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Finn Russell is Scotland's latest injury scare as good news emerges on Hogg prognosis

Scotland play-maker Finn Russell was in the wars for Racing 92 on Sunday (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Gregor Townsend was given a Sunday afternoon scare with the sight of Scotland out-half Finn Russell exiting for a head injury assessment just before half-time in Racing 92’s Top 14 match with Toulouse and not returning for the second half. 

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While both clubs rested their France international players, the Scottish play-maker was forced to start the high-profile league match just six days before his country take on the French at the Stade de France in the Six Nations. 

It left Townsend vulnerable to hearing bad news about his player on the same day it was reported that Stuart Hogg’s injury last weekend against Ireland wasn’t as bad as feared. 

It had been suggested the full-back would miss the remainder of the championship, but his shoulder problem could now clear in time for the final round Calcutta Cup match versus England. Hogg is rated as an “outside bet” to be available. 

That initial good news, though, was followed by Townsend being left sweating over Russell’s availability to face France after he didn’t complete a hugely entertaining five-try first-half that ended with Toulouse leading 27-12 in a match that was a dress rehearsal for the March 31 Champions Cup quarter-final between the teams. 

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Russell had been having a mixed afternoon before his game-ending 37th minute collision with the ball-carrying Lucas Tauzin, the Toulouse player’s knee colliding with the side of the face of the tackling out-half and forcing him off for a HIA. He didn’t return for the second half, his place being taken by Fijian Ben Volavola. 

It was Russell’s loose pass that had earlier given Toulouse their opening try. He quickly hit back, deftly stepping inside Zack Holmes to score on 11 minutes and then giving the try-scoring assist to Juan Imhoff to finish off a move he had started with a ground-gaining break out wide.  

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Russell wasn’t on place-kicking duty for Racing, the out-half spotted making a change signal towards the bench after his initial try. 

Teddy Iribaren was instead on the tee, but the Scot still did some tactical kicking during the course of an opening hand in which he was responsible for a big missed tackle in the lead-up to Toulouse’s second try. 

The early exit of Russell mirrored the premature departure of Wales out-half Dan Biggar from Northampton’s Saturday match in the Premiership against Sale. 

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The injury concerns surrounding both play-makers heading into round three of the Six Nations highlighted the risk of countries relying heavily on star players contracted to clubs elsewhere.  

Six of Scotland’s seven players based in other countries had to play club rugby. So, too, did five of Wales’ six non-Welsh based players along with the three Italy players earning a wage in France and England respectively.

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f
fl 4 hours ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

“Why do you downplay his later career, post 50? He won a treble less than two years ago, with a club who played more games and won more games than any other team that managed the same feat. His crowning achievement - by his own admission.”

He’s won many trebles in his career - why do you only care about one of them?

I think its unsurprising that he’d feel more emotional about his recent achievements, but its less clear why you do.


“Is it FA cups or League cups you’re forgetting in his English trophy haul? You haven’t made that clear…”

It actually was clear, if you knew the number he had won of each, but I was ignoring the league cup, because Germany and Spain only have one cup competition so it isn’t possible to compare league cup performance with City to his performance with Bayern and Barcelona.


“With Barcelona he won 14 trophies. With Bayern Munich he won 5 trophies. With City he has currently won 18 trophies…”

I can count, but clearly you can’t divide! He was at Barca for 4 years, so that’s 3.5 trophies per year. He was at Bayern for 3 years, and actually won 7 trophies so that’s 2.3 trophies per year. He has been at City for 8 completed seasons so that’s 2.25 trophies per year. If in his 9th season (this one) he wins both the FA cup and the FIFA club world cup that will take his total to 20 for an average of 2.22 trophies per year.


To be clear - you said that Pep had gotten better with age by every metric. In fact by most metrics he has gotten worse!

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f
fl 6 hours ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

“He made history beyond the age of 50. History.”

He made history before the age of 50, why are you so keen to downplay Pep’s early career achievements? In 2009 he won the sextuple. No other manager in history had achieved that, and Pep hasn’t achieved it since, but here you are jizzing your pants over a couple of CL finals.


“If continuing to break records and achieve trophies isn't a metric for success”

Achieving trophies is a metric for success, and Pep wins fewer trophies as he gets older.


“He's still competing for a major trophy this year. Should he get it, it would be 8 consecutive seasons with a major trophy. Then the world club cup in the summer.”

You’re cherry picking some quite odd stats now. In Pep’s first 8 seasons as a manager he won 6 league titles, 2 CL titles, & 4 cup titles. In Pep’s last 8 seasons as a manager (including this one) he’s won 6 league titles, 1 CL title, & 2 (or possibly 3) cup titles. In his first 8 seasons he won the FIFA world club cup 3 times; in his last 8 seasons he’s won it 1 (or possibly soon to be 2) time(s). In his first 8 seasons he won the UEFA super cup 3 times; in his last 8 he won the UEFA super cup once. His record over the past 8 seasons has been amazing - but it is a step down from his record in his first 8 seasons, and winning the FA cup and FIFA club world cup this summer won’t change that.


Pep is still a brilliant manager. He will probably remain a brilliant manager for many years to come, but you seem to want to forget how incredible he was when he first broke through. To be clear - you said that Pep had gotten better with age by every metric. That was false!

182 Go to comments
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