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Massive blow for Scotland: Townsend provides painful Russell and Hastings injury update

By Online Editors
(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Gregor Townsend has confirmed that Scotland out-halves Finn Russell and Adam Hastings have both been ruled out of the Autumn Nations Cup with injury following last weekend’s Six Nations win away at Wales. In a further setback, Glasgow Warriors playmaker Hastings is unlikely to feature at all during next year’s Guinness Six Nations campaign.

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Racing 92 player Russell – back in favour following his top-of-the-year falling out with Townsend – suffered a groin injury when he made his first start for his country in over a year in Saturday’s victory over the Welsh in Llanelli.

The 28-year-old was replaced by Hastings but he did not finish the 14-10 triumph either, the 24-year-old suffering a dislocated shoulder in the final game of this year’s delayed Six Nations.

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“Finn we hope will be back in time for the Six Nations, but it’s unlikely Adam will be back before the end of that tournament,” head coach Townsend told BBC Scotland. “At the very best he’ll come back at the end, but that will depend on how things go.”

The Scots, who open their Six Nations campaign away to England on February 6, begin their Autumn Nations Cup campaign this month away to Italy a week on Saturday before also taking on France and Fiji in the one-off eight-team tournament that will have a fourth and final round of matches in early December.

Skipper Stuart Hogg ended last weekend’s championship victory – the Scots’ first success away to Wales since 2002 – in the No10 slot but the double-winning Exeter full-back has already admitted he would prefer to stay in the back three. 

That means Worcester’s Duncan Weir could be handed a recall after his last start came against Ireland in March 2016. His appearance off the bench in the March win over France was his first cap since March 2017. 

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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