Craig Chalmers backs Glasgow’s play-maker to not only step up for Scotland but also nail a Lions place. Kevin Ferrie reports
INTERVIEW
HE never ducked a challenge on the pitch and as our regular columnist for many years Craig Chalmers has continued in that vein in print. So when he expresses admiration for Finn Russell, it carries considerable weight. “He should be on the Lions tour this summer,” the former Scotland stand-off said. “I think they’ll take [Owen] Farrell and [Jonny] Sexton but Finn is better than [George] Ford and [Dan] Biggar.”
Considering the successes the current England and Wales standoffs have enjoyed at international level, some will see that as premature, partly because there is a tendency to think of the 24-year-old Glasgow Warrior as a young player. However, Russell is the same age as Chalmers was in 1993 when, as a wellestablished international play-maker, he was considered a certainty to make that summer’s British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand until, typically putting himself in harm’s way, he suffered a double fracture of his forearm during Scotland’s defeat at Twickenham.
That was four years after Chalmers had already toured with the Lions, so few are better placed to understand what Russell will be dealing with right now.
“At the start of 1989 I wasn’t thinking about the Lions; in fact I don’t think I was even aware they were touring that summer, all I was thinking about was getting my chance with Scotland,” said the man who debuted for both international teams as a 20-year-old that year.
“However, by 1993 it was very different and while players will say otherwise, it will be on their minds, even any newcomers, because there is so much more attention paid to it.
“It is the biggest thing you can get in your career and Finn has a great chance. At this stage, he’s already done so well that he should be going and if he plays well in even just two or three games at the Six Nations, that should be more than enough.”
As much as forwards love the hoary old notion that they win games and backs decide by how much, Chalmers knows better than most that it is the half-backs, most particularly the stand-offs, who decide the way a team set about their business and he likes what he sees from Russell.
“Apart from the Munster game, which was a bit of a surprise, Finn’s really stepped up,” he said. “Even then what is important is that he hasn’t let it affect him, as he showed against Leicester, and it was really just a bit of game management that let him down. He’ll make some mistakes because of the way he plays, but I’m excited about watching him in the Six Nations.”
That is partly because of who is around him because that aforementioned cliche born of pack mentality is relevant in as much as Russell can only dictate the play if he has his share of possession, but also if he has the right players around him.
Chalmers had Gary Armstrong, like current Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw a strong-willed half-back partner, while in the year he made it to the Lions tour there were Sean Lineen and Scott Hastings outside him. “Luckily that meant Scott’s brother Gavin didn’t have to make too many one-on-one tackles,” Chalmers joked.
He is particularly impressed with the array of options in midfield and while he acknowledges that South African-based Huw Jones, who had such a fine autumn series, may be short of match practice and Duncan Taylor is unlikely to be fit for the opening weekend, he sees options in Matt Scott and Mark Bennett, while Alex Dunbar’s consistent progress of recent years has continued.
“Dunbar [pictured] has the potential to be a younger version of Jamie Roberts but with better skills,” was his compliment to the Glasgow centre when comparing him with Wales’ two-time Lion.
WHICH takes us nicely to the RBS Six Nations Championship itself, one which is generating considerable excitement quite apart from this being a Lions year.
The mood within the European game has been transformed within the past year, with pretty much everyone having given themselves reason to be heading into this Championship with some confidence.
England are on a 14-match undefeated run and Ireland h a v e beaten the All Blacks for the first time, throwing in a defeat of the Wallabies to boot. Scotland’s pro teams have followed up three fine performances by the national side in the autumn with a joint European breakthrough. France thrashed Samoa and were within a score of beating both the Wallabies and the All Blacks, and even Italy gave themselves a huge boost with their first victory over one of the Southern Hemisphere big three when they beat South Africa in November.
Everyone is in fine fettle then, except for Wales who, in the absence of head coach Warren Gatland, taking another sabbatical to coach the Lions, are considered to be in a bit of trouble in spite of having won three of their four autumn Tests.
“Rob Howley [Wales’ caretaker coach] is a couple of years younger than me, but he looks about 10 years older,” Chalmers said drily. “However I don’t think they will struggle as badlyaspeoplethink. WarrenGatland hasn’t lost Rob’s phone number and they did all right the last time they were in this situation, so I wouldn’t write them off. They will win some games, but the Wales game is one Scotland should be targeting.
“Wales are trying to change their style of play, so for me that means dropping Jamie Roberts and playing Scotty Williams and Jonathan Davies. If you’ve got Roberts in there they are too predictable. He has his strengths but he can’t pass the ball. I’d rather deal with him than Williams.”
So says one of relatively few standoffs of his era who relished the head on collision, something that is expected of their modern-day successors and, incidentally, another reason Chalmers likes Russell. While he is not the most physically imposing of players, he does not lack bravery. Looking at the other teams, Chalmers reckons the French are doing the right thing in introducing a five-year residency qualification to try to re-establish their identity but thinks it will take time for them to reap the benefits and for now they remain vulnerable. And while he believes another of his playing contemporaries, Conor O’Shea, will do a good job in charge of Italy in the longer term, Chalmers advises them not to get overly excited about their result against a team who were almost unrecognisable as Springboks in the aut u m n. If I was them I would be looking a bit more closely at the defeat to Tonga the following
week,” he said.
The Lions will be on their minds, even any newcomers, because there is so much more attention paid to it. It is the biggest thing you can get in your career
AND so to the teams seen as likely to contend for the title. While Chalmers is respectful of England’s recent record and depth of talent, he believes that having a number of senior players injured, allied to an element of second-season syndrome in the Championship for head coach Eddie Jones, may prevent them from winning a second successive Grand Slam. “But it wouldn’t surprise me if they keep this winning run going right to the last game,” he said.
Their last game is, however, against the team he sees as tournament favourites, an assessment which only makes the first weekend all the more interesting from a Scottish perspective when Ireland visit Murrayfield.