FLYING FINN NOW READY TO ROAR, SAYS LIONS SUPREMO

I was out of my comfort zone and that maybe made me better

BRITISH and Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland had come to Murrayfield to run the rule over players from both Scotland and Wales. When he left the stadium he had much to dwell upon, with the names of the men in the dark blue jerseys rather than those in red uppermost in his thoughts.

Full-back Stuart Hogg was always going to be picked for the three match Test series against the All Blacks in the summer.

Now he is likely to be joined by the Gray brothers, Tommy Seymour and most definitely man-of-the-match Finn Russell. There could be others, with Alex Dunbar, Ryan Wilson and Hamish Watson all playing themselves into contention.

Russell, who felt he had been ‘out of his comfort zone’ all through the game he starred in, should certainly go away and make sure his passport is in date because he has to be on the plane to New Zealand. He looked every inch a Lions player, in terms of the way he played with such confidence and assurance. This was not the Russell of old who would throw the ball around and take all sorts of risks to the extent he could be a liability at times. This was a more mature performance from a man who bossed the game from start to finish.

His opposite number Dan Biggar, another Lions candidate, looked like a cat on a hot tin roof when he got the ball. Russell, apart from one poor clearance kick, was the epitome of calm.

His game management was the best it has ever been since he won the first of his 25 caps against the USA in Houston back in 2014. That was crucial, with regular captain Greig Laidlaw out injured and John Barclay starting a game as skipper for the first time ever.

With Laidlaw out, Russell took over the responsibility of all the kicking duties. Seven from seven — two conversions and five penalties — showed that extra pressure had not bothered him one little bit.

Afterwards, Russell was his usual cheery self as he pored over the statistics of the game that showed Wilson was Scotland’s top ball carrier, Huw Jones made the most metres and Barclay won the most line-outs and made the most tackles.

‘These stats show you how that was a real team performance,’ said the Scotland fly-half. ‘Everybody contributed something. The stats also show we had a lot of the ball and I felt we used it really well.’

Although Scotland have now beaten Ireland and Wales and narrowly lost to France in Paris, he is not getting too carried away. The 24-year-old from Stirling knows next up is a match against England at Twickenham where Scotland have not won since 1983.

‘I wasn’t even born when that happened so, obviously, I don’t remember anything about it,’ said Russell. ‘History can change and it was ten years since we beat Wales and we did it today. As for England, we ran them close down there two years ago and came close against them at home last year.

‘In saying that, they are playing well and have a lot of confidence and momentum, so it will be a tough game but if we get our prep right we will see what happens.

‘We have a chance to win, though, because we have the belief. We will not get arrogant and we are not saying we are going to win, as it will be a tough game, but we will believe in ourselves because if we don’t do that we will not win.’

Russell believes having so many of his Glasgow Warriors team-mates — nine were in the Scotland starting line-up — had helped him play such a top-class game.

‘It was different with Greig not being here as he can control a game better than anybody but the boys filled in really well,’ said the Scotland and Warriors No 10.

‘Having my club-mates Ali Price there beside me at nine and Jonny Gray calling the line-outs helped. We are all at Glasgow and work together in training every week, so we were not fazed by doing it at international level. Also John Barclay was superb as captain and, overall, every individual stepped up his performance.

‘On a personal level, I had to do a little bit more as Greig was not there and sometimes in attack I was having to talk a bit more. I guess I was out of my comfort zone and that maybe made me better.’

As for the game, Russell, always felt his team could go on and win it, even although they had gone in 13-9 down at half-time.

‘We were four points down at half-time and had not really fired a shot or got into our game plan, or got into structure in that first half, so we knew we had the potential to improve,’ he said. ‘That first half was a bit frustrating and Ali Price and I will look back on that to see what we can work on to improve against England.

‘In the second half, they came out flying and we knew if they managed to keep ahead it would be tough. Then Tim (Visser) got the try to put us ahead and that was the springboard for the rest of the game.

‘From that point, momentum was with us and they never managed to get back into the match.’