Of those in line to feature against Wales, only John Barclay, Scott Lawson and Richie Gray know what it’s like to win a Six Nations away game anywhere other than Rome. The trio were afield as Dan Parks kicked the decisive penalty at Croke Park in 2010, since when a couple of victories at the Stadio Olimpico are the sum total of Scotland’s efforts outside Edinburgh. Their last win in London came in 1983, Paris was 1999 and Cardiff 2002.
Everything, of course, is relative. When Finn Russell stepped out in the Welsh capital for the first and thus far only time two years ago, he was one of 11 players in the 23 who hadn’t won a Six Nations game full stop. On an individual and collective level, the picture now looks very different, but the black mark in the middle couldn’t be more obvious.
“The teams that win this competition do it home and away and that’s what we’ve got to do,” says Russell. “The next step is to try and not just target the home games, but to also go into away games thinking ‘we need to win’ rather than ‘let’s win the home games and see what happens with the rest.’”
A dire record on the road was one of the reasons given by Warren Gatland for the lack of Scottish Lions. While Wales don’t have much to shout about either in this regard, having beaten only Italy away in the last two championships, no sooner had Gatland expressed his concern than Scotland bombed at Twickenham.
One of those to miss out in the original selection, there was irony in Russell then being summoned after his starring role in a landmark Scotland away win, against Australia in Sydney. In the event, the move only added to the disgruntlement back home as the pivot — one of the “Geography Six” — was made to go through the most dispiriting of motions.
Advertisement
While he talks about the whole undignified experience, you wonder out loud if Russell would take extra pleasure in forcing those same coaches to take more notice of him this weekend. “You could pick out so many things that didn’t make sense, but we’ll not get into that,” he says. “You’re called into a [squad], but you’re not really going to play, you’re there to hold a bag. Even five years ago at Glasgow when I was just trying to get a game, you’re still not in that position. You’re still training, still taking part, whereas there it was split into two teams.
“It was just how it was going to have to be to get the guys ready for the Test, but it was a very different environment to what I’m used to in terms of pushing for a position in training.
“We beat Wales last year so they’ll have a point to prove, and the Scottish boys who potentially thought they could have gone on that tour will have a point to prove as well. They’ll want to go and win the game, but that would always be the case. You can’t let these things play on your mind. If you go there thinking, ‘I should have been on that tour, so I’ll try this, and this and this’, that’s when you start messing up.’”
Russell has firm ideas about where he needs his head to be. When kicking, as he has for Scotland since that win over Wales, he prefers pressure to situations where the game’s already won. The rest of the time, he backs his instincts, but the choice is always informed.
“The way we play, and certainly the way I play, a lot of folk might think it’s chaos. But I do a lot of work looking at the opposition and where we can attack them. Although at times it does seem a bit chaotic, nine times out of ten I’ve got a gameplan. We’ve got the coaches’ one, but I’ll have my own one as well. What I think I’ve seen, what I think’s going to happen.
Advertisement
“I know what’s going on, most of the time. You’ve got to wait for the triggers, in your team and theirs, then you go for it. It could look a bit wild, but you know that if one thing happens, or one of their players does something, it’s on.”
The synergy between the Glasgow backs shone through in the Tommy Seymour Champions Cup try against Exeter that Russell sparked from his own goalline. It was a thrilling glimpse of what might be possible these next seven weeks, with a scenario that has as many Warriors behind the scrum far from inconceivable. It happened as recently as the near miss against New Zealand, albeit Huw Jones was still to actually play for Dave Rennie’s side at that point.
“We’ve got a great understanding,” says Russell of the Glasgow backs. “Because we get on well off the field, it’s a much easier relationship on it. You can just chat away and ask why they aren’t doing certain things. Even with Hoggy [Stuart Hogg], who has his moments. We’re all as quick to rip into him as he is into us. Without having to say, we just know, from having played so much together. Again, it might look chaotic, but you’re actually just looking for that one chance to be clinical and take what’s there.”
Russell will leave Scotstoun at the end of the season, Racing 92 having already announced his signing. The news came as no surprise to anyone who’d ever asked him about his career ambitions, nor anyone with a handle on the salaries the SRU can pay.
“I’ve said it for the last few years, that I quite fancy going over to France. Last year when Vern [Cotter] left [Scotland] there were chats about me going over early to Montpellier. It would have been great, because I get on really well with Vern, but looking back, it’s worked out well. It would have been pretty rushed, whereas I’ve had an extra year to prepare and make sure it’s the right decision.”
Advertisement
He’s already started French lessons and shrugs off concern about the workload he’ll be expected to shoulder as a foreigner in the Top 14. The man you really feel for is Ali Price, who’s about to lose his flatmate and best pal.
“Don’t worry, I’ve said he can stay in the flat,” laughs Russell. “He’s going to try and save up for his own place, but he’s been saying that for the last year. I give him good rates, to be fair.”
Even in such a serious week, the quips are never far away. But never mind being Price-less, it’s the value of an away win that will get him going as he swaggers into that sea of red, grinning at the clamour.
ON TV SATURDAY
Wales v Scotland
2.15pm BBC1
