Russell Has A Box Of Tricks But May Be Risk For Lions

Finn Russell demonstrated in last weekend’s European Cup semi-final victory over Saracens in Paris that playing in a high-powered highly talented team like Racing 92, he gets the chance to express himself even more than before.

- Jeremy Guscott

There is the chance also for others to tidy up when things do not go entirely to plan, because of the quality of the players at Racing that surround the Scottish fly-half. The other factor is that, in reality, even in really big club games like that against Saracens, the pressure is not as great as it is at international level.

Scotland have threatened to do better under Gregor Townsend, and before that Vern Cotter, but they have not yet done so – and that pressure has its knock-on effects. I imagine a player like Russell will say about pressure that “I don’t carry it”, but subliminally, whether you are chilled or uptight, it will be there, whether at the forefront or back of the mind.

The other plus for Russell is that his laissez-faire attitude to attack really suits Racing. This Racing side doesn’t quite have the same number of galacticos or the straightforward power-play that Jonny Wilkinson’s Toulon had, but they can still give it to big, strong carriers to do the damage, and allow an attacking fulcrum like Russell to take care of the distribution and direction from there on.

He must be grateful, because this Racing team has the brute force, as well as the pizzazz, to make the most of what the Scottish 10 offers. It means that the tight-rope that Russell usually walks will work out more often than not, and a great example was the chip over the top for Virimi Vakatawa that led to Juan Imhoff ’s decisive late try against Saracens.

It was a set move, and Vakatawa scored a very similar try recently against Montpellier off the same setup. It is all about quality of execution, but sometimes you also need a bit of luck, because even when a kick is perfect something can get in the way, like a stray hand, and take a marginal deflection.