Finn Russell

In my time Scotland has had a fair number of good fly-halves, but only three whom one would call great: John Rutherford, Gregor Townsend and Finn Russell.

With Jonny Gray back for us and James Ryan out of the Irish team there should surely be at worst equality at the line-out, and both teams have a try-scoring back three. No match in the Six Nations should ever be called “meaningless”, and there’s a good deal of meaning for both teams in today’s. Given fine weather and a dry ball it may well prove a classic contest for both are capable of scoring spectacular tries. Ireland have now won the last six matches against us, and we haven’t won in Ireland since 2010 a far cry from the 1990s when we were dominant. It’s difficult to point a finger and say “that’s where there is weakness”, though, in this context, seeing Ireland demolished by England in the set scrum last week was astonishing. Our record against Ireland has been wretched for years, and Ireland have mostly been very good this season. Now in the last round of the Six Nations 2022 coach Townsend has relegated Russell to the bench.