Townsend shuts down talk of Finn Russell at team press conference as feud continues
Gregor Townsend says there has be no fresh talks with Finn Russell as his stand off with the Scotland talisman continues.
Russell has missed the Dark Blues’ opening two Guinness Six Nations clashes so far this year and will again be absent when Townsend’s team run out in Rome for Saturday’s showdown with Italy.
The row was initially sparked by allegations of a late-night drinking session which breached team rules but has since developed into a debate over the Racing 92 star’s relationship with his head coach and his place in the team’s decision-making structure.
Russell cast his international future into major doubt the day after the Scots’ 16-9 defeat by England when he gave an interview with the Sunday Times detailing the extent of the breakdown of his partnership with his former Glasgow boss, insisting: “There’s no relationship, we don’t work at all together.”
Continue reading below…
WATCH: Jim Hamilton and Darren Cave preview Scotland’s clash with Italy in this weekend’s 3rd round of the 2020 Six Nations.
Townsend responded the following day with a flurry of statements and interviews in which he made it clear Russell would only be welcomed back if the fly-half agreed to sign up to the team’s new standards of behaviour.
Now Townsend says there has been no further developments to the status quo in the nine days that have followed.
And the Scotland head coach declined to discuss the impasse further as he insisted his focus is on preparing the players he does have available for the Azzurri.
Asked if he had spoken with Russell since he made his public response to the Sunday Times, Townsend told a press conference: “Since we spoke to you, probably not, no.
Townsend shows his hand for Rome – two changes in the pack and one in the backshttps://t.co/B2Wq8CUgWF
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 19, 2020
“We’re obviously focused on the 23 going out this weekend. He’s not in that so I’d prefer to focus on that 23.”
While Russell remains in Paris, Edinburgh forwards Stuart McInally and Ben Toolis and Gloucester centre Chris Harris have been welcomed back into the staring XV for this weekend’s run out at the Stadio Olimpico.
Hooker McInally swaps places with Glasgow’s Fraser Brown, who moves to the bench, while second-row Toolis comes in for the injured Jonny Gray.
Harris has been selected ahead of Huw Jones, who drops out of the 23-man squad. Sale Sharks wing Byron McGuigan takes Harris’ place on the bench.
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT 🏴
Scotland team named to face Italy in the 2020 Guinness Six Nations at Stadio Olimpico in Rome this Saturday #AsOne
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) February 19, 2020
Speaking about the changes, Townsend said: “We believe Chris and Stuart deserve this opportunity. They were very close to the starting XV when we entered this campaign. We think this is the right time for them to come in.
“Chris has been excellent for Gloucester this season and has continued to make improvements since the summer. He works very hard on both sides of the ball, which will be important this week.
“Stuart has shown over the past few weeks he’s back to full fitness and is raring to go and Ben gets an opportunity to start following Jonny’s injury against England.
“Second-row is a position (where) we have a lot of competition with a number of very good players available for selection. We’re looking forward to seeing how he combines again with Scott (Cummings) after a successful outing together against Russia in the World Cup.”
Neither side have won a match in this season’s Six Nations, Scotland losing to Ireland and England, while Italy suffered away defeats to Wales and France.
Fair play. https://t.co/Ic6ovaP6fz
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 19, 2020
“Italy are always a very tough opponent, especially in Rome, where we know they’ll look to play with a huge amount of energy,” Townsend said.
“It’s a different Italy team to the one we’ve played in the past. In their opening two games of the championship, they have played with real ambition and width.
“They’ve also selected athletic ball-players who suit this strategy and are comfortable playing at a high tempo.
“We are well aware of the threats throughout their team and how their attacking game can cause problems for any defence.”
PA
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments