Finn Russell gets British & Irish Lions backing as team-mate lauds ‘world class 10’ ahead of Six Nations
Finn Russell is backed by Bath team-mate Ruaridh McConnochie.
In-form Bath playmaker Finn Russell has been tipped to take the Six Nations by storm and lead the charge for the British & Irish Lions against Australia later this year.
Russell, 32, enjoyed an outstanding game yesterday as the Premiership leaders claimed an entertaining 32-23 bonus-point win at Sale Sharks.
The Scotland star had a hand in all four Bath tries and his performance saw him hailed as “world class” and “one of the best players in world rugby” by coach Johann van Graan.
Russell magic
Team-mate Ruaridh McConnochie was the prime beneficiary of Russell‘s magic as twice during the first half he took passes from the fly-half to cross the line.
The imposing Bath winger, 33, told Planet Rugby: “Finn’s a world-class 10 and we back him to the hilt.
“We want our own players to do well regardless of the country they’re playing for.
“If Finn does well for Scotland in the Six Nations then hopefully he puts his name forward as that starting 10 for the Lions.
“Obviously I’m biased, but I’d say he’s the best 10 out there because his all-round game is so good and the confidence he brings to the group is awesome.
“There is Finn the player and Finn the character and that’s probably helped us massively to back our own talents as his team-mates.
“Finn’s game-management is probably something that we weren’t so aware of and the quality he can produce in these types of games.
“We’re all backing him because we know what a quality player but also a quality bloke around the club.”
Russell arrived at the Rec after the 2023 World Cup from Top 14 outfit Racing 92 on a deal worth a reported £1million a year.
Last season he helped Bath to reach the Premiership final, where they lost narrowly to Northampton, and their form this year has encouraged hopes of a first title since 1996.
McConnochie added: “We rely on him a lot and it’s great for the younger 10s coming through – the likes of Orlando Bailey, Sam Harris and Ciaran Donoghue – to learn from Finn in training.
“We see the eighty minutes that he produces during games, but in the past two seasons since he’s been here, the quality of training has just got higher and higher.
“That’s where we are seeing our big wins because the bassline of talent has really gone up in the last couple of years.”
McConnochie took a short pass from Russell to dive over in the left corner for his first try and then collected a deft offload from the talismanic Scot before running a diagonal line inside the right channel for his second.
A delighted McConnochie said: “It was good, I said to Finn ‘I can’t believe that’s the first time you’ve assisted me in two years… it’s taken a while!’
“For the second try, he told me exactly where to go so I was like ‘yes, I’ll listen to you’.”
Six points clear
The result left Bath six points clear at the Premiership summit with the competition now taking a break for two months during the Six Nations.
On the significance of the victory at Sale – who had not lost at home for over a year – McConnochie added it was the perfect tonic following Bath’s Champions Cup exit at the hands of Leinster the previous week.
He admitted: “It was massive. We had spoken about it being a huge game against Sale, but actually it was a huge game in our team, our league and our season.
“It’s always such a scrap up here at Sale with their physicality and it’s always windy and raining when we come here… for some reason we always come up here in the winter!
“But we stuck at it and kept battering the door, so it’s good to go into this block of Premiership Rugby Cup block of games six points clear at the top of the league.
“It gives us confidence and we want to keep that momentum going with the wider squad in the Prem Cup.”
