{"id":9277,"date":"2026-02-23T06:56:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T06:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=9277"},"modified":"2026-02-23T06:56:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T06:56:52","slug":"six-nations-talking-points-finn-russell-george-ford-antoine-dupont-and-robert-baloucoune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=9277","title":{"rendered":"Six Nations talking points: Finn Russell, George Ford, Antoine Dupont and Robert Baloucoune"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The opportunity and ability for teams to rewrite their own narratives in the space of just a few weeks is part of what makes the Six Nations so compelling.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Lacklustre and outgunned in Rome in week one, Scotland are now France&#8217;s biggest challengers after following up the Calcutta Cup demolition of England with a nailbiting, nerve-wrenching win in Wales.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The hosts were 23-12 up with just over 20 minutes to go but Scotland roared back to win 26-23 after some brilliant quick thinking from fly-half Finn Russell.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He switched the momentum of the match with a kick that caught Wales out and allowed Darcy Graham to score in the corner. Yet again, the Bath number 10 was the difference-maker.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Big-game players turn up when it matters and Russell had moments when he bailed Scotland out,&#8221; former Wales captain Sam Warburton told BBC Rugby Special.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;He was exceptional at managing the team when they were down in the game. He waits for the perfect moment to get involved.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;He plays what he sees, he has that licence and his clutch kicking was immense. The big-game player rocked up in the last 30 minutes, he was immaculate and a big part of the comeback.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Scotland found a way to win ugly,&#8221; added their former flanker John Barclay.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;They found solutions and ground their way in. In some ways that was the most important win they have had in a while. It has given them a strong position in the table.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Up next? France at Murrayfield on Saturday,  7 March, and the chance to end Les Bleus&#8217; Grand Slam dreams after three successive wins.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The opportunity and ability for teams to rewrite their own narratives in the space of just a few weeks is part of what makes the Six Nations so compelling. Lacklustre and outgunned in Rome in week one, Scotland are now France&#8217;s biggest challengers after following up the Calcutta Cup demolition of England with a nailbiting,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rugby"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}