The time is now if Finn Russell and this ‘golden generation’ of Scotland rugby are to fulfil their potential, says former star Rory Lawson.
Ahead of Saturday’s sold-out clash with New Zealand, Lawson insists his old team has never been better placed to challenge the best in the business.
Gregor Townsend’s men are coming off their biggest ever win at Murrayfield – 85-0 over the USA – and a British and Irish Lions tour to which Scotland contributed a record 13 players.
It is not unreasonable to view this generation of Scottish players as golden, given that Russell has a claim to being the best playmaker on the planet and Blair Kinghorn, Huw Jones, and Sione Tuipulotu are series-winning Lions.
Duhan van der Merwe, Ben White and Darcy Graham also pulled on the famous red shirt in Australia this summer, as did the forward quintet of Pierre Schoeman, Scott Cummings, Ewan Ashman, Rory Sutherland and Gregor Brown.
Yet Scotland as a team continue to fire blanks. Twenty-five years of Six Nations rugby: zero titles. 120 years of fixtures against the All Blacks: not one victory.
On the face of it, the Kiwis face a monster challenge this weekend, even if the Scots are without injured midfield ace Jones. History tells a different story.
Only twice in 32 matches have the tartan army denied New Zealand victory, the draws of 1964 and 1983. Across the piece, their overall points difference against the All Blacks? minus 581.
Finn Russell – The rock star
In Russell, Lawson believes that Scotland have a rock star of a player, a man with that rare ability of improving those he plays alongside.
But he adds: “For Scotland to properly say this squad is starting to fulfil their potential, they need to be winning four Six Nations games [in a campaign] and be in the mix for a title. Not two or three and finding themselves in that middle tier.
“I look at this squad and they should not be finishing fourth or worse in the Six Nations [as they have done in nine of the 11 tournaments since Russell claimed the keys to No.10]. With this group of players, they should always be first, second or third.”
Lawson argues that pressure is a privilege, and the reason this Scotland squad are now under pressure to deliver is because, in his opinion, they are good enough to beat the best teams in the world.
“It should inspire rather than suffocate them,” adds the 31-cap scrum-half. “Expectation is only aligned to what people believe the squad are capable.”
Russell is well equipped to perform under that scrutiny, as his England centre teammate at Bath, Ollie Lawrence, told the Rugby Legends podcast when asked what makes him so good.
“His ability to stay calm in the pressure moments. He never seems too fazed by things. That gives confidence to the team to not worry about things when it’s not going too right. We just crack on to the next thing.”
Lawson agrees. “Finn is bringing the best out of the players around him at Bath. Those guys are playing the best rugby of their careers. You can look at Finn and say he’s an amazing individual player. But Finn makes whole teams tick.
“Likewise with Scotland, the players around him understand how he plays and love playing with him. The thing is this, he’s a very different player to the Finn Russell of five to eight years ago.
“When I hear people pin the ‘maverick’ title on Finn now, I shoot it down. His game IQ is unbelievable. He’s tightened up a few things which he knew he needed to do to reduce his error count.
“He has become so astute in how he wants to run a game. He puts the right demands on people. His kick-pass-run game has got a really good balance.
“I’d say his kick pass is as good as anyone in the game, his passing is the best in the world of any of the fly-halves, and defensively, he is incredibly brave; he rarely misses a tackle. He’s the linchpin around everything.”
Russell, however, is 33. While he will tell you age is just a number and he is playing the best rugby of his life, the fact remains nobody has a limitless shelf life.
If Scotland are to achieve with him it is going to have to be sooner rather than later. Hence Lawson urging the men of the thistle to set new standards this season.
For this New Zealand game not to be another hard luck story to set alongside the narrow defeats of 2014, 2017 and 2022, all of which Scotland were in position to win.
Scotland pushing for Six Nations titles
And for the upcoming Six Nations, with England and France at home and little to fear, on recent evidence, from away days in Wales and Italy, to give them their first four-win campaign in the 26-year history of the extended tournament.
“The expectation people have for this Scotland side highlights the quality they’ve got,” adds Lawson, who is working for TNT Sports during the Quilter Nations Series.
“Scotland punch well above their weight in terms of playing numbers and professional players in the game.
“But when you strip it back and look at the quality of player this group has, I don’t think it’s too much to ask of them that they are pushing for Six Nations titles.
“They’ve not been there consistently enough. And they’ll be saying the same thing behind closed doors.
“I’m yet to find a Scotland player over the last five years who’s come out on the back of a Six Nations loss and said, ‘they were just better than us’.”
Watch every match of the Quilter Nations Series live on TNT Sports and discovery+ from 1-29 November.