Russell return ‘difficult’

● Townsend coy over renegade stand-off and insists players must train to be picked

“We’ll see” was Gregor Townsend’s reply to being asked whether Finn Russell could return to the camp ahead of Saturday’s Calcutta Cup clash at BT Murrayfield, but the Scotland coach hinted it would be “difficult” for him to make a comeback.

The Racing 92 playmaker was excluded from Saturday’s 19-12 Six Nations defeat by Ireland after a disciplinary breach two weeks ago when he left the team hotel after a drinking session and missed training the next day.

Townsend focused on his current players after what was another frustrating away loss. He said: “It is not something I have thought about since the end of the game.

“We had two weeks training and cohesion was very important in our selection this week. Players who missed two or three days training did not get selected. I believe cohesion helped how we played today.

“When you have five or six training sessions before you play Ireland away, you have to make sure your players are in those. [Edinburgh loosehead] Rory Sutherland, the Glasgow midfield [Sam Johnson and Huw Jones], those who have been able to train, helped our preparation. For anybody who has missed the last two weeks it will be difficult to get into a squad.”

Adam Hastings, right, the 23-year-old Glasgow stand-off took the No 10 jersey at the Aviva Stadium and performed impressively.

Saturday’s match turned on an error by new captain Stuart Hogg early in the second half, when he dropped the ball over the line rather than touching down for a try which could have levelled the score at 13-13. Townsend added: “He played very well.

We don’t judge players on one mistake in the game – there’s hundreds of mistakes in any game – and we did get three points from that [a subsequent Hastings penalty].

“We had other opportunities to score five and seven points and he’ll be fine and will bounce back. I think he’s a real driving force as captain of this side.

“He has led the team well the last two weeks. He was ill on Thursday and missed training and was in his bed. We had two players ill this morning [including Simon Berghan who dropped off the bench and was replaced by WP Nel]. A couple of players were injured.

“The adversity the team has gone through and how Stuart has led the team with so many challenges in front of him gives me great encouragement how great a captain he can be over the next few years.”

On Hastings, who revealed he avoided Twitter in the leadup to the match to avoid any distractions and had received a good-luck text message from Russell on Friday, Townsend said: “He was excellent. We could have done with more possession in his hands.

“His passing was excellent and he defended well.

“He got penalised for two high tackles and I will have to have a look at them. He was putting his body into tackles and he was a running threat.”

SIXNATIONS, PULL-OUT