Russell left frustrated butproudof the Lions
Finn Russell was as frustrated as any Lions player after the team went down 19-16 to the Springboks in the series decider, writes STUART BATHGATE.
But the Scotland stand-off also rightly felt proud of the way the team had played – and of his own performance after coming off the bench early in the first half.
“The boys will take a lot of pride from that performance,” he said. “We played really well, but we just didn’t manage to get the win so we’re going to be hurting. But as I say, it was a great team performance tonight, but we just didn’t manage to get the win.”
As far as a lot of Lions supporters were concerned, the real frustration was that injury had denied Russell a part in the first two Tests.
If he had been able to play in those two, perhaps his team would have played to their strengths from the start – and then who knows what the outcome would have been?
“When I’ve been watching games, the way I play is slightly different and I’ve been thinking that I could have done one or two things slightly differently and we would maybe have had different outcomes in the ‘A’ game and the second Test,” he added.
“But tonight I am happy that I got a chance to show the style of rugby that I would have played against South Africa, so it is pleasing that I got in and chucked it around a little bit.”
Warren Gatland mentioned the odd error committed by Russell when asked about the substitute’s performance, but also praised his adventurous attitude.
“We talked about moving the ball and the ball went through his hands a lot, which was good,” the Lions head coach said.
“He created some stuff and, for someone who hasn’t played a lot of rugby, I thought he was excellent.”