Finn Russell has dismissed the notion that his missed late conversion was the deciding factor in Scotland’s narrow 16-15 defeat to England in last weekend’s Six Nations clash.
The Scotland co-captain saw his final-minute kick drift just wide after Duhan van der Merwe’s 79th-minute try had given the visitors a chance to snatch victory at the Allianz Stadium.
While some pointed to the missed kick as a crucial moment, Russell insists the loss was down to Scotland’s overall failure to capitalise on their dominance.
Despite Gregor Townsend’s side outscoring England by three tries to one, the Scots squandered multiple scoring opportunities, with Russell also missing all three of his conversion attempts.
Scotland have now lost two of their opening three Six Nations fixtures.
Read more:
- Townsend backs Russell to bounce back after costly missed conversion
- Finn Russell misses late conversion as England end Scotland run
Reflecting on Scotland's failure to win the Calcutta Cup for the first time in five years, Russell shared his thoughts on the Kick Offs and Kick Ons Podcast: "Tough one to take that, wasn't it?
"We played well but we didn't take our chances and then I didn't kick it at the end. I felt bad because we'd won it four years in a row and I hadn't lost to England since 2017.
"You don't want to blame the kicker. I think there were chances in the game where we could have scored and probably shouldn't have been in that situation anyway.
"Overall I think everyone was pleased with how we played. It was just a shame we lost."
Russell could be cut some slack since he was ready to take the kick then the match referee decided to be petty and order him to slightly alter the ball position.
Addressing the incident, the Bath fly-half said: “I put it where the try was scored and he told me to take it further out. I'll blame him for it then."
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