'Genius' Scotland's Finn Russell in stunning display but Gregor Townsend handed huge Six Nations injury blow

However, there was bad news for Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend after one of his flankers Josh Bayliss came off in the same game in what has been described as a “serious” groin injury.

Russell created three tries – two for fellow Scot Ruaridh McConnochie in the first half and the clincher six minutes from time for Tom Carr-Smith – and also added 12 points with the boot to give his side an important win on the road.

This was Russell’s last match at club level before joining up with the Scotland Six Nations squad ahead of Saturday’s tournament opener against Italy and while national team head coach Townsend will be relieved that his talisman came through the match unscathed, the development on Bayliss will not be welcomed.

Bayliss limped off late in the first half with what Bath head of rugby Johan van Graan labelled a “serious” groin injury. Townsend has already lost captain Sione Tuipulotu and lock Scott Cummings to injury, while there are slight concerns over Duhan van der Merwe’s fitness due to an ankle issue.

He can take some solace from Russell’s form, with Van Graan commenting: “Finn is one of the very best players in the world. I said to him in the changing room he is one of the players in world rugby you want in your team. He is going to be great for Scotland in the Six Nations but he was great for us tonight.

“To play 80 minutes on a Sunday afternoon the week before the Six Nations takes some doing but that’s just the sort of man he is. He came back on Friday [from the Scotland squad] with a smile on his face and it was a great performance tonight. You need special players in big games to come through and he can certainly came through for us tonight.”

Sale, six points down with six minutes left, looked odds on to score after another Scotland internationalist in Arron Reed split Bath open but some desperate cover defence won a penalty 10 metres from their own line. Russell, seeing there was no-one deep in defence for Sale, hammered a kick long and substitute Carr-Smith won the race to score.

“I have a saying: ‘Talent needs a target that nobody else can hit but a genius hits a target that nobody else can see,” said van Graan.

However, Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson hit out at the award of the penalty and where it was taken from. “That was the game. There were loads of opportunities when we could’ve taken the game away from them, but there was a 14-point swing there that I’m really struggling to get over,” he said.

“Honestly, I’ve got sour grapes. We’ll go through due process, look at the tapes, but I don’t have to look at them. There’s a hand on the floor, the ball is kicked four, five metres past the mark, yet the try stands. That’s the game, that’s where it went.”

Sale led 16-12 at the break, despite McConnochie’s double, through tries by Reed and stand-off Rob du Preez. But Max Ojomoh got Bath’s noses in front in the 54th minute, forcing his way over after a 20-phase barrage.

Then Russell’s vision delivered the killer blow. The stand-off’s added-time penalty meant that Sale did not even earn the consolation of a bonus point despite Joe Carpenter’s late try.