Russell. ‘There were a few things going through my head at that point, the biggest being that, mentally, we had to be switched on from the start in the second half.
‘That was the most important thing. I made the point at half-time and we started with a penalty a few minutes after the break that I put over, which was the perfect way to start again.’
For all the possession Edinburgh had, they were not clinical enough near the try-line. They resembled a crab going across from one side of the pitch to the other time and time again rather than forward.
Their best player may have been hooker Stuart McInally, who is looking in great form ahead of the Six Nations but overall they lost the forward battle.
Edinburgh were penalised far too much at the breakdown with their openside flanker Hamish Watson believing they were harshly treated by the referee. ‘When we watch it again, it might be different but at the time we felt some of the decisions were a bit harsh,’ said Watson. ‘As a game, we were in it till the end and it was really disappointing to lose a last-minute try as it made the scoreline suggest they won easier than they actually did. ‘When we were 12-0 down near the end, we were chasing the game to try and get a losing bonus point but it didn’t happen and they got that late score. ‘Our defence as a whole was pretty good. We maybe attacked the better of the two teams but did not finish them off and gave away too much ball after the line breaks and because of that we did not win. ‘Still, for large parts of the game we were really threatening Glasgow, which not many teams have come here and done. Normally it is a bit of a try fest here for them but it wasn’t today.’ Keeping Glasgow close was at least one positive for Edinburgh to take. As coach Richard Cockerill admitted: ‘They are a hard side to play against but we fired some shots at them and put them under a lot of pressure. ‘It’s not very often Glasgow will be kicking for goal at 9-0 because they are worried about the result.’