SOMEFINN SPECIAL
Townsend: Russell can steer us to the title
THE days have gone for Scotland when a victory over England – even if they lost every other match – represented a successful Six Nations.
Gregor Townsend’s side have desires on the Calcutta Cup of course but, having broken their Twickenham hoodoo 12 months ago, they now have their sights set on a bigger prize.
Scotland have never won the Six Nations since its expansion in 2000.
Three wins out of five in a campaign represents their high-water mark.
But with a settled squad containing eight summer Lions and a visionary in Finn Russell at stand-off, Scotland have genuine belief that they can smash the glass ceiling this season and put a new name on the trophy.
“Can we compete for the trophy? That’s why we are here,” said Townsend.
“We believe in this group. We go into this tournament wanting to be there right in the last week. We know how hard it is going to be.
“It’s going to require maximum effort, maximum focus throughout this campaign but we have had the experiences to put ourselves in positions like that before and now we have got the players available to us to really challenge all of the teams we are going to face this year.”
The skewed nature of a six-team roundrobin means
Scotland will face three games on the road this season but that is counteracted by the fact that
England and
France must come to Murrayfield.
England won narrowly in a tempest on their last visit two years ago but the last time a game of rugby broke out in 2018, after trouble in the tunnel prematch, it was Russell’s floated wonder pass in his own 22 which set Sean Maitland up for a stunning try and put Scotland on their way to a 25-13 triumph. This time around Russell’s contest within a contest with Marcus Smith will be like a private meeting of the magic circle.
“We’re really delighted that Finn is with us but I’m sure that England are delighted that Marcus has come through, challenged for the No.10 jersey and played so well in November,” said Townsend. “They are different styles to the 10s of 15 years ago but they have a lot of shared vision and skill in the way they play the game, whether it is a passing, running game or a shorter kicking game.
“It could be a new way of playing that we see more and more 10s adopting, more of an attacking game than just a facilitating game.” It is an enticing prospect, just like the game itself – a firecracker start to the championship.
But for captain Stuart Hogg, who will win his 89th cap for Scotland on Saturday at Murrayfield, the Calcutta Cup is the start point but not the end game.
“We really want to kickstart our campaign in the best possible way and that is by defeating England in Edinburgh,” said Hogg.
“It is the perfect opportunity to show what we are capable of with the ball and without the ball.
“We feel we are making good strides forward in where we want to be. We will continue to work hard and learn along the way.
“We’ll get excited for each and every challenge that is coming our way over these next few weeks.”