Ex-Falkirk star and Scotland fly-half Finn Russell fine for Six Nations showdown after scare

One of Gregor Townsend’s co-captains, Bath star Russell put in a superb display before being forced off.

And his team-mates weren’t as fluent without him on the park at Murrayfield, nearly chucking away a sizeable lead, winning 35-29 in the end.

On the bonus-point win, Russell said: “Going into the game, they had shown against Ireland that they are much better than what some people probably think of them, and it was great for us to have such a quick start.

"A bonus point win is pleasing but after 50/55 minutes we switched off a little and we need to stamp that out.

"We need to be ruthless and put in an 80-minute performance.”

Fellow co-captain Rory Darge’s situation is less clear cut but Scotland defence coach Steve Tandy said they were “really hopeful” the back-row forward would recover in time.

Darge suffered a blow to the hip and was replaced by Matt Fagerson just before half-time in the win over Wales.

“He’s alright,” said Tandy. “He’s a little bit sore but he's progressing through the days. He's getting better so we're really hopeful around Rory. He says he's feeling better as the week goes on.

“[It was] a bit of a bang. It's nothing major but it's just that obviously you're waiting for that to ease. And after about three or four days, they tend to really settle down.”