'I'm 31 but feel like I'm in the best shape of my life'

With a British & Irish Lions tour on the horizon, Bath and Scotland fly-half Finn Russell is refreshed and ready to star for club and country again, hears Harry Latham-Coyle

- Harry Latham-Coyle

More than a year since first getting the keys to his house in Bath, Finn Russell is finally beginning to feel at home in the spa city. Afforded a summer off by Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend, Russell has used the time wisely, welcoming a second daughter, fixing up the garden and pootling around the stone streets on an e-bike as he acquainted himself fully with his new habitat.

“During the season, you don’t get time to fully settle in,” Russell explains. Having made his switch from Racing 92, the fly-half jumped from World Cup woe last autumn straight into the Gallagher Premiership season. “You settle in with the rugby side, but you’re getting used to the house and the city. Now my partner has settled in really well and she’s loving it here.

“I was back in Paris at the weekend and you can tell there were so many other sports and events going on in Paris. Rugby is only a very small part of it. In Bath, it feels like it’s only rugby. There are a few cafes and restaurants that we go to often. We chat away to other people and they seem very friendly, which is nice. Whether that’s because we had a good season… if results had gone another way, it might have been different!”

A good season it was indeed. Green shoots had begun to sprout at The Rec before Russell’s arrival but his sprinkling of magic only encouraged their germination, returning one of English rugby’s most successful clubs to the Premiership final.