By Charlie Elliott
Many have claimed that Finn Russell’s last-gasp missed conversion means that he is no longer at the top of his game and won’t get selected by Andy Farrell on the upcoming Lions tour.
While it was a pivotal moment for Scotland in their one-point loss to England, it doesn’t show the whole story of the Bath fly-half’s performance.
Fin Smith Comparisons
With his new Lions nemesis Fin Smith having kicked the winning penalty for England from a much further distance than Russell’s miss, the lazy comparisons can be seen everywhere.
Look at the game as a whole and you will see that Fin Smith did not have as much impact on the ball as high Scottish counterpart, with almost as many tackles as passes from the Northampton Saints player.
Some might say that Smith’s defending prowess is impressive and shows a different side to his game, which is true given the 17 tackles he completed, but his position is never going to be judged on the defensive work done.
Throughout, the Bath man asked questions of England’s defence and looked to make things happen. His team got three tries compared to England’s one, 59% territory and 58% possession.
No slight on Smith, who remains one of the biggest talents in rugby and played well, especially considering it was only his second Test start.
Result Bias
It was a game in which Scotland played better than their opponents, unfortunately finding themselves on the wrong side of the scoreline.
Should they have got the win they deserved, regardless of Russell’s kicking, there would not be these same conversations about him.
Looking ahead to the Lions tour, the Scottish fly-half still has great moments in him, on his day is still the best out of the home nations and a slightly below-par run of form does not change that.
People are quick to jump on the Fin Smith hype train but as soon as he starts misfiring, everyone will unfairly pile on him and describe him as a poor player (when in fact he is a world-class prospect).
Should that last kick have gone in, the conversations would have probably described the Saints man as ‘overrated’ as they have done with Russell.
It has happened to Marcus Smith already; a few missed kicks and people start to forget that he is statistically the best kicker in the Premiership.
Russell’s Magic
The reactionary nature of fans and media alike nowadays means that players like Russell are being phased out for more consistent players, because people with a bit of a spark in them often make more mistakes, simply because of the increased risks that they take.
But that is what rugby is all about, taking risks. Otherwise, players would just be robots who do the correct action at the correct time and never make any errors.
Sometimes, the rugby world can be its own worst enemy. You cannot have the magic of Russell without sometimes having the bad that comes with it.
Taking a kick under that amount of pressure is a feeling that most of us will never experience and therefore can never give a truly accurate comment on.
Where he fits in on the Lions tour
If he suddenly has a few good games (which is highly probable), he will be back on top of the Lions squad lists.
Based on the qualities that he has, Russell should be on the plane solely because of the magic that he has, which is irreplaceable.
Fin Smith, Sam Prendergast and the Scot would be a formidable group, where the first two can learn from the experience of the latter.
While he might not start, having him off the bench in the games which they need an extra burst of class to ignite the team would be an ideal situation for any side in the world to have.
A few missed kicks do not change that.
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