FABULOUS FINN A CLASS ACT
Russell greeted with a Murrayfield fanfare after stunning show leads Scots to victory
IT WAS a toss-up as to who got the biggest cheer at the final whistle. The Scotland team as a whole for beating Argentina or Finn Russell.
The fly-half was given a rapturous solo reception when he was presented with the man-of-thematch award trackside and deserved all the adulation that came his way.
The fans may love him but Gregor Townsend has taken a bit of convincing. In his eyes, he was only his fourth-choice ten which was why the head coach didn’t pick him for his original autumn Test squad.
The way he controlled things against Argentina must put an end to any concerns Townsend had over him. On this form, he isn’t just the best fly-half in Scotland — but also one of the best in world rugby.
Russell was involved in six of the eight Scotland tries — four with superb flip passes only he can make look easy.
He also kept his head when others were losing theirs when a mass brawl broke out that led to Scotland captain Jamie Ritchie and Argentine prop Thomas Gallo being yellowcarded. Russell was provoked and pushed around but just strolled away from the incident.
On any other day, Darcy Graham, who scored a hat-trick of tries, would have grabbed the headlines or even centre Sione Tuipulotu, who score two of his own and was immense in midfield. But even these two top performers couldn’t eclipse Russell’s performance.
Granted the outcome was never in doubt when Argentina had Marcos Kremer sent off after 22 minutes but Russell made sure his team never took the foot off the gas.
The Pumas didn’t help themselves with their indiscipline and had to play with just 12 men for ten second-half minutes when Matias Alemanno and Tomas Lavanini were sent off in quick succession. Even after playing most of the game with less men than Scotland they still managed to score four tries of their own and come to within two points of the home side in the second half.
Ironically, the only bad pass Russell (right) made was with his first touch which had to be rescued from Argentine hands by Graham. He never put a foot wrong after that.
Scotland took the game to the opposition straight away with Fraser Brown trying a short lineout that caught the Argentine defence sleeping. Unfortunately for the Scots, Ritchie failed to anticipate his hooker’s quick thinking and was left with his head in his hands at the missed opportunity.
Chances were being created but not taken with a split-second delay by Stuart Hogg meaning his ball to Duhan van der Merwe went over his head rather than into his hands. Scotland’s first score started with a superb flip pass from Russell after he took out two defenders before finding Tuipulotu.
Although the offload looked forward, referee Karl Dickson allowed play to continue. The centre still had a lot of work to do and had to use his power and pace to get onto the ball and then touch it down under pressure from two defenders. Russell put over the conversion. The visitors got their first try after the ball went loose on the ground and their forwards were onto it first. They played it out wide through full-back Juan Cruz Mallia to Jeronimo de la Fuente. The centre managed to keep ball in hand and get over the line despite a decent effort to stop him from Ali Price.
The game then changed after 22 minutes when the Pumas were rightly reduced to 14 men by referee Dickson. Flanker Kremer took out Ritchie with a swinging arm that caught him on the head. He knew what he was doing as his eyes were transfixed on the Scotland captain throughout and he deserved to go.
A minute later, Scotland scored their second try and once again it was set up by Russell. His break left Juan Martin Gonzalez in his wake before he played another flip pass onto Van der Merwe. The winger juggled the ball in his hands before touching down.
It was Russell again who started the move for the third try with a cross-kick to Van der Merwe who cut inside.
The ball was recycled back to Russell who found more space to take his team to under the Argentine posts.
Price was on hand to play the ball out wide and although Chris Harris was guilty of not making the most of a two-man overlap he did manage to get up and play in the final pass to Graham who broke through two defenders to score.
The Pumas grabbed their second try of the game when second-row Alemanno dived over from a forward drive just before half-time. Emiliano Boffelli kicked the extras.
Scotland made the perfect start to the second half after Russell went through a gap to get the move going. It was his flip pass to Hogg that found the full-back in space who played in Graham for the try.
The Pumas didn’t help themselves with try scorer Alemanno being yellow-carded for leading with his head into a tackle on Jonny Gray. He was joined by Lavanini in the sin-bin for an infringement at the breakdown within two minutes, which reduced the visitors to 12 men. Jack Dempsey, on his first start for Scotland, lost possession in the next move which allowed the
Argentines to break up the middle. With the Scots’ defence nowhere to be seen the ball found its way to Boffelli who went in to score under the posts. He then put over the extras. That took the visitors to just two points behind but a minute after the restart a Hogg pass put in Tuipulotu for his second try. Russell kicked the conversion. Argentina then drew Scotland into off-theball incidents and after a melee involving most of the players on both sides, Ritchie and Gallo were both yellow carded. Russell was involved again with a calm
grubber kick in behind the Argentine defence that replacement Cameron Redpath got on the end of to score his first try for Scotland. Russell added the conversion. He was involved again in Scotland’s seventh try, his pass putting Hogg under the posts. Again, he put over the conversion.
Graham got his hat-trick three minutes from time following a pass from Blair Kinghorn. Tuipulotu was yellow-carded a minute later for leading with his shoulder with the Argentinians scoring a try through replacement hooker Ignacio Ruiz. Nicolas Sanchez converted.
At the final whistle there was a fantastic reception for the Scotland team but an even bigger one for Russell who had a big smile on his face. The fans were also smiling after his stunning performance.