And this coming from a guy that insists he is a fan of the Scotland outhalf.
Six minutes into Scotland’s Six Nations encounter with France and the game was going at a rate of knots. Seeking to give his teammates some respite, Finn Russell put a long put down the pitch.
Unfortunately for Russell and Scotland, the kick was straight at Antoine Dupont and it was too far for any of his teammates to get close to the France scrumhalf before he gathered, spun and counter-attacked. Darcy Graham did his best but was stepped. In the space of six seconds, France were attacking up the left, 50 metres up the pitch. Scotland were struggling.
Sensing the Scots were not organised for the counter, the French kept the ball alive, belted through quick phases and offloaded with gusto. Before Finn Russell even had a moment to regret his poor kick, Paul Willemse was crashing over for his side’s first try. Following the game, which France won easily, Shane Horgan took Russell to task.
Antoine Dupont, pure magic 💫 pic.twitter.com/i2PbT9eqAt
— House of Rugby (@HouseOfRugby) February 26, 2022
Shane Horgan blasts poor Finn Russell decision
In the post-match analysis of France’s 36-17 win over Scotland, in Murrayfield, Horgan called that early Russell kick “pathetic”. He was critical, overall, of the Racing 92 outhalf’s entire performance.
The former Leinster and Ireland star declared, “That is actually pathetic.
“For your top player, your talisman [to do that], five minutes into the game. He doesn’t have an injury, he’s not fatigued. You look at someone like Rory Darge killing himself around the field – turning ball over, making tackles, carries, scoring a try – and then you’ve got your best player performing like that.
“There is no way any team can win consistently if you have players doing that. It’s like what France were doing in their dark ages, but that’s gone out of there. You’d never see a Springbok doing that, you’d never see an All Black doing that.
“If Finn Russell wants to count himself as a really top player, have a look at the best players of the last 10 years. Look at the generational players like Brian O’Driscoll, Dan Carter, Jonny Wilkinson. They were so hard working, and that [from Russell] was pathetic.”
"If Finn Russell counts himself as a really top player, have a look at the best players from the last 10 years.
"Look at Brian O'Driscoll, Dan Carter, Johnny Wilkinson.
"That was patethic." #SCOvFRA #GuinnessSixNations pic.twitter.com/PIv0gYBFXl
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) February 26, 2022
Rob Kearney, who won two Grand Slams with Ireland, says Finn Russell’s teammates would have been clearly able to see their outhalf not putting the work in, whenever they looked at replays on the big screen at Murrayfield. He added that the Monday morning review for Scotland may well be a rough watch for their No.10.
“That’s not good enough,” said Kearney. “That’s humiliating.”
