Finn Russell now actively helping Townsend plot France's downfall
Gregor Townsend has patched up his relationship with Finn Russell and now the Scotland coach hopes the stay-away stand-off’s tactical insight will help fill in the blanks as he prepares to shoot down France’s Grand Slam hopes.
A peace of sorts between the Dark Blues boss and his maverick playmaker has broken out after the disciplinary row which threatened Russell’s entire international future.
While he will now miss the remainder of the Guinness Six Nations campaign – including Sunday’s visit of the French to Murrayfield – the Racing 92 ace has offered up some crucial nuggets of information on the players he plays with and against in the Top 14.
And Townsend admits they will be crucial as he and his coaching staff look to upset Les Bleus’ bid for the clean sweep. “We don’t know the French as well as the other teams, we don’t play them on a regular basis in the PRO14, and the French have brought a number of new players into their squad.
“Conversations with players who are playing in France, people who have worked under Fabien Galthie in the past, and also having a former French international (Pieter de Villiers) on our coaching staff has certainly helped. It was good to have that contact to help us with our preparation.”
Russell was stood down from action ahead of the Scots’ championship opener amid allegations of a late-night drinking session and has also missed the subsequent clashes with England and Italy.
While Murrayfield chiefs have seemed to paint the issue as a disciplinary one, Russell insisted it runs much deeper after going public to reveal the extent of his breakdown in relations with Townsend.
However, progress was made last week by telephone when Russell agreed to help Townsend’s team in their preparations for this weekend, while further clear-the-air talks will take place after the tournament ends. But Townsend was in no mood to give the matter any further attention this week.
Asked if this week’s talks would allow his team to move on from an issue that has dominated Scotland’s championship, he snapped back: “That would be a good thing guys, wouldn’t it? We’ve got a game to prepare for this weekend and that’s all our focus, as it has been for all the games of the championship.”
Scotland had a mixed record against France during 2019, losing in Paris during the Six Nations before World Cup warm-up matches staged in Nice and Edinburgh saw the hosts on each occasion come out on top. However, with new coach Galthie in charge of a much-changed squad, Townsend will not spend much time reviewing last year’s clashes.
The head coach – who will hand hooker Fraser Brown his 50th cap on Sunday – said: “We know how good the French team are and how well we’ll have to play to beat them but we’ve prepared really well this week, and we’re up for that challenge.
“I hope we’ll be better than we did that day in Nice during the summer. Those two games in the summer are not the same as the Six Nations. They were the first games of the season, we didn’t play well in Nice and we made some changes the following week and played better.
“But we were still nowhere near where we are now in terms of the team playing together and training together. Six Nations is very different than summer Tests.
“Those warm-up games aren’t that relevant. In terms of players who have come into their team, Charles Ollivon for example had a great game against us in Nice, Antoine Dupont and Romain N’Tamack have played very well coming into the team this last year or two, certainly N’Tamack has.
“So we’ve got an idea what their threats as individuals are, from having played the last two years again, but much more relevant is the fact that they’ve changed their coaches.
“They’ve changed the philosophy on how they play, it’s a very different French team than the one we played in Paris 12 months ago, that’s for sure.”
SCOTLAND: S Hogg (Exeter, capt); S Maitland (Saracens), C Harris (Gloucester), S Johnson (Glasgow), B Kinghorn (Edinburgh); A Hastings (Glasgow), A Price (Glasgow); R Sutherland (Edinburgh), F Brown (Glasgow), Z Fagerson (Glasgow), S Cummings (Glasgow), G Gilchrist (Edinburgh), J Ritchie (Edinburgh), H Watson (Edinburgh), N Haining (Edinburgh). Reps: S McInally (Edinburgh), A Dell (London Irish), W Nel (Edinburgh), S Skinner (Exeter), M Bradbury (Edinburgh), G Horne (Glasgow), D Weir (Worcester), K Steyn (Glasgow).
FRANCE: A Bouthier (Montpellier); D Penaud (Clermont Auvergne), V Vakatawa (Racing 92), A Vincent (Montpellier), G Fickou (Stade Francais); R Ntamack (Toulouse), A Dupont (Toulouse); J Poirot (Bordeaux-Begles), J Marchand (Toulouse), M Haouas (Montpellier), B Le Roux (Racing 92), P Willemse (Montpellier), F Cros (Toulouse), C Ollivon (Toulon, capt), G Alldritt (La Rochelle). Reps: C Chat (Racing 92), J-B Gros (Toulon), D Bamba (Lyon), R Taofifenua (Toulon), D Cretin (Lyon), B Serin (Toulon), M Jalibert (Bordeaux-Begles), T Ramos (Toulouse).
– Press Association
Comments on RugbyPass
Dagg is still trying to get enough headlines to make himself relevant enough to get a job. The Crusaders went back to square one at all levels. Shelve this season and nail the next one.
4 Go to commentsHe was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
3 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
38 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to comments