Finn Russell in the firing line as ex-Lion slams Scotland players for ‘abdicating responsibility’
Finn Russell dejected during Scotland's Six Nations defeat to Italy in 2024.
Former Scotland prop Peter Wright has heavily criticised the current squad after their shock Six Nations defeat to Italy on Saturday.
Gregor Townsend’s men suffered their second reversal of the 2024 competition when they went down to the Azzurri in Rome.
They succumbed 31-29 in a loss which effectively ended their Six Nations title hopes going into the final round.
Although they could still mathematically finish at the top, it would require a huge margin of victory in Dublin for them to usurp Ireland.
More underachievement
It is ultimately yet another year of underachievement for the Scots, who promised so much but have once again delivered very little.
Head coach Townsend has come in for some criticism after their latest defeat, but Wright insists that it is players who should be blamed.
“We’ve got a good coach but we’ve got players who abdicate responsibility. We’ve said we’re a good team for the last eight years and have nothing to show for it,” he told BBC Sport.
“We’ll be the laughing stock this weekend and this is the sad thing because Italy should be given all the credit. We played rubbish but we played rubbish because Italy played so well.
“Italy played well, did the basics better than Scotland did.”
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Finn Russell and Rory Darge were named co-captains ahead of the Six Nations, but Wright feels that Scotland don’t have “any real leaders.”
Akin to the Wales capitulation in Round One, the Scots appeared to freeze when the pressure came on and went away from what they did well.
Russell, both as skipper and the primary decision-maker, has to take a part of the blame, with the game rather drifting the visitors by in the second period.
“They’ve won nothing. Have they been close? No, they’ve never won three games in a row in the Six Nations,” Wright added.
“You’ve got good players on the park today for Scotland but there aren’t any real leaders. We keep saying we need to learn and we’re going to learn but when will we actually learn?”
A consistent opinion
That view was echoed by former Scotland sevens captain Colin Gregor, who said: “When the chips are down, why is everyone playing as individuals?
“That’s a sign of no leaders. Scotland need to be able to weather the storm and stop shipping points in the process.”
The players came out and took responsibility for the defeat post-match with Huw Jones one of those to defend Scotland’s head coach.
“We’re all behind the coaches, we’re all behind Gregor,” Jones said. “We love the way we want to play. We have a good plan; when we execute it, it’s brilliant and we play good rugby.
“I don’t think today was on Gregor, it was on the players. We didn’t execute our plan well enough, Italy played well, and in that second half they managed the game better.”
