1
Benhard Janse van Rensburg stood down indefinitely; Smith in fitness race
3
{{item.n}}
Finn Russell: The hard luck stories need to stop
Comment
Share 
Finn Russell is intent on helping Scotland develop the consistency required to capitalise on a year of big opportunities as he closes in on his 100th cap.
The talismanic Bath stand-off made his debut in 2014 but he is yet to get close to winning silverware with his country.
Russell senses a chance to change that over the next 12 months or so, with an encouraging run of results in 2026 elevating the Scots to sixth in the world as they prepare to finish their maiden Nations Championship campaign next month less than a year before the start of the 2027 World Cup in Australia.
VIDEO
“There’s three competitions over the next 12 months, we’ve got the Nations Championship the next four weeks, then Six Nations and obviously the World Cup,” Russell said on Wednesday.
“I think that’s amazing to have the opportunity three times to potentially win something. Since I’ve been with Scotland we’ve never won anything, in terms of tournaments, so I think you’d have the chance to do that.
“We’ve put ourselves in a good position for the Nations Championship just now (second in the northern hemisphere table) with three tough games before the finals weekend.”
Nations Championship
North
P
W
L
D
PF
PA
PD
BP T
BP-7
BP
Total
1
France
3
2
1
0
12
2
Scotland
3
2
1
0
11
3
England
3
2
1
0
10
4
Ireland
3
2
1
0
10
5
Wales
3
1
2
0
5
6
Italy
3
0
3
0
0
South
P
W
L
D
PF
PA
PD
BP T
BP-7
BP
Total
1
South Africa
3
3
0
0
15
2
New Zealand
3
3
0
0
15
3
Australia
3
1
2
0
8
4
Argentina
3
1
2
0
7
5
Japan
3
1
2
0
4
6
Fiji
3
0
3
0
0
Russell believes Scotland’s display in their 42-28 defeat away to South Africa in July highlights that they are not far away from contending for glory but he acknowledged the hard-luck stories need to stop.
“I’d definitely say we’re in a good place,” he said. “We had some good performances in the summer and we just need to kick on from there and try and beat the top teams rather than running them close and losing.
“We had a big win away from home against Argentina, then travelled to South Africa and ran them close.
“It was great to have a good performance but that was a game that we had enough chances where we definitely should have won that.
“So there’s a lot of positives there but at the same time there’s a lot that we need to work on and we need to get better if we’re going to start competing to win these tournaments.
“We can’t go off a big win against France to then losing to Ireland like we did in the Six Nations. We need to be stacking these wins one on top of the next. And in the summer we didn’t manage to do that after Argentina. We need to be winning these games back to back to challenge to win tournaments.”
Russell, who has 95 caps for Scotland, is on course to reach his century for his country in next year’s Six Nations.
“It’s definitely something that’s there in the back of my mind but if I think about it too much I probably won’t get it,” he added.
“I’m on 95, so I’m just looking to stay fit, play well and see what happens. I’m looking forward to the next few games coming up and if I get to 100 I’ll cross that one out when I get to it.”
1 YEAR TO GO
The countdown is on until the biggest Men’s Rugby World Cup ever kicks off in Australia. Go All Out and secure your seats with tickets now available!
