Finn Russell and Rory Darge have been appointed co-captains for Scotland’s Six Nations.
They take over the captaincy from Jamie Ritchie, with head coach Gregor Townsend saying the move will allow the Edinburgh back-row to “focus more on his game and deliver his best rugby” during the championship.
Ritchie’s game-time has been limited since the Rugby World Cup – and after Townsend stated he needed to prove his form and fitness, the 27-year-old played just over half an hour of Edinburgh’s win over Scarlets on Friday.
Both Darge – who is currently sidelined with a knee injury – and Russell have captained Scotland already this season, with 15-cap Darge leading the side to a World Cup warm-up win over Italy.
Russell captained his country for the first time in the comeback win over France at Murrayfield.
Gregor Townsend said: “Appointing co-captains for this year’s Guinness Six Nations allows us to further grow and develop the leadership within the squad.
“Rory and Finn captained Scotland last summer and bring different strengths and styles of leadership to the table.
“Both are highly respected within our squad and have been part of our leadership group for some time. I’m sure they will thrive with this responsibility and lean on our other leaders to drive certain aspects of our preparation, mindset and performance.”
Darge said: “I enjoyed captaining the team last summer and immediately felt proud when Gregor told me the news.
“To co-captain your country is a tremendous honour and to do it alongside a guy like Finn who is respected across the game and such a talented player will be great for me.
“Everyone in our leadership group plays a vital role and we all have strengths that will take the team forward.
“This year’s Guinness Six Nations represents a chance for us to continue to progress as a group and everyone is looking forward to that first game against Wales”.
Fly-half Russell said: “Playing for Scotland is a huge honour and to co-captain the side is a privilege and something I am proud of.
“We have such a talented squad and to lead them alongside Rory represents a massive opportunity. I can’t wait to get started with this year’s championship.
“Rory has been a key player for us since he made his debut and leads by example during matches and in training.
“We’ll both have different leadership styles which will complement each other and ultimately benefit the team as we go into the tournament.”
Scotland will go into the Six Nations without wing Darcy Graham, who has been ruled out for “at least the first two games” with a quad injury. Great Britain 7s player Ross McCann, who played twice for Edinburgh at the start of this season, has been added to the squad.
Graham picked up the injury in last weekend’s defeat to Gloucester and, while he completed that match, he missed the trip to Scarlets.
It leaves Townsend short in the back three, with another Edinburgh man, Harry Paterson, also missing the trip to Wales with a shoulder injury.
Kyle Steyn’s return for Glasgow on Friday night – his first rugby since the World Cup – could not have been timed better with news of Graham’s injury, while Townsend can also call upon Lions wing Duhan van der Merwe, one-cap Glasgow man Kyle Rowe and uncapped Sale Shark Arron Reed.
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 here