Here’s Why Finn Russell Rushed & Missed His Conversion Against France

Finn Russell won’t want to see this one again in the match-review.

Scotland were unable to build on their win over Ireland on Sunday as they were narrowly beaten by France in Paris.

Vern Cotter’s men could perhaps consider themselves unlucky in the end, as they played some excellent rugby throughout- but in the end it just wasn’t enough. France on the other hand also played some excellent rugby, and will say they deserved to win, and have just as good a case as the Scots to be fair.

Scotland however are probably thinking today of what could have been, had Finn Russell’s botched conversion went over. The playmaker seemed to rush his attempt and ended up making a right arse of it, as his kick went under the posts despite looking like a fairly straightforward kick in front of the posts.

Initially people thought that it was referee Jaco Peyper that told Russell to hurry up with his attempt, but it was in fact one of his own- Scottish coach Nathan Hines. The former Leinster lock thought that the referee was going to go back and review the decision to award the try, after it appeared that Tommy Seymour interfered with France fullback Scott Spedding.

As per World Rugby rules, if the conversion is taken, the referee cannot go back and check- hence why Scotland rushed the attempt, so as to not risk having the try disallowed.

Scotland winger Sean Maitland explained post-match:

There was miscommunication from the sideline. They thought Tommy Seymour maybe pushed Scott Spedding so the try would be reviewed.

Once you kick the conversion, you can’t go back and review it. They wanted to hurry up and kick it but the ball fell over. To be honest, it shouldn’t have happened.