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Finn Russell insists he is having “great fun” on his Scotland return after a terrific performance in the 52-29 win over Argentina.
The experienced fly-half was overlooked for the first two autumn Tests.
However, he impressed in last week’s narrow defeat to New Zealand and was involved in all eight tries against the Pumas at Murrayfield.
“I’m enjoying myself, it’s great fun to be a part of and we ran in some great tries,” he told Amazon Prime.
“It was a good performance at times from us. We still need to learn to play for the full 80 minutes.
“It’s great to be back, I love playing at Murrayfield.
“It gives us confidence, there’s lots we need to learn from and build from. The last couple of Tests, we’ve attacked well and our defence has been good.”
Russell was excused from the summer tour to Argentina, which was lost 2-1, but his initial exclusion from the autumn squad came as a huge surprise, with head coach Gregor Townsend citing “form and consistency” in picking Blair Kinghorn, Adam Hastings and Ross Thompson ahead of the Racing 92 star.
Injury to Hastings in the win over Fiji opened up a place for Russell, who ran the show in a chaotic contest with Argentina, which featured six cards – one red and five yellow.
“He’s really played well the last two weeks,” said Townsend of the 30-year-old. “He came in determined, I think he found solutions to what the Argentina defence were doing, and his decision making was really good.
“We’ve been glad to have Finn in this form for the last two weeks and it’s great that he’s playing some of his best rugby.”
Townsend added later: “He’s now the man in possession. It will take something (special) from Blair and Adam to change that. His passing skills are up there with the best in the world.”
Darcy Graham scored a hat-trick but had to give way to Russell for man-of-the-match, while Sione Tuipulotu had an eventful afternoon, running in two tries and being sent to the sin-bin late on. There was a first international try for replacement centre Cameron Redpath to celebrate, with Duhan van der Merwe and Stuart Hogg also scoring as Russell knocked over six conversions.
“It’s really competitive, world rugby, right now. I believe that anyone in the top 10 can win on their day against someone else,” said Townsend on Amazon Prime. “It will be a really intriguing Six Nations, and then World Cup.
“The players worked hard for that. It’s good that we’ve ended on a win. We all need that reassurance that what we’re doing is leading to wins.”
