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Townsend unfazed by the risk of making Russell Scotland captain
By Bryn Palmer
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend believes Finn Russell will “thrive” on the responsibility of leading his country despite the added burden of captaincy on his playmaker-in-chief.
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The Bath fly-half, 31, is already in charge of the Scots’ attack and is the second most experienced member of Townsend’s Six Nations squad with 75 caps, only behind lock Richie Gray.
With uncertainty over the fitness of co-captain Rory Darge, who said he was “aiming for one of the first two games” as he recovers from a knee injury, Russell is most likely to lead Scotland out at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium for their opening fixture against Wales on 3 February.
He was handed the armband for the first time last summer for a World Cup warm-up Test against France at Murrayfield, guiding the Scots to a 25-21 comeback victory from 21-3 down.
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While admitting concern about Russell’s workload was “definitely a factor” in his decision-making process, Townsend said the fly-half’s previous captaincy stint convinced him it would not be an issue.
“Captaincy is something that can help you grow further as a player and a leader, and you can thrive on that,” he said. “But there is the other side too, the responsibility of things like today (media commitments) and talking to the players more. Could it potentially change how you play?
“Now, having spoken to Finn in the week before he was captain in the summer against France, he wasn’t going to change how he would lead the team – because he is a key leader for us in meetings and training sessions and in the 80 minutes on the field in games.
“On reflection, he really thrived that week with the other elements of captaincy but also in the game – as Rory did the week before when we played Italy. So yes, it is a consideration but we have confidence that this will add another layer to their performances.”
The chances of Glasgow flanker Darge featuring against Wales, or France in Scotland’s second game at Murrayfield on 10 February, will be reassessed early next week as he steps up his rehabilitation from a strained knee ligament.
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“When I get back into camp I will get tested by the physios and they will see how my progress is going,” he said. “Then hopefully I can start integrating into team training and running and things like that. It is very much seeing how the knee reacts to progressing my rehab and taking it from there.”
Darge’s availability or otherwise could also affect whether Jamie Ritchie features in the match-day 23 against Wales, having been stripped of the captaincy and told to focus on competing with the likes of Luke Crosbie, Matt Fagerson, Andy Christie and Josh Bayliss for a back-row spot.
“He has reacted really well,” Townsend said of his former skipper. “We have been communicating for a few weeks now around his game and also the captaincy. He was well aware we were going to leave this decision until the weekend.
“The focus for him is about getting into the team to play Wales and he is really determined to do that. That will be tough because the competition we have in the back row right now is of a high level. We are all optimistic that will bring the best out of Jamie, and Jamie can be one of our best players, back at his top level where we are all hoping will be now.
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“We saw on Friday night when he came on for Edinburgh against Scarlets, there was a real hunger and intent about how he went about his game. It is going to bring the best out of him, we believe, and the ability to just focus on that in training leading into the Wales game should be a positive.”
Townsend also revealed that Darcy Graham’s quad injury – sustained playing for Edinburgh against Gloucester on 13 January – is “more significant” than originally hoped, with the wing ruled out of Scotland’s first two games at least.
“We are hopeful he will be available for round three (against England on 24 February) but that will just depend how he reacts over the next couple of weeks when he starts rehab again.”
