Racing maverick plotting French downfall following Townsend truce
Scotland assistant coach Danny Wilson hopes peace has finally broken out between Finn Russell and Gregor Townsend after the stay-away stand-off agreed to help plot France’s downfall on Sunday.
The Racing 92 maverick has not featured at all during the Scots’ Guinness Six Nations campaign amid a fall-out with his head coach.
The 27-year-old was left out of the tournament opener with Ireland after breaching squad rules on drinking in camp. But the issue ran much deeper for Russell, who later went public to detail a worrying breakdown in relations with Townsend.
However, talks between the pair resumed by telephone last week and while it has been mutually agreed that Russell will wait until the summer tour to win his 50th cap, he has at least now agreed to help the team out by sharing information on some of the players he has faced in the Top 14 with the Scots backroom staff ahead of Les Bleus’ Murrayfield visit.
“The fact that there has been some really good communication going on bodes really well for the future,” said Wilson. “At the moment it’s about this group of players and staff focusing on the squad we have got here and the task in front of us. But it can only be good news that those conversations are far more positive and longer-term lead to Finn being back involved.”
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France will aim to take another step towards the Grand Slam in Edinburgh having already toppled England, Italy and Wales so far. But Wilson hopes Russell’s insights will help thwart Fabien Galthie as he looks to become the first French coach in a decade to complete a championship clean sweep.
He said: “There has been a fair bit of communication with players who are in that position (of playing in France) and Finn is one of them. Obviously, he has a really good insight into key individuals that he has played with and against and also on the psyche of that French team at the moment. So there is plenty of really good information that Finn can provide.”
Scotland finally picked up their first win of the championship against Italy in Rome last week. Townsend’s team missed a string of opportunities to strike down Ireland and England in their first two games and should have run up a bigger scoreline than their 17-0 triumph at the Stadio Olimpico as three golden chances slipped through the fingers.
A bold quest for game time and fulfilment when his outlook was bleak took Sam Hidalgo-Clyne to exhilarating places and some of Europe’s premier rugby teams… @JLyall93 catches up with the club-hopping @Hidalgoclynehttps://t.co/QqNwYvP978
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 3, 2020
And Wilson admits the Scots cannot afford to be so wasteful against a French side that has been reinforced by former Wales assistant coach Shaun Edwards’ suffocating defensive masterplan. He said: “Where France’s game is at the moment means this a massive challenge – but we’re certainly in a better place coming in off the back of a win.
“France look far more structured this year. Shaun has made an impact there defensively and so we want to tighten up a few things in our attack. We left a few opportunities out there in Rome. On another day we might have scored five tries but it wasn’t to be – but we’ve built off the back of that.
“Knowing Shaun, they will go hard at the breakdown to slow us down and shut off our attacking game. I’ve worked with Shaun before with Wales and can see there is very much a Shaun Edwards imprint on this France team.”
– Press Association
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Comments on RugbyPass
Je 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!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 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.
25 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.
25 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 commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments