Finn Russell dropped for Scotland’s Six Nations finale against Ireland

Finn Russell has been dropped to Scotland’s bench for Saturday’s Six Nations game with Ireland in Dublin. Edinburgh’s Blair Kinghorn takes the place of the highly regarded fly-half, whose performances in this year’s tournament have been the subject of scrutiny.

The omission of Russell is particularly notable since the head coach, Gregor Townsend, has made just two changes to the side that started last Saturday’s bonus-point victory away to Italy and Kinghorn has made one international start.

The other alteration is in the second row, where Jonny Gray, who has missed the past two games through injury, returns in place of his Exeter colleague Sam Skinner, who drops to the bench.

When asked what Russell had done to be omitted, Townsend said: “I’d prefer to focus on what Blair has done and how well he’s played and how he’s deserved his opportunity. We see this as an opportunity for Blair. He’s been in really good form.

“He wasn’t available for our match last week [due to personal reasons] but the week before that he played his best game of the season against Connacht.

“He’s come on twice off the bench and shown what he can do. He started against Tonga and played really well and he’s built on that performance so we believe this is the right time, the right game for him.”

Ireland: Keenan; Hansen, Ringrose, Aki, Lowe; Sexton (capt.), Gibson-Park; Healy, Sheehan, Furlong, Beirne, Henderson, Doris, Van Der Flier, Conan. Replacements: Herring, Kilcoyne, Bealham, Treadwell, O'Mahony, Murray, Carbery, Henshaw.

Scotland: Hogg (capt.); Graham, Harris, Johnson, Steyn; Kinghorn, Price; Fagerson, Watson, Darge, Gilchrist, Gray, Fagerson, Turner, Schoeman. Replacements: Brown, Dell, Nel, Skinner, Bayliss, White, Russell, Bennett.

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