Arizona Tribune - Townsend upbeat about Russell and Graham after Scotland duo's head clash

The Scotland backs collided in the 22nd minute while trying to tackle Ireland scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park and neither took any further part in a match their side eventually lost 32-18 at Murrayfield on Sunday.

Fly-half Russell walked off the field for a head injury assessment, but wing Graham required prolonged on-field medical attention before being taken off on a stretcher ahead of a hospital examination.

"Finn is fine," Townsend told the BBC. "He actually passed his HIA but our staff sensed he wasn't totally aware of what was going on, so we made the call to not put him back on.

"Darcy is at hospital now, I've not had an update. I think everything was OK with his neck but they were checking out concussion."

Stafford McDowall and Jamie Dobie came off the bench and centre Tom Jordan moved into Russell's position at fly half as the injuries forced Townsend to re-arrange his back-line. That made an already tough task more difficult as Scotland suffered an 11th straight loss to an Ireland side bidding for an unprecedented third successive Six Nations title.

"Both Stafford McDowall and Jamie Dobie did really well, and Tom Jordan going to 10 did well too," said Townsend.

Scotland's cause was also not helped when Duhan van der Merwe was shown an early yellow card for an off-the-ball challenge on opposing wing Calvin Nash.

"The yellow card made it tough for us to get back in the game. Then the injuries disrupted things," said Townsend.

Ireland surged into a 17-0 lead and scored four tries in total as Scotland, fresh from a 31-19 win over Italy, saw their hopes of a first title since they won the last Five Nations in 1999 suffer a major setback.

"When they (Ireland) had the ball, they scored," said former Scotland playmaker Townsend.

L.Adams--AT