Head coach hails ‘better all-rounders’ in his squad

Gregor Townsend has confessed Scotland’s current stand-offs have a better all-around game than he ever did in his playing days.

The Scotland head coach sees similarities in present-day star Finn Russell when comparing the mercurial Racing 92 fly-half to his own time as playmaker.

Russell has earned a reputation for the extraordinary and, when making his breakthrough, mixing moments of the sublime and the ridiculous – something Townsend managed during a career that earned him 82 caps for Scotland and a test series triumph in South Africa with the British and Irish Lions.

The 47-year-old admits Russell – and his competitor for the No 10 jersey, Adam Hastings – can boast of “more balance” to their game than he ever had.

Asked to compare himself with Russell, Townsend said: “We’ve got similar traits, that’s for sure.

“Finn’s a much better passer, a much better kicker.

“We have similar running games in that we look to offload out the tackle.

“I think we both have the same mindset of the challenge of taking on a defence.

“At times, that used to put me in trouble. If there were two defenders up against me, I would be thinking ‘right, how can I still take on these two defenders’.

“Whereas, when I got through my career, I realised there were other ways of manipulating a defence and my kicking game became something that I did more and more.”

He added to the Crabbie’s Changing Room Chat: “With 10s nowadays, with Finn and Adam and others, they’ve got that awareness of the kicking game, in terms of how it can get you better ball, how you can manipulate a defence further out.

“So, they’ve definitely got more balance and variety in their game than I did back then.”