Canterbury stint helped shape Lions star

Otago Daily Times

25-07-2025

Lions first-five Finn Russell honed his catch-pass skills during his brief time in Canterbury. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
St Andrew's College director of sport John Haggart is not surprised that British and Irish Lions star Finn Russell's playmaking skills are becoming the story of the Lions tour.
Once seen as too flashy and unpredictable, the Scotland No 10 is now widely recognised as the complete package.
What is less widely known is where Russell's world-class passing game was sharpened: Canterbury.
Back in 2013, a 20-year-old Russell spent 15 weeks playing for Lincoln University, coached by Haggart, who was also the head of Canterbury Rugby's international high performance unit at the time.
Russell came to New Zealand courtesy of the John MacPhail Scholarship – a Scottish Rugby programme which sends young players overseas to learn from elite systems.
'Finn wasn't your typical, driven, high-performing academy boy coming out of a private school. He worked as a stone mason,' Haggart told Telegraph Sport.
'He loved a beer. He loved being around students. He loved enjoying himself after a game. Because of the environment he was in, he was able to flourish rather than being restricted by boundaries.'
But while Russell embraced the social side of Kiwi rugby culture, his time in New Zealand was defined by the hard yards.
PHOTO: LINCOLN UNIVERSITY RUGBY CLUB
Haggart said the Canterbury system placed huge value on mastering the basics – passing, catching, and decision-making.
'You spend time before training and after training just working on the fundamental run-catch-pass.
'When Finn came out, he had an opportunity as a young man, in the 15 weeks that he was over here, just to spend time on his run-catch-pass.
'It is pretty simple stuff but because Russell was at a stage of learning in his life, he was able to adopt those principles really quickly and put that into practice,' Haggart said.
​By the end of his stay at Lincoln, Russell had won the club's player-of-the-year award. And, according to Haggart, there was real interest from within Canterbury Rugby to keep him longer.
​'Canterbury had spoken to me and we had spoken to Finn about the possibility of him extending his stay here and I know Canterbury were very keen to bring him in,' Haggart said.
'But he was under contract and we had a long-standing relationship with the SRU (Scottish Rugby Union) that we needed to respect.
'If he had been out here on his own, I am sure Canterbury would have hidden his passport and said 'you are not going anywhere'.'