Finn Russell urges Lions to show no mercy and hand wounded Aussies a Tour whitewash

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

FINN RUSSELL has urged the British and Irish Lions to end their Australian tour 'on a high' by securing a historic 3-0 whitewash over the Wallabies in Sydney on Saturday.
Andy Farrell's men won the series courtesy of Hugo Keenan's dramatic late try in an epic 29-26 victory in the second Test in Melbourne at the weekend.
Now Scotland fly-half Russell is calling on the tourists to show their hosts no mercy by achieving the Lions' first clean sweep since 1927.
Relishing one of 'the best nights of my life', the 32-year-old said: 'Everyone here has been gunning for this for their whole career. To get to the Lions is one thing and then to get a series win is another. This is my third tour and I'd not won one, so it's so special to get this, bringing four nations together to be a family for five, six weeks.
'But it's not job done yet. We need to go and try and finish it off next week. Even though we've got the series, we need to go and finish on a high.
'Sydney is the final destination, everyone wants to play in that game. When we come back in on Monday, we'll be ready to go again. If we can make it a 3-0 series, that's amazing. Everyone's going to be gunning for that.'
Russell didn't have his finest games on Saturday but still proved influential in a match which saw the Lions launch a magnificent comeback after trailing 23-5 after half an hour.
The Australians produced a strirring performance after a lukewarm display in the first Test, but Russell insisted that neither he nor his team-mates panicked.
'Surely you guys know me enough now that if I miss a conversion, it's not going to be the end of the world,' he said.
'I felt pretty chilled, pretty calm. We had a lot of momentum, we were on top of them at the end of it. We had them on the ropes when Blair (Kinghorn) broke through.
'There was no stress. The whole team was amazing. Jac Morgan's cleanout that obviously created the try, it was just sticking to what we were doing, just playing rugby.'
Russell admitted he could finally appreciate his Lions experience after being parachuted into his first tour as a late call-up in New Zealand in 2017, before injury hampered him in South Africa four years later.
'You've got to appreciate every part of it,' he said. 'You can't look back and think: 'Had I not been injured in South Africa, had I been called out before in New Zealand', you can't look like that. You've got to look at the positives.
'It's always a privilege getting called into the Lions, whether that's later on in the tour or being there from the start.
'This year's been very special. We've won a couple of titles with Bath - and I've not won much in my career. It's hard to appreciate it just now, because you're still in the moment, you're still half an hour or an hour after the game, so you're still riding on that wave.
'But when I get down time, and if I get any time away from the kids, I can reflect and it'll make it even more special. It's probably one of the best nights [of my life].'
Meanwhile, Australian rugby boss Phil Waugh has demanded an explanation from World Rugby about the decision to award the Lions' series-clinching try.
The Wallabies were furious that referee Andrea Piardi did not disallow Keenan's 80th minute try for what they perceived to be an illegal clear-out by Morgan on Carlo Tizzano.
Head coach Joe Schmidt pointed the finger at the match officials immediately after the match, questioning their ability to look after player safety.
Schmidt has been backed by his bosses, although governing body officials are not expected to take action.
'We've got the utmost respect in respecting the referee's decision,' said Waugh, the Rugby Australia CEO. 'But I do think there's a level of accountability and explanation that needs to come with that. And we look forward to that.
'My response is absolutely identical to Joe's comments in the press conference.
'I played professionally for 13 years and Joe's coached professionally for 20 years and both our views, and all those organisationally, are very aligned with what Joe talked to in that post-match press conference.
'Probably the number one priority for World Rugby is player welfare and we've seen great progress made in that space, and in a lot of ways World Rugby lead world sport in protecting the safety of players. So the progress the game globally has made can't be underestimated. World Rugby should be very proud around their leadership position on player welfare.'