TO SAY that Gregor Townsend and Finn Russell have not always seen eye to eye would be a gross understatement. The Scotland coach may have played in Russell’s position of stand-off, but the mutual understanding which might have been expected to arise from that fact has often been conspicuous by its absence.
Russell’s decision to walk out of the national squad in 2020 was probably the most dramatic demonstration that not all was well between the two men, while more recently Townsend omitted the Racing 92 playmaker from his squad for last year’s Autumn Nations Series, implausibly claiming that three other fly-halves were in better form.
At those times and at others, the pair’s relationship has seemed to have reached breaking point if not gone beyond it. It was therefore of serious significance when Townsend sat down at yesterday’s launch in London of this year’s Guinness Six Nations Championship and proceeded to praise Russell not merely as one of Scotland’s best performers of recent times - that much is self-evident - but as one of the greatest players from any country ever to pull on a rugby shirt.
