Finn’s now first pick at fly-half, says Townsend
By Rob Robertson
SCOTLAND head coach Gregor Townsend has performed a major U-turn by admitting Finn Russell will go into the Six Nations as his first-choice fly-half.
Townsend controversially left Russell out of his original Autumn Test Series squad, labelled him his fourth-choice ten, questioned his form, and only brought him back into the fold when Adam Hastings picked up an injury.
‘Finn is now the man in possession,’ said Townsend, who heaped praise on Russell after his man-of-the-match performance in the 52-29 win over Argentina.
‘It will take something from Blair Kinghorn and Adam Hastings to change that because Finn has played well these last two weeks against New Zealand and now Argentina.’
Russell set up six — three of them scored by winger Darcy Graham — of Scotland’s eight tries. He also kicked six conversions and controlled the game from first whistle to last.
‘Finn has really played well the last two weeks and he has come back into the squad determined,’ said Townsend. ‘He found solutions to what the Argentine defence were doing as they were leaving a gap that he exploited a few
times. I thought his decisionmaking was very good. We’ve been really pleased to have Finn in this form. It’s great that he’s playing some of his best rugby now.
‘Also there were parts of his game that don’t get talked about a huge amount where he excelled. I said to him in the changing room he had three tackles in a row in the first half and showed his competitiveness there.
‘He worked out well that the defence was rushing up on his outside and he took the space that left for him. He had a very good carrying game and a fending offload that created line breaks. His little kick through in the second half to set up a try was the right thing to do and he also created a try for Cam Redpath, too.
‘His passing skills are up there with the best in the world. Maybe we expect that, those great passes from Finn, but these led to some great opportunities like one for Stuart Hogg. He also hit Blair with a pass, too, and Blair set up a try in the corner for Darcy. It was a very good display.’
Townsend said his decision to take the captaincy off Stuart Hogg and give it to Jamie Ritchie (below) had worked well and would continue into the Six Nations.
‘Jamie has done a brilliant job,’ he said. ‘He has been confident and calm and allowed others to lead. Stuart Hogg has been one of the leaders, too, and been full of energy and has been one of our best players. When you look at our back three, there are multiple threats there. Duhan van der Merwe is a strong runner, who also had a couple of good moments in defence. Darcy is difficult to play against and scores lots of tries and Stuart is creative. We have a good mix and they all got on the ball a lot.’
Townsend said his team, who have had wins over Fiji and Argentina but losses to New Zealand and Australia over the past four weeks, showed they were ‘now a match for anyone’ and would go into the Six Nations — where they play England at Twickenham in their opening fixture — with confidence.
‘We’re a match for anyone and I think we’ve shown that but we know world rugby is so competitive,’ he said. ‘The week after we lost to Australia by a point, they lose to France in Paris by a point and they were leading for most of the game.
‘England lost to Argentina,
Argentina lost to Wales the following week and then Wales lost to Georgia. So it is a moment for a team to come through. And for us, there is no better time to do that than next year with the Six Nations and a World Cup.’ Townsend admitted his side still have a lot to learn, especially the need to keep their concentration until the final whistle.
‘We are constantly learning and building, getting our best players on the ball as much as possible, going through long sessions of defence but we also have to learn from the things that haven’t gone as well for us,’ he said. ‘One we talked about was the need to be in games right until the end. Now today against Argentina was slightly different in that we were well ahead but that is something we will have to work on. We can never think a game is won or lost because other teams are so competitive and will come back at us.’
Townsend paid tribute to the role played by the fans in inspiring his team over the four-match Autumn Test series with near sell-out crowds of 64,000 turning up to them all.
‘I’m sure there’ll be some competitive fixtures in the Six Nations and we’ve got three home games coming up and the way the crowd has been supporting the team in the last four weeks has been fantastic,’ said the Scotland head coach. ‘I can’t remember any time like this in Scottish rugby when 60,000 people are coming along, turning up two hours early, creating energy and it does give us a boost. It’s given Welsh teams a boost over the years and to have that backing and that atmosphere going into the Six Nations is really helpful.’
Russell, who had a rapturous reception from the fans when he picked up his man-of-the-match award, said he had played against Argentina with a smile on his face.
‘Most people would see on the pitch that I am enjoying myself and I am smiling all the time,’ he said. ‘I am having fun with the boys and we are running some good tries in and it’s great to be a part of that. I love being back here in front of a full Murrayfield and I have to say “thank you” to the fans, it’s great to be back. I’m just glad that we were able to put on a bit of a show for the crowd that came in.
‘That win gives us confidence, but I think there is a lot we need to work on and build on. Argentina got a red card early on, I don’t know if it would have been different had he stayed on.
‘We’ve played well, we’ve attacked well, but we still have plenty to work on but I think we still need to learn to play for the full 80 minutes. We got off to a slow start with the penalty and we allowed them back into the game before half-time but the boys dug in. I think we defended our line for seven minutes when we were 30 points up so that was great to see.’
Skipper Ritchie was delighted by the win, saying: ‘In the first game against Australia, we spoke about fighting to get the ball back and I think we did that well.
‘In the New Zealand game, we spoke about being courageous, and I think we did that. Today we spoke about being relentless and we put 50 points on the board against Argentina.’
We are a match for any team... and I think we have shown that