Scotland, of course, still have a bit to do before then. First they must do what they\u2019ve never managed since Gregor Townsend took over as head coach in 2017 by beating Ireland in the first leg of a highly anticipated Super Saturday trilogy. They would then have to cross their fingers that this beleaguered and battered England side can somehow recover from their bruising defeat to Italy by stopping France in Paris later in the day. Neither part of that equation will be straightforward but Russell, who won his 93th Scotland cap in the win over France, believes it would top anything he has achieved in the game should he get his hands on the Six Nations trophy.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIt\u2019s new territory for us going into the last game with a chance to win it. I\u2019ve probably never been in a position where that\u2019s been an option. I\u2019ve won a few titles, I\u2019ve been in finals before.\u00a0But I think winning something with Scotland, especially the Six Nations, would be definitely the peak of my career.\u00a0 When you start playing for Scotland, you always want to win it, obviously. We\u2019ve never put ourselves in a position where we can win it.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we\u2019re in that position, it\u2019s all to play for this weekend.\u00a0 Making sure that the occasions that we get to play our game will be so important. It will definitely be up there as the top thing in my career if we can win it.\u00a0I think we\u2019re ready. We know what\u2019s on the line now. But we don\u2019t want to build it up to something and let ourselves get carried away or let the occasion get to us. We need to treat this just as any other Test match.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be a lot more outside noise after putting 50 points on France. I think for us, it\u2019ll be about making sure we keep it within the circle and we keep doing what we\u2019re doing.\u00a0We\u2019re still building a lot of from the Argentina game in November with that tough loss, and then [losing to] Italy to start the tournament. It\u2019s never the perfect performance. As long as we can keep the outside noise outside the circle and not let it get to us, then that\u2019s the main thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell joked that he would message his Bath team-mates in the England squad to make sure they were up for Le Crunch on Saturday night but acknowledged that game would become meaningless from a Scottish perspective if they didn\u2019t win in the Aviva earlier in the day.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cI\u2019ll be texting them, don\u2019t worry! But us and England are very different teams. France and England are very different.\u00a0 I could try and give them some tips, but whether or not that\u2019s going to suit their game plan or not, I\u2019m not sure. I think we\u2019ll get to that when it comes on Saturday night. We can\u2019t really start thinking about that until we\u2019ve actually had the performance that we\u2019re looking for during the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scotland\u2019s failure to defeat Ireland has become a recurring issue over the past decade and Russell admitted they would have to give it considerable thought in the days ahead on how to finally banish that hoodoo.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s been nine years now since we\u2019ve beaten them, it\u2019s quite a while,\u201d he added. \u201cBut again, there\u2019s that monkey on our back \u2013 that\u2019s all outside noise.\u00a0 We need to make sure we get our preparation right and we build for this weekend. We can\u2019t start thinking we\u2019ve not beaten them in nine years. This has to be the one. We don\u2019t need any added pressure for this game. We just need to make sure we get our mindset right and we perform on the weekend. We know a lot of the players from the summer [the British and Irish Lions squad], we know a lot of the coaching staff.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got a better understanding of them but it\u2019s going to come down to 15 on 15 or 23 on 23 on the pitch on the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if you watch Ireland\u2019s game against Wales [on Friday] night,\u00a0they had so many opportunities and\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0take as many as they\u00a0probably would\u00a0like to.They\u2019ll come off the back of that bonus\u00a0 point win and probably not be happy with that, I\u2019d imagine. Andy Farrell will probably be quite hard on them and driving them to do better this weekend. I think that\u2019s the beauty of this last match. We\u2019re in with a chance of winning and so are they.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell felt Scotland\u2019s 50-40 win over France was another sign of the squad\u2019s improved mindset and dealing better with adversity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a brilliant Test match. We got out quickly and France came back and hit us with a couple of tries. The mindset didn\u2019t change, the pace never dropped. I think it\u2019s something we\u2019ve actually got really good at this campaign. I think against Wales, when we went behind, we had to find our way back into that game and get the win.\u00a0 Today, we had the scoreboard for most of the game and France obviously came back in the end. The main thing was the belief in the squad and the mindset we had.\u201d<\/p>\n
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