Six Nations 2022: Ireland v Scotland - Stuart Hogg and Finn Russell bar visit shows indiscipline

'One pint, 10 pints or a nightclub... it's not a good look'

By Tom English
BBC Scotland

Guinness Six Nations: Ireland v Scotland

Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin Date: Saturday, 19 March Kick-off: 16:45 GMT

Coverage: Listen on BBC Radio Scotland & follow live text coverage on BBC Sport website & app

Two years on from a trip to Dublin dominated by Finngate we have another trip to Dublin and Finngate II and Hoggygate and Sionegate and lots of other gates attached to the names of the other players who thought it a good idea to go drinking against orders upon their return from Rome last weekend when they were told to stay in camp.

Where to start? Why has this happened in the Scotland camp - again? The captain and the playmaker and other vastly experienced players venturing outside the hotel bubble and putting themselves in danger of contracting Covid. The lack of professionalism is remarkable.

What are the innocent squad members thinking? The ones who adhered to the rules. What does it say about the unity of the squad and authority of the management when an element within that squad - including supposed leaders - go rogue and have to be instructed to return to the team base? This is amateur hour stuff.

Perhaps blowing off steam outwith the camp might have helped them release some of the stress and frustration they have been feeling in recent weeks, but there are Covid considerations to be made.

It's not exactly Presbyterian strictness to ask elite athletes to respect house rules for one more week when coronavirus positives are on the rise. That's just common sense. That fact that the six couldn't, or wouldn't, see that calls into question their judgement, to put it mildly.

The word is the squad have trained really well this week. We don't know if it was fuelled by anger or whether there is friction between camps now. The dynamic in the team will be interesting to observe. At the very least this episode has brought distraction when they needed steely focus in an attempt to finish their season with a flourish.

This is a game, needless to say, that they need to win in order to salvage something from a profoundly dispiriting championship.

'No solid reason to pick Russell'

Would Russell have been benched for Ireland regardless of what happened? Only Gregor Townsend could answer that - and he won't go there, for understandable reasons. In pure rugby terms, though, there was no solid reason to pick him for this game beyond a boom-or-bust hope that he would suddenly find himself at the Aviva.

Given his track record against Ireland, that would have been a forlorn punt, like a gambler chasing his money by lumping the last of his cash on an outsider at Cheltenham in a bid to get out of jail.

At times, there's a default setting when it comes to Russell. If Scotland win, he's presumed to be outstanding. When Scotland won at Twickenham there was a general gushing about his performance - "a masterclass", some said - but it was anything but. It had its moments - as ever - but it was pockmarked by too many errors for a player who has had the mantle of 'world class' bestowed upon him.

We focus on his world-class moments because they're so delightful and so audacious, but this is not a player who has banged out consistent excellence over the past two seasons - and he's certainly not a talent so impossible to drop that he can afford to ignore squad rules.

If Adam Hastings was on form there was a strong case for dropping Russell entirely after the weekend shenanigans. Hastings, however, dynamited his own chances in Italy. Missing three tackles in a brief time on the pitch isn't exactly a compelling audition.

And so to Kinghorn, now cast in a role in Dublin previously occupied by Hastings after the turbulence of 2020. Kinghorn is a talent, no question. Athletic, skilful, physically imposing - he's been playing well in his new role at 10 for Edinburgh.

At times he's looked terrific. In his last game against Connacht, he ran the show in a landslide win. As he tormented the province with his running and the beautiful subtleness of his passing he looked like a thoroughbred 10.

But that was Connacht in the United Rugby Championship and this is Ireland in the Six Nations and a game the hosts must win with a four-try bonus point to give themselves even the slightest chance of winning the championship.

Townsend sees Kinghorn as a 10 of the future, but he hasn't exactly tested his theory all that much. The Edinburgh player has had just over two hours as a Test fly-half.

His only start was against Tonga in the autumn. That game accounts for the vast bulk of his minutes in the jersey. He's been a bit-part player off the bench in the position in this Six Nations. Expecting him to go in against this driven Ireland team, led by one of the greatest 10s of his generation - Johnny Sexton - and control things is the most enormous job. Good luck to him.

Six Nations highlights: Italy 22-33 Scotland

When Russell exited the camp two years ago, the Scotland players grew tight as a group and played with thunder in Dublin. The memory of that game - and others that went before in Dublin - was the amount of try-scoring chances that Scotland created and the number of try-scoring chances that Scotland butchered.

Hogg dropping the ball over the line two years ago was an unforgettable faux pas, but failing to convert good opportunities has been a feature of their play in Ireland.

'Everything points to Ireland win'

Similar profligacy is a one-way ticket to a rout. What else? Their defence has gone from the best in the championship to the second worst. Their discipline has gone from strong to weak. They've shipped more penalties than anybody else.

That shocker in Cardiff knocked the stuffing out of them. The Scottish underbelly, which stiffened for two seasons from 2020, has gone soft again. Leaving the bubble after Rome is another manifestation of the ill-discipline that dogs this team.

For all of those issues to suddenly correct themselves on Saturday is improbable, to say the least. There are sub-plots in all of this - not just Ireland's laser focus on a four-try win. There's no love lost between some of these players. Irish and Scottish rugby fans rub along famously, but at various times in recent years some bitterness has emerged among the main protagonists. That ill-feeling - or motivation, to give it a kinder description - remains.

The latest version revolves around the selection of the British and Irish Lions touring party. Russell was chosen ahead of Sexton. Chris Harris picked above Garry Ringrose. Hamish Watson was included while Josh van der Flier was left at home. There will be snubbed Irish players on a mission out there.

Whatever the truth of it, Sexton may feel Townsend, the Lions' attack coach, was the one who argued against him and in favour of Russell. Sexton will have been disappointed when the news of Russell's demotion came through. That's a racing certainty.

Everything points to a convincing Ireland victory. We're told that Scotland's morale has not been damaged by the extra-curricular boozing that went on last weekend. For their sake, that had better be true. There's a storm coming their way.