Comeback was a lift after long lay-off drove Russell mad
CONCUSSED. Smashed cheekbone. Laid up in hospital for the better part of a week. Out of action for 12 weeks. Yet for Finn Russell, the Scotland and Glasgow Warriors fly half, the biggest irritation of his summer injury has been that he is not allowed to drive.
Which is why, as he was heading for Scotstoun to embark on the Scotland team’s promotional tour of Ayrshire clubs and schools ahead of their November Tests – including the one against Georgia in Kilmarnock on November 26 – he found himself stranded when he could not find a taxi.
“It is because of my head, they took my licence off me for six months and I have another month left,” he explained after being rescued by a Glasgow Warriors staff member. “That has been the worst thing, not being able to drive. It is just a hassle. You have to wait to get a taxi in and out or go by subway and taxi, it is just hassle. I am glad it is only a month left.
“Fortunately it is the Scotland camp next week, so I will be able to get lifts back and forth with the other boys.”
All of which is a remarkably laid back approach when you recall the sight of him unconscious on the pitch at Connacht in the Guinness PRO12 semi final in May, being carted off to hospital where x-rays revealed the full extent of the damage to his eye socket.
In fact, far from persuading him to avoid trouble, Russell admits that his first reaction was almost to go hunting it out: “The first [Glasgow] game against Ulster I was almost testing it,” he admitted. “I was going into things that I normally wouldn’t go into, almost trying to get a hit to see what it was like.
“I have had a couple of knocks. Ever since my first game, playing for Ayr, I have had knocks on it and it has been fine. That has been good for my confidence. I am fine. I have no issue with it at all. I even banged my face again at the weekend and it is still fine. It is all holding together well,” he added, pointing to the bruise under his left eye as evidence.
Not even being upended and having to save himself from being dumped on his head in the opening European Champions Cup match against Leicester seems to have fazed Russell. He shrugged: “These things happen. It is part of the game I guess, I don’t think he meant it, it was just one of these things,” he said.
As one of the players involved a year ago when Scotland were so controversially knocked out of the World Cup by Australia courtesy of a refereeing mistake, most of the focus is on the first of next month’s Tests when they at last get their rematch with the Wallabies.
“When we saw we were going to play them again after the World Cup, everybody started to look forward to it straight away,” he said.
“It will be a completely different game, a different situation, a different event, but the boys will still be hurting from the World Cup.
“They have just come off the back of the Rugby Championship so they will be flying and we will have to be at our best. We will need quite a lot of craft to beat them.”
Russell is just about assured of a place in the run-on XV for that game as the only out-and-out specialist fly half in the squad – Peter Horne, who plays more at centre and has also been out of action with a broken hand, is the cover – but Russell feels the squad is starting to come together as a group.
“The last two-and-a-half years or so that I have been in the squad it has been pretty consistent, mainly the same guys. It has been good because you get that continuity. As a stand-off, it helps a lot because you know what the other players like,” he added.
“Everybody understands the game plan well and we all know what the others want. It has been good the last couple of years because it has been a similar squad.” IF you were brought up as a sports fan in the west of Scotland, then there is a good chance Kenny Dalglish would have been one of your sporting heroes. For Pat MacArthur, the Glasgow Warriors hooker, the chance to meet one of Scotland’s all-time football greats was a special moment.
“It was massively interesting to have him here,” MacArthur said. “We have had people in from all walks of life and it is fascinating to hear how other professionals work, especially folk who have been as successful as Kenny.
“I grew up on the west coast of Scotland, so hearing from guys like Kenny Dalglish is great. We have had messages from Sir Alex Ferguson too – to hear from these guys is amazing.”
Gregor Townsend, the Glasgow Warriors head coach who is soon to transfer to take charge of Scotland, is keen on tapping into the mindset of people who have succeeded in other sports. Dalglish was the latest to accept an invitation to talk to the players. “We can question them about how they deal with certain situations and what it is like on certain occasions. We can learn from that. He was great fun. We had a good couple of giggles,” MacArthur added. “He told us about how he felt the success came during his career. He talked about the players he had coached and what he thought made them good. He worked with some of the best players in the world and he was one of the best players in the world.
“He talked about how the best players were humble. The best ones he worked with were not the big-headed ones. They were great players, yes, but they worked very hard. All the best players in the world are great team-mates and we all try to work towards that and be that.”