'Delivers that ...': Finn Russell sizzles on Bath return but other Scotland stars see red and suffer losses

Stand-off Russell was making his first appearance of the season since helping the British & Irish Lions win the summer tour of Australia and the 33-year-old was at his irrepressible best at a sold-out Rec.

Russell kicked 13 points and was Bath’s orchestrator in attack and while he was sin-binned early in the second half for kicking the ball away from an opponent at the base of a ruck, the former Glasgow Warriors and Racing 92 man came back to close the game down after Gloucester scored 17 points to cut the deficit to 28-17.

Russell’s performance was hailed by Bath head of rugby Johan van Graan, who said: “If you lose your 10, that’s pretty pivotal. Finn is one of the best players in the world and was our captain on the evening, but I thought we remained calm. When he came back on we also put on the last four impact guys. I thought tactically we got it spot on. Ultimately we took the game away from them.”

Van Graan added: “Defensively Finn was excellent tonight and his kicking game is so good that you’ve just got to expect that of him. You know, he’s been away from rugby for 10 weeks, on holiday and then he had to regain his fitness, and he comes and delivers that for 78 minutes.”

It was not such a good day for another Scotland back in Tom Jordan, who was sent off half-an-hour into Bristol’s 18-14 win over Exeter Chiefs at Ashton Gate.

Jordan moved to Bristol this summer and started at stand-off in Saturday’s clash against the Chiefs. However, he was shown a 20-minute red card for a dangerous tackle on opposition No 8 Ross Vintcent. The hosts managed to see the game out despite playing 30 minutes with a man less, with Max Pepper also sent to the sin bin.

Bristol show guts despite Jordan red card

Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam was thrilled with his side’s commitment. He said: “I’ve been here a long time and seen a lot games but that effort was almost the highlight of my time here. In context, that group only came together to train on Thursday when we had 15 back out with injury as they were all dropping like flies.

“We had two nine’s – one the bench and I certainly didn’t think we’d have all three on the field at the end. We had to improvise throughout and there was some real steel and guts out there as we had to play 30 minutes of that game with 14.”

Over in France, Scotland flanker Jamie Ritchie’s difficult start in the Top 14 continued after his new club Perpignan were soundly beaten 44-19 away at Lyon. They remain bottom of the league after six matches and are without a point.

It was not a good day for the other Scots in France. Scrum-half Ben White started for Toulon in their 27-10 defeat by Clermont, while Alex Masibaka played at No 8 for Montpellier as they narrowly lost 32-25 at Racing 92. Ewan Johnson started at second row for Bayonne as they were outclassed 47-24 by Pau.

Toulouse host Bordeaux-Begles in the final Top 14 match of the weekend. However, Scotland stars Blair Kinghorn (Toulouse) and Jonny Gray (Bordeaux-Begles) have been left out by their respective head coaches for the clash at Stade Ernest Wallon.

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend will be keeping a close eye on the performances of his players given he is due to name his squad for November’s Autumn Nations Series matches against USA, New Zealand, Argentina and Tonga on October 21.