Townsend’s ‘Toonie flip’ brilliance lives on in Scotland’s x-factor rugby | Andy Bull


Scotland’s win against England was made possible because their coach has fashioned a team who take risks as he did

You’re not supposed to throw slow, floated 20-yard passes off your left hand when you’re standing on your own 22. It’s something sensible parents teach their children not to do. But Finn Russell did on Saturday night, and he got it just right. The ball flew up over Jonathan Joseph, who stretched for it like a toddler reaching for the cookie jar, and down into the little patch of empty space just beyond him, where Huw Jones gathered it in, clutched it to his gut without breaking stride, then burst upfield. It was a fine, foolish pass, a high, wide and handsome folly of a throw.

Related: Scotland’s Finn Russell orchestrates a harsh lesson for England | Robert Kitson

Townsend was one of those happy athletes who seemed to run on a different clock to the rest of us

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