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Door open for Finn Russell to return for Scotland but not in time for Ireland

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has left the door open for fly-half Finn Russell to return to...



Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has left the door open for fly-half Finn Russell to return to the squad before the end of the Six Nations.

The Racing 92 star was kicked out of Scotland's training camp last week for a breach of discipline and he'll miss Saturday's match against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium.

Townsend told reporters at their training camp in Spain that he's had a "really good conversation" with Russell and says the player is aware that he let his teammates down.

“The door is open for any player, obviously he is unavailable not because of injury, he is not available because of what went on and there has got to be a link to where he would be in terms of: ‘Is he with the team?

“Is he able to live up to the standards expected of a team player and a Scotland team player?’ But the focus is so much on us preparing for Ireland that these are questions for a later time.

“First of all obviously the consequences of his actions, of leaving camp on the Sunday night and not being there on Monday, but it was a positive meeting. We left that meeting in a really good place and at the time I thought he would be back in camp later that week.

"It didn’t happen and we have moved on. In terms of where we are now as a team, because we have to prepare for Ireland, that is our focus and we will see after the Ireland game what happens.”

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