THE FINN FACTOR RETURNS

Russell is the element of surprise to unsettle Aussies

THE talk beforehand has, unsurprisingly, been dominated by the familiar nature of tomorrow’s contest. Dave Rennie returns to these shores with some old, well-kent faces in tow. He knows Scotland and Scotland knows him.

So what, then, will provide the element of surprise? Or rather, who?

As Gregor Townsend made the predicted changes to his matchday 23 for the BT Murrayfield match-up with Australia — the youngsters who tormented Tonga put back in the box for now — one name on the team sheet ensured that, whatever happens tomorrow, we won’t all have seen it coming.

Step forward Finn Russell. Talismanic. Mercurial. Unpredictable. Add your own adjective.

But what Russell brings to Scotland is vital when it comes to playing against the best sides in the world. For recent evidence, look no further than that final Lions Test against South Africa in the summer. Russell’s belated introduction to the series left everyone thinking what might have been had he been fit enough to start the campaign.

When faced with one of the game’s toughest defences in the Springboks, he was the man capable of making something happen.

Russell missed the Tonga game because it fell outside the international window and he has been struggling with an injury. But now the fly-half is back and Townsend is delighted to have him.

‘Finn didn’t train with us last week before the Tonga game,’ said Townsend. ‘He was here, but he was managing a groin issue. He probably could have trained on the last day before he returned to Paris but it wasn’t worth the risk as he had a big game for Racing on the same weekend we played Tonga. ‘I was watching the game against Toulouse on Sunday night and hoping that he didn’t come on, and then when he came on with about ten to 15 minutes to go I thought it would be just our luck if he got injured, but he didn’t. ‘Finn returned to us and trained fully this week and he has been a bit fresher than he might have been had he had a big week’s training and played against Toulouse from the start.

‘Out of all our players, he’s probably played the most games. He was back playing at Racing right at the beginning of the season after not much of a break following the Lions tour, so I think it’s been good for him not starting for Racing.

‘It’s certainly been good for us him not playing that much. He’s trained really well this week and is full of energy and leading our attack.

‘And I’m sure like all our players he really wants to play at Murrayfield with 67,000 supporters there.’

Only eight Scotland players — centre Sam Johnson, scrum-half Ali Price, props Pierre Schoeman and Zander Fagerson, hooker George Turner, No 8 Matt Fagerson as well as flankers Jamie Ritchie and Hamish Watson — remain in their same starting positions from the Tonga game. Darcy Graham, who started at full-back, moves to the wing to allow captain Stuart Hogg to return at fifteen.

Also returning are second row Sam Skinner and Grant Gilchrist, fly-half Russell, centre Chris Harris and winger Duhan van der Merwe.

Apart from Schoeman coming in for the injured Rory Sutherland, it’s the same Scotland team that was originally picked for their final game in the 2021 Six Nations campaign when they beat France in Paris.

‘It’s our first game with this team for seven or eight months compared to the Australians who have been playing a lot,’ said Townsend (left). ‘But, remember, we have been playing games at club level so players will be getting battlehardened, some more than others.

‘The learning the Australians have been exposed to is fantastic.

They’ve played the All Blacks seven or eight times in a two-year period and the world champions south Africa twice. They’ve been to Japan and Argentina, teams with different styles. You will improve with that exposure.

‘We just have to build that cohesion straight away. We’ve had two weeks’ training and just one game but the players have bonded well, are training with energy, and communication has been high, so those are usually positive signs that we’ll get off to a fast start on sunday.’

The first night his squad arrived in camp, Townsend pinned a picture of the Wallabies coaching trio of Rennie, Matt Taylor and Petrus du Plessis on the team room wall before asking his players to tell him all they knew about the opposition coaching trio. Rennie spent nearly three years in charge of Glasgow Warriors, Taylor had five years as Townsend’s assistant at Glasgow and two years as his No 2 with scotland, while Du Plessis was a playercoach under Rennie at Glasgow. The vast majority of the starting scotland squad has played under at least one of the three. Townsend said: ‘On our first night we got together, we had a photo of Matt, Dave and Petrus and we said: “Right, tell us something about the traits of Dave’s, Matt’s and Petrus’s coaching that you guys have experienced”. ‘We didn’t do too much on Petrus

RENNIE’S WARY BUT HE’LL STILL GO ON THE ATTACK

as we left most of that up to the scrum meeting later. But it was good for our players to discuss the key principles of what Dave wants, what Matt wants and, at that meeting, but mostly at the scrum meeting, what Petrus wants.

‘some of the things mentioned were their key strengths and threats to us and we might be able to turn them into opportunities. In saying that, they know our players as well as we know them, in fact they probably know us better.

‘Also, our defence coach steve Tandy coached a few of the Australia players with the Waratahs. I think it just adds to the back story of the game.

‘We’ve got a lot of respect for Australia as a team and their coaches and we’ve got a lot of friendships there, too. Whatever happens in the end I’m hoping we can have a beer in the changing room together afterwards.’