SCOTLAND hooker Fraser Brown has revealed there is a code of conduct that every player in the squad is expected to adhere to, and it is down to each individual that they don't "let their teammates down" by failing to live up to those standards.
Brown's comments come following Finn Russell's departure from the Scotland squad as they prepare to face Ireland on Saturday following a late-night drinking session at the team hotel last weekend.
“We were pretty clear on want we wanted to do as a team off the pitch. There is a set of standards and a code we put in place which we want everyone to adhere to and it’s down to each individual to make sure they adhere to that and don’t let their team-mates down," the Glasgow Warriors forward said.
“They need to respect the sacrifices that everyone else puts in.
“That’s a question you’d have to ask Finn but we just want everyone who is here pulling in the same direction and living up to the same standards between each player."
However, Brown is also hopeful that the situation the Scotland now find themselves in, having lost one of their best players, will have a galvanising effect on the remaining members of the squad and will push them on to a strong performance on Saturday.
"The rhetoric can be a little negative around issues like this but we have pulled together really tightly as a group of players because we have new individuals come in but also because we’ve underperformed over the last couple of years so that expectation and drive has got to be there," Brown said.
"You’ve got to be tight as a group off the pitch, you can’t expect to perform in pressurised environments on the pitch unless you’re all together and you’re all pulling in the same direction."
And while is is disappointing to have a player of Russell's calibre unavailable for selection this weekend, Brown believes there are players such as Adam Hastings who are more than capable of stepping in to fill the void.
"You can’t get away from the fact that Finn’s a quality rugby player," Brown said.
But we have someone like Adam Hastings who’s been fantastic for Glasgow over the last month.
“Adam is also such a dangerous attacker so we have plenty of quality operators in our squad."
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