Scotland legend Gavin Hastings believes Finn Russell has real potential and he wants to see the 22-year-old stamp his authority on matches during the upcoming RBS Six Nations.
Russell may only have five caps to his name, but with his Glasgow Warriors' team mate Duncan Weir missing the entire tournament during February and March due to a bicep injury he is going to have a big part to play at stand-off.
And Hastings, who won 61 caps for Scotland between 1986 and 1995, saw enough from Russell during the Autumn Tests to suggest to him that he can be Scotland's first choice number 10 for years to come.
"I really like the look of Finn Russell and it is the first time for a while that Scotland has had a stand-off who goes out there and commands games," Hastings stated.
"Dan Parks had a good career with Scotland and at times he really looked a class act, but Russell seems very consistent and not much seems to phase him for a young guy.
"He also seems to talk a lot to the players around him and that is crucial for a guy in that position. I will be very interested to see how he does in the Six Nations with a bit more expectation surrounding him, but I believe he will do pretty well."
Hastings, 53, will be working as a pundit for the BBC during the tournament and, as well as Russell's good form, has another couple of reasons why he feels Scotland can perform well this time around.
He explained: "There is no doubt that the new pitch at BT Murrayfield has made a massive difference in the way Scotland are playing now. Before the players could not get any momentum and had to play to a certain style because the pitch was muddy and cutting up a lot.
"Now on the new surface a much faster game can be played and we saw in the Autumn Tests there against Argentina and New Zealand that Scotland have the players to play that way.
"I hope we see more of it in the home matches there against Wales, Italy and Ireland in the coming weeks.
"I also have been impressed by the way that Vern Cotter has come in and really set his stall out. He is not scared of making big decisions, but he has got the players looking like they are enjoying their rugby and playing as a unit, all knowing what their own jobs are.
"I hope Scotland go to Paris in the opening match next week and really take the match to France as that is the best way to play. It is going to be an exciting event, that's for sure."
The 2015 Six Nations will be exclusively live on the BBC across tv, radio and online from Friday, February 6
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article