Finn Russell and Scotland plot a ‘different’ answer to the same old Six Nations question

Finn Russell takes the question in his stride like a scrum-half’s sympathetic pass. It is one, of course, that he has been tossed so many times before. For nearly a decade now, it has been raised each and every January like forced rhubarb, a perennial pre-Six Nations poser from the pundits and prognosticators.

But, Finn, I nonetheless feel obliged to ask, is this Scotland’s year? Ireland are temporarily under new leadership with Andy Farrell beginning his sabbatical. France must travel to Dublin and Twickenham. Wales are a state; England’s start demanding. Italy? There is hope of a bright Azzurri future but this feels much too soon. Why not Scotland, then? Gregor Townsend’s squad is as settled as any, the Russell-conducted backline as brilliant as ever. An occasionally maligned forward pack went toe to toe with South Africa and Australia’s behemoths in the autumn and matched them for long periods. And there is recognition that time may be running out for a golden generation to decorate their talent with significant silverware.

To put the familiar question a different way, then, would it be a shame if this group missed out on that success? “I’d say so,” Russell admits. “The goal for me the whole time has been to win a title.

“We’re not a young group now, but we’re definitely not an old group – we’ve got a good balance of experience and then some young players coming into the squad. That’s exciting for us. We’ve had a great group of players with Scotland for the last six, seven, eight years, but we’ve never quite managed to get over the line.”

It is a familiar theme in Russell’s career. It was opined in The Times several weeks ago by former Bath fly-half Stuart Barnes that the 32-year-old had not garlanded his glorious gifts with the haul of trophies his talent deserves. It is a thought that Russell accepts willingly, having suffered a third final defeat of his career when Bath fell narrowly short against Northampton last June.

“Personally, I’ve only won one title,” Russell reflects, his sole Pro 12 success with Glasgow so far in the past that the league they won has twice since been rebranded. “2015 is a long time ago now.

“Bath’s Premiership defeat, I think that was my fourth final, and I’ve only won one of them. That’s tough but it’s how it goes. We play sport to win trophies and titles. But it’s not easy. As we saw in the final, one decision going against you or for you can change so much. Such small margins can change so much at that level. It’s my goal to win something, but that’s also my job. That’s been the main focus for this year.”

A series of near misses for club and country leave Russell well placed to assess where the shortcomings lie. He cites last year’s Scottish campaign as another learning experience. “In these tournaments, it’s all about how quickly you get out of the blocks and then how long you can hold it for. It’s only five games, but we lost that France game last year and then that had a real impact on our positivity and momentum. We need to learn from that and build on it, try to finish off stronger than we did in 2024.

“It’s different this year – we’ve got two home games and then we go away to England, so I’d imagine the coaches will structure it slightly differently. We’ll go into that England game trying to not have that drop-off and stay in the tournament.

“The autumn was really positive. I think South Africa was probably our best performance, even though we lost it by 17 points. The way that we attacked and defended against them shows that we can do it. There’s still a lot of stuff we need to get right – they went 7/1 on the bench and got a lot of penalties through their defence and set piece. With seven forwards coming on, it was always going to be hard for our boys to cope with that.

“But we made a lot of line breaks, and need to get better at finishing them. Against Australia, we managed to do that. It was good to finish on a high with the win against Australia. They’d had a lot of confidence after beating Wales and England. It was a tough game and a good win for us going into a Six Nations. I’m not saying we are going to win it because we beat Australia, but it’s given us a lot of belief.”

Russell will transition into Scotland mode over the next fortnight, the club-to-country switch made rather more comfortable by understanding employers at Bath.

Though an improviser of the class of Billy Connolly, Russell is also something of a data devotee. He and his coaches are meticulous in their preparation, projecting in-game scenarios and trends. Like all modern rugby players, the Scot understands that the surfeit of stats, when used correctly, can provide a huge advantage.

“For me, the data is so important but in a game, you’ve got to get the right balance. The data might say that the furthest I could throw one is 40 metres – that’s probably much further than I can actually throw it but in a game, it could be different with the adrenaline, the weather conditions and all of those things you have to take into account. When you are on the pitch, you just have to adapt accordingly.

“When I first started, there was some analysis looking at how teams attacked and defended, try and find their traits. You still do that, but you’ve got a much better and more accurate version of that. As a 10, it’s helpful being able to find out what individual players can do, where you need to put the ball. As someone who kicks and passes the ball a lot, you can get a much better read on how far you are getting it each time, which helps you set up a gameplan.

“If I know nine times out of 10, a penalty to touch is going to go 30 or 35 metres, you can start to pre-call lineouts. If you know a kick to you is going to have a four-second hang time, roughly, you can almost design a gameplan predicting what is going to happen before it does.”

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