Russell lauded by legend O’Gara for eclipsing Carter

WHEN one of the greatest No 10s in history takes time to seek you out for congratulations, you know you must be doing something right. Irish rugby legend Ronan O’Gara headed straight for Finn Russell after a man-ofthe-match display against Racing 92, which saw the Scot overshadow opposite number Dan Carter. Former Lion O’Gara, who won 128 caps for his country but is now assistant head coach of the French giants, had just finished his media commitments when he spotted Russell in another part of the room. Rather than make a swift exit following Saturday’s defeat, he approached the 24-year-old and shook his hand. ‘Well played, you were brilliant out there,’ said O’Gara, who went on to praise Glasgow Warriors’ overall performance and described them as deserved winners. Russell blushed a bit before thanking him for his kind words. Even the French broadcaster, which normally gives the man-of-the-match award to a home player regardless of the outcome, had no hesitation in giving it to Russell. To dominate All Blacks legend Carter sounds like an impossible task, but Russell managed it. He bossed the game for Glasgow as well as putting over two conversions and three penalties. If Russell can somehow overshadow Carter again at Scotstoun on Friday, Glasgow will have a great chance of securing back-to-back European victories. ‘Dan is one of the best in the world and, when you come up against him, you know what he’s capable of and how good a player he is,’ said the Glasgow fly-half. ‘I definitely had knowledge of his ability in the back of my mind all through the match, so I knew I had to keep on top of my game. ‘I’d played against him before but in very different circumstances. ‘I was just starting out when I first played against him for Scotland a couple of years ago, and then I was in the centre here in Paris last season when we played Racing, so I felt more experienced coming up against him in my more natural position. ‘It’s good for the confidence, playing in a winning team against him, and it helped that I had great team-mates around me. ‘Everybody did their jobs and, as a 10, that’s what you need. The forwards gave good ball and the backs were carrying well. Everyone was playing at their best and that just makes it easier for me. I got good, go-forward ball to play off, so I enjoyed it out there.’ Although Glasgow now have home advantage, Russell insists that will hold no fears for Racing. ‘We know how good they are and they will be tough to beat at Scotstoun,’ said Russell, a relative novice with 22 Scotland caps compared to 34-year-old Carter’s 112 caps for New Zealand. ‘They have the ability to do top-class things out there as they showed against us. ‘For their first try, they ran outside us and then scored off the next phase. They caught us off guard for the first ten minutes but, after that, the boys were outstanding, especially the forwards. ‘Our game management was really good and we didn’t play too much in our own half and tried to keep them in theirs. They tried to play a wide, offloading game but our defence coped with that, too. They will come at us just as hard at Scotstoun. ‘Overall, we played well but so did they and they opened us up a few times. They have the ability to do that again at Scotstoun, which is why we have to be as good, if not even better, against them at home.’