{"id":44424,"date":"2023-02-12T09:33:20","date_gmt":"2023-02-12T09:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/world-class-finn-russell-praised-after-masterpiece-for-high-flying-scotland"},"modified":"2023-02-12T09:51:35","modified_gmt":"2023-02-12T09:51:35","slug":"world-class-finn-russell-praised-after-masterpiece-for-high-flying-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/world-class-finn-russell-praised-after-masterpiece-for-high-flying-scotland","title":{"rendered":"‘World class’ Finn Russell praised after masterpiece for high-flying Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Scotland coach Gregor Townsend praised the “focus and competitiveness” of Finn Russell after the mercurial flyhalf delivered three assists for tries in a record 35-7 win over Wales on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Scotland have won their opening two games of a Six Nations for the first time, thanks in large part to Russell’s renaissance on the international stage.<\/p>\n

The Racing 92 playmaker was controversially left out of Scotland’s first two Autumn internationals.<\/p>\n

But his return has inspired a dramatic upturn in performance from Townsend’s men.<\/p>\n

“When he is at that level of focus and competitiveness he will deliver that level of performance,” said Townsend.<\/p>\n

“The threats that Finn has around him set up opportunities and he made very good decisions on what opportunities to take.<\/p>\n

“I thought our wingers held their width really well and Finn’s kicking to them was excellent.”<\/p>\n

Russell’s boot was the difference between the sides at half-time as he struck two early penalties before Wales captain Ken Owens cancelled out George Turner’s try for Scotland.<\/p>\n

But Russell and Scotland clicked into gear in the second half as a delightful pass set up Kyle Steyn for the first of his two tries.<\/p>\n

The same two players combined for Scotland’s third try as this time Russell’s cross-field kick picked out the Glasgow winger.<\/p>\n

Blair Kinghorn’s score then secured Scotland the bonus point that takes them level with Ireland at the top of the Six Nations table.<\/p>\n

But the hosts were not finished as Russell sent Matt Fagerson in to round off the scoring two minutes from time.<\/p>\n

“Finn is a world class player. We know if we as a team perform well, we give him the platform to play his best rugby,” said Scotland captain Jamie Ritchie.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got guys that he can put into space that are going to finish opportunities. He is great, but it’s also a team effort. We’ve got to put him in position and give him the stuff that he thrives on.”<\/p>\n

Next up for Scotland are the two top ranked sides in the world as they aim to win the Championship for the first time since 1999.<\/p>\n

Townsend’s men travel to Paris in a fortnight before hosting Ireland on March 12.<\/p>\n

“It feels like an improved performance,” said Townsend after Scotland beat England on the opening weekend to retain the Calcutta Cup.<\/p>\n

“It didn’t feel like that at half-time but the second half was improved, so if it was a 7\/10 last week, it felt like an 8\/10 and we’ll have to improve again.<\/p>\n

“The next two teams we play are ranked one and two in the world and we’ll need to get up to 9\/10 to beat them.”<\/p>\n

In stark contrast to Scotland’s fine form, Wales are off to their worst start to a Six Nations since 2007.<\/p>\n

Warren Gatland’s return as coach has not inspired a turnaround in results as he suffered his first ever defeat to Scotland in 12 attempts as Wales boss.<\/p>\n

Gatland had made sweeping changes to the side that had also been thrashed 34-10 by Ireland last weekend.<\/p>\n

“It’s been disappointing the first couple of performances,” said Gatland. “We have to be honest, be tougher in training and work hard on those moments that are critical in games.<\/p>\n

“You have to stay in the arm wrestle in close games, we were in that in the first half and it got away from us.<\/p>\n

“Any loss is tough. We’re disappointed because we were beaten by a team that was better than us on the day and we weren’t good enough.”<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Scotland coach Gregor Townsend praised the “focus and competitiveness” of Finn Russell after the mercurial flyhalf delivered three assists for tries in a record 35-7 win over Wales on Saturday. Scotland have won their opening two games of a Six Nations for the first time, thanks in large part to Russell’s renaissance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":44423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-44424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\n'World class' Finn Russell praised after masterpiece for high-flying Scotland - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Scotland coach Gregor Townsend praised the "focus and competitiveness" of Finn Russell after the mercurial flyhalf deliv ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/world-class-finn-russell-praised-after-masterpiece-for-high-flying-scotland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'World class' Finn Russell praised after masterpiece for high-flying Scotland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Scotland coach Gregor Townsend praised the "focus and competitiveness" of Finn Russell after the mercurial flyhalf deliv ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/world-class-finn-russell-praised-after-masterpiece-for-high-flying-scotland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-12T09:33:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-12T09:51:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1676181838.38.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"476\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/world-class-finn-russell-praised-after-masterpiece-for-high-flying-scotland#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/world-class-finn-russell-praised-after-masterpiece-for-high-flying-scotland\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"‘World class’ Finn Russell praised after masterpiece for high-flying Scotland\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-12T09:33:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-12T09:51:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/world-class-finn-russell-praised-after-masterpiece-for-high-flying-scotland\"},\"wordCount\":626,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/world-class-finn-russell-praised-after-masterpiece-for-high-flying-scotland#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1676181838.38.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/world-class-finn-russell-praised-after-masterpiece-for-high-flying-scotland#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/world-class-finn-russell-praised-after-masterpiece-for-high-flying-scotland\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/world-class-finn-russell-praised-after-masterpiece-for-high-flying-scotland\",\"name\":\"'World class' Finn Russell praised after masterpiece for high-flying Scotland - 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