Finn Russell: Scotland still have 'everything to play for'
Frustrated Finn Russell hopes a two-week break between matches will allow Scotland to regroup and get Sunday’s demoralising World Cup opener against South Africa out of their system.
The Scots were unable to spark their swashbuckling attacking game as they crashed 18-3 to the Springboks in Marseille, losing the second half 12-0.
It was Gregor Townsend’s side’s lowest-scoring outing since their first game of the 2019 World Cup when they were defeated 27-3 by Ireland.
Talisman Russell said: “I’m very frustrated with the result but also with the second-half. I don’t think we showed a true reflection of the team that we are. It’s very frustrating.”
The Scots do not play again until they face Tonga in Nice on Sunday, 24 September.
When they return to action, they know they must win all three of their remaining games – the other two are against Romania and Ireland – if they are to have a chance of emerging from the formidable Pool B to reach the quarter finals.
“This was potentially the situation we were going to be in after the first game,” said Russell. “Ideally it wouldn’t have been, but now we’re in this situation we need to pick ourselves back up, we need to get going.
“We’ve got Tonga then Romania so we need to go into these games as best prepared as we can and looking to play as best we can.
“We had a 10-minute period where we let South Africa get two tries so we’ll chat about how we can get better after that second half and coming out firing straight away (after half-time) so that doesn’t happen again.
“As frustrated as we are, there is a lot to work on and still everything to play for.”
The Scotland players have been given time off with their families in the early part of this week to recover from the mental and physical demands of facing the world champions in their first game.
Russell, competing at his third World Cup, has vowed that they will come back ready for their must-win game against Tonga.
“We’ve got two weeks now so we’ll have the next few days just getting away from rugby,” said the 30-year-old. “That was very physically demanding and mentally as well.
“The next few days we’ll get away from rugby, refresh ourselves and come back on Thursday and start preparing for Tonga. That’s a massive game for us.
“We’ve got everything to play for now and to an extent nothing to lose. As tough as it is to take, in sport you have to bounce back as quick as you can and I think the boys will do that.”
Stand-off Russell was in the wars on Sunday and it looked like he may be forced off in the first half after a heavy collision left him grounded and receiving lengthy treatment.
“I’m alright,” he said. “I got a shot in the ribs and I think I was just pretty badly winded thankfully.
“The second one was a stinger which happens in rugby. These collisions happen and that’s part of it. Thankfully there’s nothing that bad.
“I’ll be good to go the next game.”
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments