Leading Lion Russell must get his Scottish charges rolling before any thought Aussie summer

Scotland's Finn Russell prepares to kick a conversion under the watchful eye of the TV. Pic: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire.

Here we go again. Another Six Nations, another ‘now or never’ moment in time for Scotland and a ‘golden generation’ of players that has continued to fall short of transferring undoubted progress this last few years into promise fulfilled.

The suspicion is that all the chess pieces have to fall smoothly into place for Gregor Townsend’s side to achieve their nirvana. Then they lose key men like Sione Tuipulotu and Scott Cummings and others to injury pre-tournament. Ho hum.

Scotland have long been accustomed to working off a thin production line, but the call-up of Australian-born Alexander Masibaka, who plays Pro D2 rugby with Soyaux-Angouleme in France, brought this into painful relief.

Jim Hamilton, the former Scotland forward and current rugby pundit, admitted at the time that he didn’t know jack about the new recruit and wasn’t sure whether he was either a No.8 or a centre. For the record, he is a No.8.

Still, the 23 that Townsend deployed for their opener against Italy last week isn’t exactly a collective on its last legs. Their average age came in at a healthy 27. Ireland’s by way of contrast, is much closer to Dad’s Army status at almost 29.5.

The Scots have far fewer thirtysomethings but among them is their orchestrator-in-chief. Finn Russell is 32 now, this is his 12th year on the Test scene and, more than anyone, there is the sense that this has to be his year.

The Bath out-half is considered front-runner for the British and Irish Lions No.10 jersey and, if that owes something to the departures from the immediate scene of Johnny Sexton, Owen Farrell and Dan Biggar, then he has made it happen too.

The gifted playmaker has clearly matured in recent years. He spoke about that again before the tournament, remarking how he isn’t playing with “as much flair” as days gone by and how his game management has improved.

Russell has looked to take the ball to the line more as he has got older and there has been an uptick the amount of tries he has scored. Simon Zebo, who played with him at Racing 92 between 2018 and 2021, certainly sees changes in the man he called White Chocolate.

“Different. Very different. His highlight reel from our time together is off the charts. He is in his prime. His best attributes are skill-based. It’s not about running. He can [do that] but it’s not about speed or power or strength.

“It’s his passing, his kicking, his accuracy, his offloading ability. All those things, they don’t deteriorate like the physical attributes. He is on top of his game for a long time and he is the best ten in the world at the moment, by a distance.” 

Scotland's Finn Russell kicks a conversion during the Guinness Six Nations match at Murrayfield Stadium. Pic: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire.

Russell didn’t play like it against the Azzurri last Saturday.

He mixed the good with the bad at Murrayfield. His tactical kicking and defence were fine but there were some loose offloads and the intercept pass that Ignacio Brex returned for a try brought Italy right back into it in the second-half.

It certainly wasn’t a performance worthy of a player who so many expect to be the prime mover and shaker for Andy Farrell’s Lions in Australia come the summer and, in fairness, the man himself was first to admit it.

“For me, personally, my mistake was frustrating,” he said at the weekend. “The mistakes, the looseness we had, were probably individual [errors] which will be easier to fix. We'll come back Monday or Tuesday and sort a few things out.” 

The line when Tuipulotu and Huw Jones emerged as such a threatening centre combination was that Russell had benefited now that opponents now had to widen their scopes from the world-class out-half and that is still true.

Stafford McDowall was good without matching Tuipulotu’s levels in round one but Jones is a phenomenal player, scrum-half Ben White was excellent on the day and Blair Kinghorn brought his Toulouse form to bear at full-back.

It’s an interesting Championship in terms of tens. Ireland, England and France all have at least two if not three live options for the jersey but Andy Goode, the former England out-half, is among those who see one man standing apart from the rest.

“Finn Russell,” he said pre-tournament. “Finn the magic man. He does everything you want from a control perspective. He tackles well, his kicking is excellent, his game management is great but he has that X-factor and offloading ability.

“There are some wonderful tens and the debate will go on around the British and Irish Lions but Finn Russell is nailed on for me to be that ten. Then you have Sam Prendergast, Jack Crowley, Marcus Smith and Fin Smith pushing for maybe two more spaces.” 

First things first, of course. Beat Ireland on Sunday and every Scot will be eying the Lions.