Finn Russell will be released to play for Scotland against France

Racing 92 will release Finn Russell for Scotland’s rearranged Six Nations match against France on Friday.

Finn Russell will be made available to play for Scotland against France.

The match is taking place outwith the international window and clubs are under no obligation to make their players available.

But Racing have confirmed that are prepared to let stand-off Russell play.

“Yes, he will be released,” Racing’s director of rugby Laurent Travers told the French press agency AFP.

Russell suffered a head knock in last weekend’s defeat by Ireland at Murrayfield, ruling him out of this weekend’s home match against Italy. However, he is expected to be fit to face France in Paris and the availability of the side’s creative fulcrum is a major boost for coach Gregor Townsend.

There is less certainty over the release of Scotland’s English-based players, although there was a chink of light on Friday when Worcester Warriors announced they would be prepared to make Cornell du Preez available for the France game as long as “it is on the same financial terms as English players are released to the RFU”.

Stuart Hogg, the Scotland captain, said he remained in the dark about his own availability.

“We’ve just got to let the powers that be make the decisions,” said the Exeter Chiefs full-back. “All I’m concentrating on is playing the Italians.”

The France v Scotland match was originally due to be played on February 28 but was postponed three days beforehand because of an outbreak of Covid-19 in the French camp.

The rearranged date was only confirmed on Thursday evening.

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