FINN Russell has revealed that he had had only minimal contact with Gregor Townsend since the summer before the Scotland coach got in touch this week to recall him to the squad.
Before joining up with the group yesterday, the Racing 92 stand-off texted Townsend in a bid to get up to speed with aspects of the game plan. He appears confident, however, that he will be able to fit in well if selected to play against the All Blacks at BT Murrayfield on Sunday.
“I hadn’t heard from Gregor since before the summer so I wasn’t too surprised,” Russell said of being left out of Scotland’s initial squad for the Autumn Nations Series. “He’ll have had his reasons, so I’m not looking into it too much.
“I’m not a coach and I’m not the one picking the team thankfully. I’ll get back into camp and worry about that then.”
Blair Kinghorn played at 10 against Australia two weeks ago, then Adam Hastings took over against Fiji last Saturday. It was after Hastings was injured in that game that the coach said he would consider a recall for Russell, whose original omission he claimed was on the grounds of form and consistency.
Russell did not go on Scotland’s summer tour to South America either, but it appears he did not need much of an update from Townsend prior to his return. “I text[ed] him a few times just chatting about the attack system, shape, and a couple things around that,” he said in an interview with the Daily Mail. “Nothing too much. I’ll wait and see how it is when I get in.
“It was me needing clarity on a few things from the last year and a half. I had a few questions and got some good clarity back. I gave my thoughts and we had a couple of texts back and forth to discuss a few things so we were all clear on the attacking side.
“It will be easy enough to get up to speed on the rugby side. I’ve been playing long enough.”
