Townsend stands by Russel and will not be driven to distraction

FAITH in Finn Russell must be rewarded. The full starting XV — plus replacements — will be required to dig into reserves as yet untapped during this tumultuous Six Nations.

And, regardless of cheap shots from the coaching boxes or a cacophony of distractions from Murrayfield’s marginally less expensive seats, Scotland’s best rugby players must do the hardest thing of all.

Maintain focus and equilibrium when their world is a blurry mess of moving targets and blind-side threats.

No one, least of all head coach Gregor Townsend, needs reminding of the challenge facing the home team in Edinburgh on Saturday evening.

England are good. Really, really good. If they occasionally show signs of being overly-aware of their brilliance, well, who could blame them?

Ranged against the visitors is a Scotland side still in development. With a stand-off who might still be in a state of shock.

Townsend expressed his complete and total belief in Russell yesterday, even claiming that Scotland might have bagged another couple of tries against France if the No 10 had not been hooked in the second half at Murrayfield.

Okay, so his explanation for why he actually took Russell (right) off and pushed scrum-half Greig Laidlaw into his role might not have been absolutely convincing. But what else can Townsend be expected to say?

This is no week for public admissions of frailty or vulnerability. Fronting up as he named an unchanged starting XV from the restorative victory over the French, the guv’nor was unlikely to so much as flinch.

That is in part because he understands, completely, how much this fixture still means.

‘I grew up watching these games in the late Eighties and early Nineties — and I saw all the passion that was involved in these fixtures,’ admitted Townsend.

‘I was lucky enough to play in a few and it’s certainly the fixture that brings more focus — and more edge. You understand how much it means to the public.

‘In 2000, we lost every game in that campaign but we won the final game (against England) — and it was such a huge boost to the country. The other four defeats seemed to be forgotten.

‘So we know what it means to our supporters — and what it means to our players. We can see that in how they’ve trained this week.

‘You have to have the belief that you can win. And you have got to be ready to go — not just for the kick-off but for the warm-up.

‘Ready to go means executing the skill you have but also ready to put in big tackles.

‘And, when you’re playing a team as good as this, you have got to be ready to go deeper than you’ve gone before.’

Russell was never going to be dropped, despite his woeful performance with the boot last time out; Townsend is clearly an adherent to the theory about the permanence of class versus the fleeting nature of form.

Stretching his argument to the limit, the head coach insisted: ‘Finn was very good in the second half.

‘I believe that, if Finn had stayed on the field, we would have won the game and potentially had a couple of more tries.

‘He was building into a really good game. He had a couple of breaks in the second half, putting other people into space.

‘He was a big part of how we were on the front foot against France in the second half.

‘And he has shown that in training over the past week, that physically he’s in good shape and he’s controlling our attack, been involved in the decision-making — so he seems to be in a very good place.’

Townsend wouldn’t commit to entrusting Russell with touchkicking duties, throwing up the possibility of Howitzer-booted Stuart Hogg stepping in to take over.

Insisting that his decision to remove Russell last time out was more about getting Ali Price on to the field while retaining the reliability of Laidlaw, he added: ‘What I mean by saying that Finn being on the field could have got us a couple of tries is that, to be honest, we could have got another couple in the last ten minutes. ‘We had a couple of opportunities five metres from the try line, when we settled for the penalty instead of going to that extra ruck and scoring a try.’ The issue of Scotland’s incisiveness, or lack thereof, is one of the subjects to have been raised by Eddie Jones of late. The larrikin in charge of England does love a bit of a wind-up, including tagging Scotland ‘a side-to-side team’ while scoffing at their status as ‘the darlings of European rugby’.

Townsend side-stepped most questions about Jones yesterday, although he did laugh when informed that the Aussie had been quite complimentary about the Scot as a coach.

‘Has he?’ asked the former stand-off, pausing for dramatic effect before adding: ‘Are you sure?’ Confining himself to what Jones has brought to England, Townsend said: ‘He’s a brilliant coach.

‘The last two years have shown that, what he has done with this England team, the consistency, the striving to get better.

‘What they do away from the game, how they are looking to learn to be better, how players are looking to take on bigger roles in decision-making. And he has had success previous to England as well. He has a great coaching team around him, too.

‘They are very efficient in all aspects. You can’t look at them and think that they haven’t covered one aspect. They have covered everything.

‘That is what you see when you play the best-coached teams.’

Answering the side-to-side charge specifically, Townsend said: ‘I don’t want to give away what our attacking structure or way of playing is; I’m sure they would have looked in depth over the last few games at how we play.

‘But you have to go forward in rugby. There are different ways of doing that.

‘If you go side to side, you won’t go forwards. I wouldn’t say that is something we like doing.

‘We certainly want to attack space. Whenever the defence gives you space, you have to take it.’