Russell looks to mastermind Paris upset with one eye on Lions
Could the stage be set any more perfectly for Scotland’s greatest showman, stand-off Finn Russell, with all eyes on Paris for the dramatic Six Nations denouement? For France there is a championship to win, while Scotland’s best Six Nations finish is a possibility. With two teams desperate for a hefty bonus-point win, an open game is guaranteed.
Throw in the fact that Russell will be facing Racing 92 team-mates such as Virimi Vakatawa and Teddy Thomas in his adopted home city, and you have all the ingredients for a spectacular game. And that is before anyone mentions the presence of Lions coach Warren Gatland and Russell’s need to eclipse Johnny Sexton and Dan Biggar’s heroics from last weekend.
“It would be amazing if we could win,” Russell said. “The performance against England was brilliant. Even against Wales we played well with 14 men and had a chance at the end to win against Ireland. If we finish this weekend with any kind of win it will show we have come a long way.”
The ingredients are there, believes Russell. Scotland beat France last year, and a team who once struggled to win on the road have triumphed in England and Wales over the past year.
Yet the Scot is under no illusions about the scale of the task: Scotland not only need to win in Paris for the first time this century, they need to do so in the same swashbuckling style as when Brive stand-off Gregor Townsend put France to the sword in 1999, when Scotland scored 33 points in the first half, winning 36-22 at the Stade de France.
“These are the games as a rugby
player that you enjoy the most because there is so much on the line,” Russell said. “We have to win by seven points and get a try bonuspoint win, which could change the way we play, although first and foremost for us it’s about going there and trying to get a win. Then we can try to get seven points ahead.”
For Russell the added context of the impending naming of the Lions squad was brought home by the announcement yesterday that the tour of South Africa would go ahead. After featuring briefly as a replacement four years ago, the Scot knows that at 28 this may be his last chance.
“The Lions is a goal for everyone, but we can’t think too far ahead,” he said. “The boys might have the Lions in the back of their head but this week is all about Scotland. If the boys perform well it will obviously help our chances for the summer.”
That is true most of all for Scotland’s maverick playmaker.