You know the script. Finn Russell is a maverick, a showman, a magician with ball in hand.
Those distributive skills have tormented England before, in 2018 and in the second half of the epic game in 2019.
Finn actually hasn’t been on the losing side to England since the rout at Twickenham in 2017 (he missed the 2020 game after his famous walkout). That’s five games now, if you count a virtuoso off-the-cuff game for the Barbarians at Twickenham (63-45!!), also in 2018.
The Racing 92 stand-off was every bit as influential in Saturday’s 20-17 win at Murrayfield. But in an entirely different way.
The change since going to Racing
Finn Russell's last 5 games v England:
24/2/18 (Murrayfield) – Scotland win;
6/6/18 (Twickenham) – Barbarians win;
16/3/19 (Twickenham) – Scotland draw;
6/2/21 (Twickenham) – Scotland win;
5/2/22 (Murrayfield) – Scotland win. #AsOne https://t.co/UftzjmE4q4— Kevin Millar (@topofthemoonGW) February 5, 2022
Since going to Racing, Russell has become a rounded 10. He’s always had the clever grubber and chip over the top to exploit space behind a rush defence.
But kicking to touch and to the posts could be an adventure in his early career, and cross-kicking or the pass-kick even more so.
Racing signed him for his peerless ball-handling ability. But you don’t get very far in the brutal world of the Top 14 without control. Over the last three years in particular, largely since Irishman Mike Prendergast arrived at Racing as backs coach, he’s developed that game.
It was not a quick process. It didn’t seem Russell was entirely onboard with Scotland trending to a varied, kick-based game at the 2019 Rugby World Cup. There were communication issues, resulting in his walkout in 2020.
Those issues sorted, at times in the last year or so it’s seemed Russell was overly in love with the cross-kick. There were examples in the autumn where his radar wasn’t quite there. But his more varied game reached a new height against England on Saturday.
The threat of Russell helps create the first try
What dreams are made of 🤩
A moment to remember for @BenWhite_98 as he marked his Scotland debut with a Calcutta Cup try.#AsOne pic.twitter.com/nkx2guvmcE
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) February 6, 2022
The game was billed as Russell against England’s young running 10 Marcus Smith. The poor weather (although not as bad as feared) meant we didn’t see that kind of game. But the mere threat of Russell’s running created Scotland’s crucial first try.
Playing largely into the wind first-half, Scotland expected to have limited chances, and it was vital to make one count.
It was a called move – a quick lineout, Sam Johnson carrying it up in midfield, and then Russell moving left fixing the English defence.
But the ruse was to hit the shortside instead and have Stuart Hogg and Darcy Graham attacking front five players in defence, and it worked brilliantly.
Hogg came up late, and his brilliant pass under pressure from Maro Itoje sprung Graham between Ben Youngs and Nick Isiekwe. The wing’s flying feet dealt with the remaining defensive cover to set up new cap Ben White for the try.
The masterclass of the last 15 minutes
The match winner loving life.
Finn Russell😅#SCOvENG pic.twitter.com/lZvfkvqGDK
— Stuart McAvoy (@stuart__mcavoy) February 5, 2022
With the conditions and England’s defence targeting him with pressure, Russell had limited opportunities to run or distribute. Instead he tried to control with his kicking, and in the vital final 15 minutes it was a masterclass.
The two cross-kicks leading to the penalty try were the difference in the game. The first allowed Duhan van der Merwe space to compromise the English defence creating a “line-bender”. The second isolated Luke Cowan-Dickie against Graham creating the stonewall offence by the Lions hooker that turned the game on its head.
The Scots called both kicks “heads-up” plays rather than design – the setpiece play off the original scrum hadn’t worked.
But Russell’s vision to spot the space twice in just 30 seconds, and the execution – there was no penalty advantage coming either time, so it was do or die – was outstanding.
It’s the same vision and awareness that makes him such a great ballplayer, only now in the kicking game. He knew England’s defence had been drawn by Van der Merwe and that only one phase after a scrum, front five players would be defending the other side of the pitch.
He saw Cowan-Dickie isolated (prop Joe Marler was the nearest other Englishman) and targeted him – this was not a happy accident for Scotland.
The key final kicks
Less remembered will be the controlled touchfinder just after that pinned England inside their 22 shortly after. But it was just as crucial.
Opting not to bring on Jamie George to throw the lineout, England botched it. They were penalised at the resultant scrum, and Russell kicked the winning points.
Scotland’s win was again founded on defence, a 98% tackle success rate. It’s the other development in their game the last two years. Defence coach Steve Tandy has made them a resilient, dogged team who don’t know when they’re beaten.
But the development of Russell to play both ways, with hand and boot, has been another key element. It was a different and equally successful way for the ‘maverick’ to torment the English.