COUNT TO 10

As Russell gets primed to lace up the gloves to trade blows with Sexton, a place with the Lions may be at stake

FINN RUSSELL and Johnny Sexton. Together they are rugby’s equivalent of chalk and cheese. Polar opposites in near enough every department. Yet, in the parlance of the boxing pages, styles make fights.

When Scotland face Ireland at Murrayfield on Sunday afternoon, it will be the first time that Russell and Sexton have laced up their gloves and traded blows since that fateful day in Yokohama in September 2019.

For Scotland fans, memories of that World Cup debacle still send a shiver down the spine. Indeed, on a personal level, Russell’s overall record against the Irish is certainly open to improvement.

He has played against them five times throughout his career, winning only once. On that occasion, in the 2017 Six Nations, it was Paddy Jackson rather than Sexton who was at fly-half for Ireland.

In other words, Russell has never beaten Sexton in international rugby. For all his tricks and talents, he has never managed to outfox one of the great analytical minds to have graced the Test arena over the past decade.

Scotland finished fourth during that Six Nations campaign in 2017, with the victory over Ireland followed by wins over Wales and Italy.

It was not enough to earn Russell a place in the British and Irish Lions squad later that summer, with Sexton, Owen Farrell and Wales’ Dan Biggar all selected ahead of him.

Russell would belatedly be called up as one of the so-called ‘Geography Six’ in Warren Gatland’s squad, drafted in as emergency cover from Scotland’s tour to Australia.

But it was Sexton who started two of the three Tests against the All Blacks. He was subsequently voted World Player of the Year 12 months later in 2018.

Sexton also started all three Tests in the series victory in Australia in 2013. Plainly, he has been one of Gatland’s go-to men and most trusted lieutenants on both of the last two Lions tours.

By the time this summer’s series against South Africa rolls round, Sexton will be 36. Yet, despite his advancing years, there remains a suspicion Gatland may turn to him once again, particularly given Farrell’s complete loss of form.

The personal battle between Russell and Sexton, then, provides an intriguing subplot in this weekend’s clash at Murrayfield.

The difference in style between the two men is perhaps best illustrated by their contrasting fortunes at Racing 92.

Fine a player though he undoubtedly is, Sexton’s two-year stint at Racing between 2013 and 2015 was a disaster.

There were accusations that he was an egomaniac, or rugby’s equivalent of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, as one team-mate claimed.

His pragmatic style of rugby did little to impress the French, who believed him to be a shadow of the player who had won the Six Nations in successive years in 2014 and 2015.

Russell, on the other hand, has been a revelation from the moment he set foot in Paris in 2018.

Racing fans idolise him. His flamboyance and showmanship is tailor-made for the brand of ‘Champagne rugby’ so adored in France.

But, in the here and now, the conversation will inevitably focus on which of these two players is most likely to start at fly-half for the Lions against the Springboks this summer.

Sexton, of course, would be viewed as the safe choice. But former Ireland captain Rory Best, who toured with the Lions in 2013 and 2017, believes Russell would be a risk worth taking for Gatland.

Speaking to the BBC, Best said: ‘He (Gatland) is all too aware of the need to have players that can pick a lock.

‘He is very much about big, physical guys that will dominate collisions and dominate the gain-line.

‘But he does like someone who can do something different, like a Shane Williams.

‘On a Lions selection, if you take Finn Russell as one of three tens, if he turns out to be all over the place and a bit of a loose cannon, then he just becomes your third ten.

‘But if he hits a run of form, he can do things no other ten in the northern hemisphere can do, maybe with the exception of Romain Ntamack.

‘He is an unbelievable talent when you get him in the right frame of mind and in the right shape.

‘What Warren Gatland can do, he can surround him with Owen Farrell and Johnny Sexton.

‘When you have the luxury of those two guys, you can bring in a Finn Russell and see what he does, see how reacts to the environment.’ Sexton, for his part, believes that keeping the shackles on Russell would go a long way to securing an Irish victory at Murrayfield.

Ireland forwards coach Paul O’Connell said this week that Gregor Townsend had created the strongest Scotland team he will have ever faced during his career.

Sexton agreed with that assessment and believes keeping Russell quiet could be key to winning in Edinburgh. The 35-year-old plans to review video tapes of opposing fly-half Russell, who was absent for each of Ireland’s two victories over the Scots in 2020.

‘He’s obviously a big threat for us, knowing that he’s got a full box of tricks that he tries to pull out most games,’ Sexton said of his opposite number.

‘He can pull the strings, if we let him, and he’s hurt us in the past.

‘We haven’t played against him the last couple of times we’ve played Scotland, so we’ve got to go back and look at some old footage.

‘He’s been in good form for his club. He’s a massive threat — like they have across their team. Him and (Stuart) Hogg are probably the standout guys but we have to be on our game this week to stop them.

‘They are a team full of confidence. They will fancy their chances against us.

‘They will feel that maybe they should have beaten us the last two times they played us and, obviously, they have improved a lot since then as well.

We have massive respect for them as a team.’

Sexton admitted that selection for the Lions tour will inevitably be at the back of his mind, along with the rest of his team-mates who hope to earn a place in Gatland’s squad.

With the game against Scotland being followed by a home game against England in Dublin, he added: ‘Even if it wasn’t a Lions year, we’d still be going out to win the game.

‘But, in the back of your mind, you know the next two games are pretty important in terms of those Lions selections.

‘It will help the Irish cause if we can pick up a couple of wins.

‘It will help get more numbers on the plane and that is, ultimately, what we want.

‘We want to get as many Irish people on that trip as possible.

‘It’s definitely in the back of our minds somewhere.’