“You almost feel for Scotland to win the game, you need the Finn Russell moments, the magic moments, to come off,” the former Springbok captain said. “Even though they weren’t great in the Autumn, Ireland has that kind of consistency, where they can just go through their structure, put pressure on you, the dam will break, and you concede tries.

Finn Russell believes Scotland have now developed the mindset required to compete for this year’s Guinness Six Nations title. The Scots have gone into recent championships with high hopes but despite several eye-catching results,

Ex-Falkirk rugby star Finn Russell admits Scotland "have to be a lot better" than they were against Italy if they want to challenge for the Six Nations title.

Russell and Townsend are the pre-eminent Scotland stand-offs of the professional era, and perhaps of all time if you also include John Rutherford. But while Townsend and Rutherford both won Five Nations championships, the current man at No 10 has been thwarted.