Finn Russell shrugs off the suggestion that Stuart Hogg’s retirement will pile even more pressure on his own shoulders with the same sort of nonchalance as he displays when nipping through half-gaps with ball in hand on the rugby field.
“I think since Duhey [Duhan van der Merwe] scored that try against England, he’s taken all the heat off,” quips the talismanic stand-off. “Hoggy was obviously very high profile – more so than me – and it is different without him in camp, but at the same time it gives other boys the chance to step up like Blair Kinghorn has done, putting that hand up to be the next guy in the full-back jersey.
“Duhan has made a great name for himself during the last couple of years with the Lions and in the most recent Six Nations, and wee Darcy [Graham] is back scoring two tries at the weekend, so I wouldn’t say it puts any more pressure on me, it just gives some of the other boys a chance to get some TV time!”
Russell does concede that the loss of a huge character who has monopolised the Scottish No15 jersey when fit for over a decade is bound to change the dynamic within the group, but reasons that the key to moving on is to adapt the way things are done to suit the individuals who are still in the squad, rather than try to replicate the Hawick man’s distinct playing style and personality.
“What Hoggy brought was just so much experience at the top level, so I was able to bounce questions off him and we got on really well,” he says. “It’s obviously different having Blair Kinghorn or Ollie Smith playing there for us – but the way Blair has been training at full-back has been really good.
“When it’s been me and Blair in the same team at training, we know he can step in and play 10 really well. So, we’ve interacted really easily and chopped and changed who’s at 10 all the time. Sometimes if he’s in the wide ruck, he might jump in at 10 in the next phase, which allows me to be a bit wider.
“So, there’s a bit more change there, and it’s been great to see because it’s quite a new relationship between us as a 10 and 15. He’s a big guy, really quick, he’s been hitting the ball well and he’s got a lot of different attributes to Hoggy.
“We’ve obviously lost a lot of experience with Hoggy retiring. Looking at the backline now, Ben White at scrum-half has just a couple of caps, Sione Tuipulotu is pretty new and Huw Jones has only just come back in. But the relationships we all have with each other means we can bounce questions off each other. Whether you’ve had five games or 100, everyone is on the same level and have got their opinions which is great to see.”
This will be Russell’s third World Cup, and while he is not viewing it as his last, neither does he want to return from France feeling that it is another opportunity missed following the contentious quarter-final defeat to Australia in 2015 and the pool stage collapse in 2019 – after which he had a very public fall-out with national team head coach Gregor Townsend which meant he didn’t play in the 2020 Six Nations. That relationship is clearly in a much better place now.
“There are quite a few of the boys who will be going to this World Cup who were also over in Japan,” he says. “That was a really frustrating World Cup. We didn’t manage to perform at our best and didn’t get out that group. That led into the next season, and we all know what happened then.
"This group is very different, we’re all having a lot of fun and training really well. The coaching has been very different between now and four years ago which I think is great. I’d say we’re better prepared ahead of this World Cup than the last one, albeit we might have a tougher pool.
“The opening game against South Africa in Marseille will be massive. I’ve never played at that stadium, but I’ve heard it’s amazing. In terms of the atmosphere, the hype around it, it’ll be great. I just want to perform as well as I can.”
Before that he must get through Scotland’s warm-up schedule. He wasn’t involved in last weekend’s win over Italy but is expected to play against France at Murrayfield this Saturday. Thereafter, there is an away game against France in St Etienne the following weekend, a rest week, the team’s final pre-tournament hit-out at home to Georgia on 26th August.
“It has been six or seven weeks I’ve not played for so it will be good to get out there this weekend and get back to playing well as quickly as possible,” he adds. “I might play well straight away – I’m not sure – but after that many weeks off it is very different going from training to a Test match against the No 2 team in the world.
“I think these next three games will be very important for myself and the team to make sure we are in as good condition as we can be going into the World Cup.”
