British and Irish Lions fly half Finn Russell on the calmness he feels ahead of the series finale

Australia Broadcast Center

29-07-2025

There's always been something about Finn Russell that sets him apart.
Oftentimes, it's his manner on the field, a sense that he is seeing things a little bit quicker than those around him.
A darting run here, a no-look pass there, a chip kick out wide that catches half the crowd wondering what he has seen that they have not.
It is a flickering of brilliance that surrounds him whenever he gets the ball in his hands.
He is Scotland and the Lions' chief conductor, a maestro of rare talent, directing his Lions across the field with the confidence that only comes from the experience and self-belief that abounds from the 32-year-old.
But in the bowels of the MCG after the dramatic, last-gasp second Test victory, Russell stood out for other reasons.
One, he was wearing a Wallabies jersey at least three sizes too small for him — it was Tom Lynagh's, who professed to being a little starstruck when they opposed each other in the first Test.
Two, he had a garland of Caramilk Wallabies around his neck, provided by Bundee Aki.
"I think it's from Tonga," Russell said, by way of explanation.
"My daughter's been eating the chocolates," he added, a wry grin on his face.
Even in a nondescript, breeze-blocked corridor, Russell finds a way to stand out.
Completing a series victory with a game to play is huge for Russell, the continuation of a superb 2024/25 season where he has shrugged aside the one thing that had perhaps counted against him when his name was mentioned among the game's greats — a lack of trophies.
Scotland have improved out of sight since he made his senior international debut in late 2014, with the side finishing bottom of the Six Nations ladder the following spring without a win.
A winless Championships has not happened since, but the Scots have still struggled to challenge the big boys of Europe, with an average finishing position of fourth.
A lack of trophies has followed him domestically, too, be it with Glasgow Warriors or Racing 92.
But that changed when he moved to Bath, with whom he won the Premiership/Premiership Rugby Cup double, as well as the European Challenge Cup.
Now, in his third Lions tour, Russell has finally tasted success with a touring side — and as the side's undisputed number one stand-off.
"This year has been a very special year for myself," Russell said at the MCG.
"We won a couple of titles in Bath and I've not won much in my career, so to have won two with Bath and then this now, it's amazing. It's so special."
Russell has been at the heart of everything the Lions have achieved on tour.
In the first Test, in Brisbane, it was the laconic Scot pulling the strings with a skill and speed that the under-prepared Wallabies simply had no answer to.
The Lions' opening try was a case in point: A darting run past one marker. An offload out of contact to release the man on his right. A floating pass all the way over three dumbfounded Wallaby defenders for Sione Tuipulotu to score.
It was textbook brilliance.
In Melbourne, it was different, but Russell was still there, crafting a complicated puzzle that eventually paid off.
After the Wallabies scored their first points of the game, Russell gave the hosts a reminder that you simply cannot take your eyes off him, getting to halfway and punching a restart over the retreating defenders into the corner.
It was a reminder that, even if things were not going his way, the mercurial Scot had the capacity to simply will something into being.
As the game progressed, the Wallabies showed they were no longer the inert, overwhelmed squad who were cowed by the might of the British Isles' best.
The hosts had come out firing.
So Russell, without the plentiful ball he had enjoyed in Brisbane, made his impact in other ways, namely via some massive kicks out of hand to put the Lions on the front foot.
"It's something I've been working for a little bit on this tour, especially in terms of getting that ball as far to their tryline as possible," Russell said.
"I had a few nice kicks today, which is good, and I think it's kind of my job. If I can get that as close as possible to the line, then we can launch different attacks off that.
"We can have a quick chat before the penalty [about] what we think and I'll say let's see where the kick goes, but if I miss it, it's OK. It's kind of confidence to myself that I can execute."
The Lions needed that degree of confidence and composure to fight back from 18 points down — the largest deficit the Lions have ever recovered from in a Test match — to score a winning try in the final seconds.
Russell and his scrum half Jamison Gibson-Park were everywhere in that final passage of play, pulling those strings and ensuring the Lions got their magic moment.
The Scotsman was adamant there was nothing wrong with Jac Morgan's "textbook" clear-out from his vantage point next to the ruck and, although he would not commit to saying the series-sealing victory was the greatest moment of his career so far, he was thrilled to be on the winning side.
"I think everyone here has been gunning for it their whole career," Russell said in Melbourne.
"To get to the Lions is one thing, and then to get a series win is another.
"This is now effectively my third tour, [and I've] not won one. So it's so special to get this.
"It's a mad journey but you've got to appreciate every part of it.
"You can't look back and think, had I not been injured in South Africa, I had been called out before and in New Zealand … you can't look like that. You've got to just look at the positives.
"It's always a privilege getting called into the Lions, whether it's later on in the tour, or having been there from the start.
"So I think just being here, taking part in my third tour … the most important thing is to win it and now we've done that, it's now making sure we finish it off as well."
Russell said the entire team was calm in the final moments: "There was no stress … we knew what we had to get it done," Russell said.
It is that calmness that has developed in his career.
"It's like I'm calm, if that makes sense," Russell said.
"Every game is kind of the same. It's 15-on-15, and obviously, there's different things on the line every game, whether that's winning to get points for Bath to get into that top two or top four, whether it's winning here to build the prep for the next Test. Every game is different, but it's preparing the same every week.
"And I think, for me, I'm loving my rugby just now. I'm usually always loving it, but especially just now.
"This season's been amazing, last season as well. I think I'm just, yeah, loving it.
"It's hard to kind of put into words … some boys might say that's the most confident I've been in and I'm playing my best rugby and whatnot, which may be true, it may not be, I don't know."
Given he is playing some of the best rugby in the world at the moment, surely he will play the final Test, even if the series is not on the line any more?
"I think everyone wants to play in that game," he said.
"If we can make it a 3-0 series, that will be amazing.
"I think it will be a brilliant occasion for everyone playing. Bringing four nations together to be a family for 5–6 weeks and to get the series win's amazing, but the job's still not done yet.
"We need to go and try and finish it off next week, even though we got the series, we need to go and finish it off and finish on a high."