I don’t know my rugby well enough to say whether Finn Russell deserves to be the starting 10 for Scotland at the moment.
But I’m pretty sure he’s not the fourth best.
Whatever Gregor Townsend says, his decision to leave Russell out of his latest squad is about their personality clash, not based on sporting reasons.
That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s made the wrong decision – if a head coach and a player can’t find a way to work together then there’s a real risk in picking him.
You can be sure that off the record (maybe on the record) stories about this will continue to leak out.
If things go badly in the Autumn Internationals, Townsend’s authority will be under serious threat.
The bottom line is the idea that even an out-of-form Russell (which he's not) is fourth out of four in a list of Scotland stand-offs is simply preposterous.https://t.co/fWPImG6XNW via @thecourieruk
— Steve Scott (@C_SScott) October 20, 2022
Rugby seems to have fallen into the Olympic cycle mindset.
By that, I mean that the nations work with a four-year plan and don’t want to rip it up.
I understand that from the big bosses’ perspective.
But athletes and coaches have to operate with much shorter-term goals in mind.
It’s all very well British Curling being fixated with Olympic medals (and Scottish Rugby consumed by a World Cup) but on the pitch you have to go from one event to another.
I think what we did at Beijing shows that shredding up a big plan CAN work – even when it comes very late in that four-year cycle.
Let’s see if the management at Murrayfield feel the same way if a Finn Russell-less Scotland have a November nightmare.
Eilish McColgan was extremely magnanimous about the mistake made in measuring the course for the Great Scottish Run that has cost her the British and European 10k records.
It’s quite an error by the organisers to be 150 metres short with their distance, it has to be said.
Of course, the fact that Eilish was breaking her own records softened the blow.
But athletics is a sport where records are a close second to medals in terms of prestige.
There’s no guarantee she’ll hit the same time again.
Hopefully this doesn’t put her – or other top athletes – off from coming back to a big event for Glasgow.
I was back on the ice for the first time since retirement last week.
I flew out to Minnesota to take part in a charity event, raising money for lupus research.
It was great fun and I loved helping Kevin Martin out with his coaching academy.
As enjoyable as playing a few charity games was (and winning most of them!) it hasn’t made me want to come out of retirement.
The curling shoes are back in the wardrobe!
Of all the things you think might happen after winning an Olympic gold medal, being asked to be a sitter in the Portrait Artist of the Year programme on Sky Arts wouldn’t have been on my list!
My episode was out this week.
I had to choose which one of three (very different) portraits I wanted to take home.
There are many different poses being asked for tonight. If you were doing their portrait, how would you pose this week’s sitters? 🤔
#PAOTY #PortraitArtistOfTheYear @suggsgmcpherson @miquitaoliver @evemuirhead pic.twitter.com/sOZKMuJ8DR— Storyvault Films (@StoryvaultFilms) October 19, 2022
I sat for hours (with breaks, I must add) and it was filmed in London not long after the Olympics.
It felt like a long time for me but I know that the artists would have wanted a whole lot longer.
The one I picked has gone to my mum and dad’s house so hopefully they agreed with my choice!
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