BATTLE FOR NO 1

GIVEN EVERYTHING that has happened in rugby since Covid came into our lives – the mass cancellation of fixtures, the financial turbulence and the mad scramble to survive – Scotland’s spring of discontent seems insignificant by comparison. In real time, it was a gargantuan story, of course.

Take yourself back to January when Finn Russell exited Gregor Townsend’s Six Nations squad, and then February when he went public on a whole battery of grievances against his national team coach, and you’re reminded of how thermonuclear it all was. In fallout terms, Scottish rugby hadn’t seen anything like it since John Jeffrey and Dean Richards played pass the Calcutta Cup on a drunken stroll around Edinburgh in 1988.

Peace and understanding has now broken out between the protagonists. Or, should we say, enough peace and enough understanding. The two men have spoken long and often. They’ve found, or hope they’ve found, a way to move forward together. Russell’s cutting words back then – his depiction of Townsend