For Finn Russell, the annus mirabilis continues. Victory in the second Test in Melbourne means it is now 15 games without defeat for the Scottish playmaker, a run that has featured two titles with Bath and now a British and Irish Lions series win. A year that began with the Scottish fly half admitting that he had not won enough in his career, that has featured agonising Twickenham heartbreak and familiar questions about being rugby’s nearly-man, has become decorated with garlands and gold.
“I didn’t know that,” Russell admitted when told that success at the MCG made it 15 wins on the spin. “I'm calm, if that makes sense. Even though you're winning, every game is the same. It's 15 on 15, and obviously there's different things on the line every game. Whether that's winning to get points with Bath to get to that top two or top four, whether it's winning here to build the prep up for the Test.
“Every game is different, but it's preparing the same every week. I'm loving my rugby just now. I'm usually always loving it, but especially just now, this season has been amazing. This year's been a very special year for myself. We've won a couple of titles with Bath, and I've not won much in my career. So to have won two with Bath and then this now, it's amazing, it's so special.”
The Scot will not want this purple patch to end. Ever since arriving in Australia, the fly half has looked in total control – of his game, of the squad, of a mentality oft questioned earlier in his career. “I wouldn't say I'm calmer now,” Russell explained. “I've just learned another style of rugby to play. Being at Bath, it's a different style there than I had at Glasgow, at Racing. It's a different style that I've had to learn how to play. At Bath, it's about getting control back with the backs that we've got to launch off and score.
“For me, it's been brilliant. I was 31 when I went to Bath. At that stage of my career, to learn a different way of playing, it's probably changed the way that I look at the game a little bit. Last night, we had a couple of calls when we were on their 10 [metre line] and I'm looking at kick plays rather than launching straight away. Obviously, at the end, we had to launch because we were trying to score a try.”
That maturity has served the Lions well on this tour. There were more errors from usual from both Russell and half-back partner Jamison Gibson-Park on Saturday night, each putting a kick out on the full. But there were still moments of superb game management. Russell caught the Wallabies napping several times with quick kicks from penalties and restarts, while the pair marshalled the final passage well to set up Hugo Keenan series-winning score.
For Russell, this has been something of a Lions redemption. Already, technically, a two-time tourist, his 2017 trip mired in the infamy of the “Geography Six” and twin blights of injury and the pandemic meaning his 2021 experience was not one to be savoured, either.
“It's a mad journey, but you've got to appreciate every part of it,” Russell reflected. “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. Just being here, taking part in my third series, my third tour here, it's just trying to win it. Like I said, it's the most important thing to win it.
“I think everyone here has been gunning for it for their whole career. To get to the Lions is one thing, and then to get a series win is another. It's so special to get this, bringing four nations together to be a family for five, six weeks. To get the series win is amazing but the job's still not 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.”
