'I've been thinking about that': Russell's Scotland tour situation
Finn Russell has shared his thoughts on whether he will tour Argentina in July with Scotland. Gregor Townsend’s team have a three-Test series lined up on successive Saturdays following an A team match on June 25 in Chile. It’s a busy schedule that is already on the mind of the out-of-favour out-half whose length of season at Racing depends on how they finish out their Top 14 and Heineken Champions Cup campaigns.
The 29-year-old, who last summer toured South Africa with the Lions, has already played 28 matches this season, 20 for his club and another eight for his country. The situation with Scotland isn’t fully certain, though. as Russell was dropped to the bench for their last outing, the Guinness Six Nations defeat to Ireland in March, and he was also one of six players reprimanded the previous week for leaving the team hotel in Edinburgh following their return from Italy.
Having defeated Sale last Sunday in the European quarter-finals, Russell could potentially have two more Champions Cup games to play and potentially another five in the Top 14 if Racing reach the finals in both tournaments. That would keep him busy with his club all the way through to June 24 and potentially bring his number of games for the season up to 35 before the Scotland tour.
“Yeah, I have been thinking about that,” admitted Russell about the Scotland trip during a guest appearance on this week’s edition of The Rugby Pod with Jim Hamilton and Andy Goode. “Depending on how the season goes with Racing, we could lose this weekend, lose the next weekend against Montpellier and be out of the Top 14 and Europe so our season, I might only have two or three more games left depending on how we go.
“If we were to get to the final of both tournaments I’d have seven more games. It would depend on how the next few weeks go here. We will see how that goes first and then have a think obviously for next season and how it best works for me.”
https://twitter.com/TheRugbyPod/status/1524301574394171393
Hamilton mentioned to Russell that in a recent interview he did with Eben Etzebeth on RugbyPass that the Springboks player suggested a 25-game limit per year needed to be introduced in rugby to assist player welfare. However, the Racing and Scotland out-half didn’t agree with that type of restriction. “It is different for me as a ten,” he explained.
“Physically it doesn’t have that much of an impact on me, it’s more the mental aspect of it and having a long season. Having big squads and the depth we have in this (Racing) squad, I got a week off a few weeks ago, they gave me a week off during the Six Nations which was great. If players are managed well you can do these games.
“I could potentially go back to Scotland and get looked after more by playing less games, not having a short season but playing less games per season but then that doesn’t help me in my position so I’d prefer to be over here playing more games, playing for Racing and living over here.
“But it is different for everyone. Eben is a second row, he is physically going to be knackered after every game as well and he has to be switched on for the lineout stuff and everything that is going on there. It changes player to player, position to position.”
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
2 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments