Scotland combination of Adam Hastings and Finn Russell can unlock Argentina

Adam Hastings, left, will play at stand-off against Argentina, with Finn Russell moving to inside centre. Picture: Ian Rutherford/PA Wire

Hastings has come off the bench and Russell has shuffled out to the No 12 berth for both club and country on a couple of occasions, but Townsend will for the first time test the pairing from the start in Saturday’s match against Argentina.

“The combination could be either way,” said the coach. “There will be times in the game when it is the other way round. In the last ten minutes of the South Africa game, Finn was first receiver a few times and Adam at second receiver, so that will flow naturally.

“Finn has ability to play 12. He has played 12 before, and that was his first position for Glasgow when he got into the team three or four years ago, and, with his experience just outside to be communicating back in to Adam, that is a better combination.

“Both are very good runners and good passers. They might end up looking like they are playing 10, 12, but playing differently during the game.”

Townsend admitted that the notion has been a slow burn in his mind over the past few weeks.

“I do remember the Edinburgh-Glasgow game last year when Adam came off the bench and they combined really well a couple of times. Adam was a young player at the time and had not had that much professional experience,” said Townsend.

“Adam playing so well for Glasgow this year has  put him in a position to compete for that No 10 jersey. We want to see Adam continue to  develop and we want to give him opportunities to continue to develop.

“We believe Finn being outside him will help him. We also believe that combination can put Argentina under a lot of pressure, both through their passing and kicking but also through their running threats. I am not sure if it would have happened if we had Matt Scott and Sam Johnson available. We would have given one of them an opportunity. But, given Adam’s form, we would like to give him a  second start and we feel having Finn and Greig [Laidlaw] either side of him will help him a lot.”

Russell, of course, remains Scotland’s primary playmaker and it is likely that this weekend’s selection is a one-off with a view to it being a standby option that can be rolled out during what will be a huge 2019 of international rugby.

Townsend stressed that Russell was fine giving up the Scotland No 10 jersey he has made his own and willing to adapt to the different role.

“He’s obviously got to defend differently, he’s got to carry ball as second receiver,” said Townsend. “We want him getting as many touches as first receiver as he can. We should see other aspects of his game which are strong points, such as his carrying game, which we didn’t get to see last week or don’t get to see enough of when he’s playing 10.

“Finn is a strong ball-carrier. He’s hard to put down. He’s got a good off-loading game. He’s got a good awareness of defences to pick the right running lines.

“Last week we’d have liked to see more of him as a ball-carrier as a 10. A lot of that was due to the defence we were up against, who were very strong in that area. He should certainly get opportunities to carry this week.

“He seemed okay, yes [when told the team]. He’s enjoyed the parts of the game where he and Adam have played together.”

Townsend himself, of course, spent a large part of his Scotland career flitting from stand-off to centre.

“It definitely had a bearing on my development, but it didn’t affect my thoughts on these two guys,” he said.

“I didn’t really like 12, so I played mainly at 13. I think both Adam and Finn have the attributes to play 12 better than certainly when I played and because Finn has played 12 and done well there, that’s in my memory bank.

“I see the role of 10 and 12 more to facilitate and work hard to make sure they are in positions to make use of the ball, either from the forwards or directly from nine. Now they’ve got their own abilities to run and that’s exciting in the positions they play in, but for me their first role from an attacking point of view is to make sure they are putting other players in space. So, to have two people who can do that in that first receiver or second receiver position has a lot of potential. They’ve just got to make sure they work hard to get in those positions and we execute whatever’s on.”

Townsend has made six changes in the pack, including a new starting front row of prop Allan Dell, hooker Fraser Brown and prop Simon Berghan, Grant Gilchrist replacing Ben Toolis at lock.

Jamie Ritchie returns at blindside flanker, with Sam Skinner, who played six last Saturday, moving to the bench after featuring in the last two matches. Josh Strauss starts his first match since the 2017 summer tour at No 8.

Behind the scrum, Edinburgh youngster Blair Kinghorn starts his first match of the autumn at wing.

“That’s exciting if we can get accurate passers on the ball more to the likes of Huw Jones, who was in great attacking form last week, Stuart [Hogg] who’s been on fire the last couple of weekends and Blair and Sean, two other very quick, exciting players,” added Townsend.