How Finn Russell and Johnny Sexton buried old rivalry for Lions tour

Times

5 hours ago

High on Andy Farrell's to-do list this past week, surely, was to manage the defrosting process in the relationship between Finn Russell, his senior fly half, and Johnny Sexton, the Lions kicking coach and someone who's had plenty to say about Russell in the past — not all of it complimentary. In order to accelerate the Big Thaw, Farrell has used a couple of methods.
Sexton helped with some conciliatory words to the media about a player he has variously described as 'flashy' and a 'media darling', albeit in the context of the Lions' squad selection four years ago, when Russell was included at the Irishman's expense. But Farrell knew that more was required.
According to one of the Lions' backroom staff, he dealt with the situation in 'a typically Faz way'. The details are vague but we're guessing he would have seen an opportunity to entertain the troops — maybe to stage a rapprochement before the squad, to break the ice but also to show that no one is allowed take themselves too seriously on these tours. By the end of the week, Russell and Sexton were even featuring in the same back line in training, much to the Scot's amusement.
'It's just a bit of a crack I suppose,' Russell said on Friday morning, after some of those Lions not featuring against Argentina did some coaching with young fans in Dublin. 'It was never a thing. When we came in, we had a laugh straight away and Andy [Farrell] kind of put it to bed, so that was good.
'Not that it was ever going to be an issue, I don't believe. I think we're all here with the same goal, which is to win the series. I've only been here a few days but it's been good working with Johnny. I'm happy to bounce questions off him and chat to him about what he's seeing because with the numbers we've had he's had to jump in sometimes. So it's been quite funny being on the same training side as him.
'It's good to have a guy with experience here. I can chat to him and bounce things off him as and when I need. All the coaches seem open to have conversations and have chats. It's a good environment to be in.'
In normal circumstances, the 32-year-old might be complaining of fatigue. Last week's Gallagher Premiership final was his 32nd game of the season for club and country and he has averaged 75 minutes per game. Then consider Bath's riotous celebrations after their victory over Leicester Tigers at Twickenham, which secured their first league title since 1996 and completed a Treble along with the Premiership Rugby Cup and European Challenge Cup titles.
Russell looked in top form as the open-top bus made its way through the throngs back in Bath last Sunday — top off, can of cider in one hand, a wad of cash in the other, brandished for the benefit of a photographer.
Bath's owner, Bruce Craig, was alongside him. Russell has just agreed a three-year contract extension at the club. Had he and Craig done a deal while under the influence?
'No, it was signed before that,' Russell says with a smile. 'Maybe I should have held off! But no, it's all good. Sunday was good fun. It was pretty quiet when we arrived back from London. The streets didn't really have anyone on it and we were sort of laughing as if no one's really come. Then two hours later or whatever it was, they were packed.
'It was really cool actually. I've only won something with Glasgow [Warriors] and it was very different celebrations after that. Coming now from a city that's a rugby city, it was really cool to win a title for them.'
Confession: when the news broke two years ago that Russell would be joining forces with Johann van Graan at Bath, many in the media predicted a disastrous mismatch. How could an instinctive genius like Russell work hand-in-hand with someone whose game plans at Munster had been often rigidly robotic?
Clearly we were selling both men short. Whatever about Van Graan's evolution as a coach, to characterise Russell as some off-the-cuff maverick, a player who trades purely on flashes of creativity, is outdated at best. While Bath have averaged five tries per game in the Premiership, and while Russell is still capable of divine touches, his control of territory has been just as impressive.
Maybe it's simply a function of getting older, having two kids and settling down, maybe it's maturity, but Russell now looks a more complete fly half. His comments on the Lions' playing structure convey his appreciation for the finer tactical details.
'It's a slightly different structure we're playing in here,' he says. 'It's just where the boys are running and the running lines are different and getting to know them. In terms of the calls, that takes a few days, a few sessions to get into that. I'd like to think that by Monday, it will be out of the way.
'We bounce questions off the coaches, on and off the pitch — small things, like how they want the 10 to release around the back or if they want two or three men off 10, so we get a clear picture of what we want for the weekend. There's obviously a lot of structure in there but then at times if there's no structure we're happy to play unstructured rugby as well.'
Having sat out the defeat by Argentina, next Saturday's game against the Western Force should be Russell's first opportunity to stake a claim for the Test team — a crowd of more than 40,000 is predicted for the Optus Stadium in Perth. One advantage he enjoys over Fin Smith is his excellent record against the Wallabies: four wins out of six over the past decade and one of those defeats (the quarter-final in the 2015 World Cup) is generally remembered as a travesty.
His one experience of playing the Wallabies in Australia was in 2017, when a man-of-the-match display in Sydney earned him a call-up to the Lions as one of the 'Geography Six', that clump of Scots who were drafted in as cover. Combine that with the surreal experience of touring with the 'Covid Lions' in South Africa four years ago and you suspect he must be looking forward to a 'proper' Lions tour.
'[New Zealand in 2017] was still amazing because it was my first time being called up to the Lions,' he says. 'We weren't there for the whole tour, obviously, but I think to have gone there and played was really cool for me. And 2021 was special, even though obviously we couldn't have family and friends or fans at the games.
'It was still amazing in probably a different way. In terms of the boys, we probably got to know each other a little bit better because it was just us in the hotel and what not. Both experiences were good but I'm looking forward to what this one's going to be like.
'I think the Wallabies are going to be better than people think, different to the team we [Scotland] beat in the autumn — a lot of the same players but a different team. It's once every 12 years that the Lions go to Australia so I think what that brings out in Australia is something you almost can't buy. You can't train that — that determination, the whole build-up to the series. It's not the quite the same.
'We've spoken about what we want to be and who we represent. But I think the main thing is just going out there and playing as yourself. Don't overthink it. All the work you've done your whole career to get to this spot, that's what you've done your whole career to get here. So don't change anything, just go out there and be yourself.'
The more Russell spoke, the more you heard Farrell's influence, also the principles that have underpinned the most successful Lions' ventures: adaptability, self-sacrifice and openness, even to once-hostile rivals.