Strange Case of Dr Finn Jekyll and Mr Russell Hyde

Oct 19, 2020

WELCOME: here we are again with the latest issue of the Thistle newsletter, where we take a look back at the great and good of Scottish rugby over the past seven days. Last weekend saw the much anticipated showdown between Stuart Hogg’s Exeter Chiefs and Finn Russell’s Racing 92, which threw up lots of questions for Scotland rugby fans. We offer our take on the match below, whilst also managing to discuss The Only Way is Essex, Jeff Bezos and Will I.AM.

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PRE MATCH SCOTS DOMINATION: Saturday evening was a rare night in Scottish rugby history. Not only did we have multiple players competing in a European Cup Final but two of Scotland’s finest were at the forefront of the BT marketing for the event. Hogg and Finn are rugby superstars, not just in Scotland or across the British Isles but globally, and this week was a great example of how lucky we are to have arguably Scotland’s two greatest backs of the professional era playing together for Scotland and at the highest level of club rugby.

Finn Russell had already opened up his bag of tricks in the warm up - thankfully this was captured and very quickly posted on Twitter here.

WHAT A FINAL: Exeter left the final as deserving champions and the 31-27 score line was probably a fair reflection of the contest - see full highlights here. Seeing 4 Scots come away with a Champions Cup winners’ medal ain’t too shabby either.

Ten minutes in and it appeared the contest was over. Exeter were fourteen points up helped in no small part by Racing 92 scrum-half Teddy Iribaren, who was clearly upholding long held Racing traditions.

Rumours began to circulate (started by whom we do not know) that Gatland had had a quick word in Iribaren’s ear prior to kick off:

Hogg and Gray were solid if unspectacular throughout the contest, while SHC perhaps wrote himself into Exeter folklore with a crucial turnover late on in the match when Racing were threatening to take the lead. However, it was Finn Russell’s performance that had everyone talking, even non-Scottish rugby followers.

In many ways it was a typical Finn performance, moments of brilliance (the pass for Zebo’s first try, numerous chips in behind the Exeter rush defence) punctuated with mad spells, and it seems much of the post-match commentary focused on the intercept pass he gave for Jack Nowell. While the mistake was no doubt a bad one, the pass poorly executed in the wrong area of the pitch and at a time where Racing’s attack had Exeter on the back foot, it was only through Finn’s ambition and risk-taking that the French side were even in the match at all: taking on Exeter up front, when Racing can boast the likes of Vakatawa, Zebo and Imhoff out wide, would be entirely the wrong approach. Inexperience also played its part - we should remember that this was Finn’s first European final and only his second championship match since Glasgow’s Pro 12 victory in 2015 - particulary the failure to take a drop goal when Racing were camped on the Exeter line in the final five minutes of the match. However, this appeared to be a team failure rather than Finn’s sole responsibility

Finn’s rivals for the Lions 10 shirt have their own failings that seem to be conveniently ignored when selection is discussed. Dan Biggar is a fierce competitor yet limited in attack, Ainscombe is a smart operator yet injury prone, Sexton will be 36 by the time the tour rolls along, while Farrell’s temperament and tackle technique are questionable, particularly when not playing on the front foot. While Gatland has been criticized for the one-dimensional playing style of his teams, those close to him claim he will simply select the best strategy for the game at hand. Therefore much hinges on how he decides to take on South Africa. If Gatland chooses to fight fire with fire, Biggar, Farrell and Sexton would likely be the men for the job. But if the Lions look to play away from the contact and win through speed of thought, Finn may still have a real chance of pushing for a Lions’ test start.

What do the readers think of Finn’s performance and whether it will impact Lions’ selection? Leave a comment below

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Stuart Hogg gave a brief interview after the match - clearly he’s loving life down on the south coast, and it was for moments just like Saturday that the fullback moved to the Chiefs.

BLUES BROTHERS: With Hogg now firmly in place as captain and Russell returning to the Scotland squad after ‘the incident we don’t talk about’ it was a great moment for Scotland and the wider rugby community to see Finn and Hoggy having a beer together after the match

Friend of the Pod Graham Love gave his view on what the chat might have entailed…

SCOTLAND SQUAD: the SRU finally managed to bag the big EXCLUSIVE everyone’s been fighting for - an interview with an SRU employed coach on his recently announced 40 an squad. How the media team at Murrayfield keep banging out these EXCLUSIVE interviews is the great mystery of Scottish Rugby.

THE ONLY WAY IS MURRAYFIELD: ITV4 has historically been the home of TOWIE repeats, Superbikes and The Fast and the Furious franchise and now…Scottish Rugby

Whilst some of the lids on show might remind you of a TOWIE episode, it’s great to see the Scotland match getting some free to air coverage given that the Autumn Nations Cup has been personally procured by Jeff Bezos for Amazon Prime

SCOTLAND WOMEN: Scotland Women are back this Sunday in their rearranged Six Nations match againast France at Scotstoun. It is great to see the match being televised live on BBC Alba at 2pm.

BARBARIANS SELECTION: there will be a decidedly Scottish element to the Barbarians team that takes on England in this Sunday’s Quilter Cup. Sean Maitland and Tim Swinson have been selected in the side, which is being coached by former Scotland favourite Vern Cotter. Last year’s fixture saw Finn and Greig Laidlaw running amok - hopefully this Sunday sees a repeat.

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SCOTTISH RUGBY IN BOLIVIA: Scottish exile Mark Camburn has been doing a great job of spreading the rugby gospel to his adopted homeland of Bolivia, where he is currently the captain of the national side. Rugby is not without its challenges in the country, namely the logistical challenges of traversing the Andes and having to play at various altitudes. The sport is entirely voluntary at present, with players responsible for their own kit and travel costs, therefore Mark is looking to raise funds to grow rugby in Bolivia and ensure the game is accessible for everyone in the country.

Here is the link to the crowfunding page: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/bolivianrugby

For more details on Mark’s rugby journey check out this great interview he did with the BBC recently.

YOUTUBE BLACK HOLE: summary of some videos put out on YouTube this week that could be of interest:

Fun video from ‘Warriors HQ’ which asks the players “Who their best friend is?” New arrival Fotu Lokotui seems to have the same issue with names as we have on the pod
Edinburgh Rugby gave us a look inside the new Mini Murrayfield and The Thistle is liking the look of it…sadly timing wise we’re not sure there is a worse time for the SRU to have made a significant investment in a smaller ground for Edinburgh. Here hoping we have full stadium by the end of 2021
Here is the Alan Jacobson aka The Chunk tribute video you never knew you needed expertly matched up to the Will I.A.M. classic? ‘Big and Chunky’

PLUGGING: You can subscribe to the podcast here: https://play.acast.com/s/thethistle

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