Rugby-Still flash, but Russell brings true grit to Lions playmaker role
BRISBANE (Reuters) -Finn Russell may be on his third British & Irish Lions tour but the 32-year-old Scotland flyhalf will wear the red number 10 shirt for the first time in a test on Saturday when he takes the field against Australia.
Russell's test experience with the tourists has been limited to 69 minutes as a replacement for Dan Biggar in the 2021 decider after injury had prevented him from playing the first two matches against the Springboks.
In 2017 in New Zealand, Russell was one of the Geography Six -- half a dozen players called up solely for one midweek match against the Wellington Hurricanes to protect the test squad in a move coach Warren Gatland later said he regretted.
On Saturday, the 32-year-old with the unerring boot and ability to turn a defence inside out finally gets his chance to lead the Lions backline from the start of a test after being one of Andy Farrell's least controversial selections.
Russell has been working in Australia with assistant coach Johnny Sexton, the former Ireland flyhalf who previously suggested that Russell had beaten him to a spot on the 2021 tour because Gatland considered him "flashy" and a "media darling".
"He's still flash. Yeah, he would hate if I said he wasn't," Sexton joked to reporters on Friday. "But no, I think in the last couple of years, he's really come into his own as a 10 and being able to manage the team.
"Ultimately, that's the main job that he's got tomorrow, to manage all the guys around him, and then his brilliance will come out once he's into the game."
Sexton said he had been impressed with the work the apparently carefree Russell does on his game behind the scenes as well as with his defensive efforts in the tour matches.
"He's probably been our best defender in the back line on this tour so far, I would say," Sexton added.
"And that's the thing that you always knew, that it was in there with him. He's a feisty guy out there in terms of physicality. He doesn't look that big but he's fronted up big time this tour with a lot of impact tackles. And we'll need him tomorrow in that regard, because they'll come down his channel I'm sure."
Sexton said evidence of Russell's increased maturity had come when the Scot led Bath to the English Premiership title before joining up with the Lions.
"You can see it with Bath, getting to finals and winning trophies," he added.
"You can't do that if you're just that kind of mercurial 10, you know what I mean? You've seen that this year in particular. He's got his team over the line and he's won a few trophies and he's carried that form into here."
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Mitch Phillips)
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