Finn Russell

Finn Russell (born 23 September 1992) is a Scottish rugby union player who can play fly-half or centre, and currently plays for French side Racing 92.

Finn Russell

Russell in 2017
Date of birth	23 September 1992
Place of birth	Bridge of Allan, Scotland
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	87 kg (13 st 10 lb; 192 lb)
School	Wallace High School
Rugby union career
Position(s) Stand-off / Centre Current team Racing 92 Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 2011 2011–2012 2012–2013 2013 2017 Stirling County Falkirk Ayr Lincoln University, NZ Ayr () Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 2012–2018 2018– Glasgow Warriors Racing 92 81 45 (606) (190) Correct as of 13 November 2020 National team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 2012 2014− 2017 2018 Scotland U20 Scotland British and Irish Lions Barbarians 10 51 0 1 (10) (147) (0) (19) Correct as of 13 November 2020

Early life and education

Russell was born into a sporting family. His father played a lot of racket sports, and worked in sports administration, including as Director of Domestic Rugby for the Scottish Rugby Union. His grandparents were international badminton players, his uncle and great-grandfather played Cricket for Scotland and his brothers are also noted rugby players.[1]

He started playing rugby in Wallace High School in Stirling. Russell did not feel drawn to academic work. After secondary school, he pursued an apprenticeship for three years as a stonemason, in a business owned by a family friend, whilst his rugby developed.[2][3]

Playing career

Early years

Russell initially played rugby at Stirling County, but in 2011 moved to second-flight Falkirk to improve his chances of first XV club rugby.

In 2012 he played at centre for Scotland at the World Rugby U20 Championships.[4]

He was selected to play for Ayr after the IRB Championship tournament, helping them win the league and cup double in the 2012–13 season of the Scottish Premiership.[5][6]

Russell joined Glasgow Warriors in 2012, but was injured in his first season.

New Zealand

In 2013, he received the John Macphail Scholarship, spending 15 weeks linked New Zealand's Lincoln University, in New Zealand's South Island playing for local clubs in the Christchurch area. He benefited from the state-of-the art facilities and specialist coaching offered by the Canterbury Rugby Football Union international high performance unit.[7]

During this time Russell was partnered with former Munster centre Jason Holland as a mentor. Russell has said "He helped me out and I got to know him quite well. We were aligned with the trainers but you never trained with them. You watched them train but you don’t interact with them that much. Although you could see how they go around their work and how they do their day-by-day, and things like that. As a young player it was quite good to learn from them. In terms of analysis and preparing for a game, that’s the first time I did anything like that. As a coach at the time, he would make me, during the week, get the game-plan for the team I was going to play at the weekend and then present it to the team and do all the stuff like that. That was the first time I had to do anything like that. For me, it was pretty different but it was quite good and it made me grow as a player. And playing on a different team with a different style of rugby was pretty good for me, as a young player."

Glasgow Warriors

Russell returned to Glasgow for the 2013/14 season. With Glasgow's top players away on international duty for the 2013 Six Nations Championship, Russell was named on the bench to face Zebre on 10 February 2013 as part of the 2012–13 Pro12 season, coming onto the field and making his professional debut at the 56th minute of the game. During the 2013–14 Pro12 season, Russell made his first start at the club, starting at Inside Centre against the Newport Gwent Dragons at Scotstoun Stadium on 22 November 2013. Glasgow Warriors Head Coach Gregor Townsend offered Russell a full-time contract with the club that began in the 2014–15 season.[8]

2014–15 also saw Russell play a prominent role in Glasgow Warriors' Pro12 title triumph. In the final match of the regular season, his personal points haul of 22 (including two tries) contributed to the bonus-point victory over Ulster needed to secure a home play-off.[9] The following week, against the same opposition, Russell's extraordinary pass to D.T.H. van der Merwe in the 75th minute resulted in a touch down and tying the score at 14–14. Russell then stepped up to slot home the decisive conversion from a daunting position to send Glasgow into the Final.[10]

In the Final at Belfast's Ravenhill Stadium, Russell was again among the try scorers as Glasgow won their maiden title, also kicking four conversions in the 31–13 victory over Munster.[11]

Racing 92

On 29 November 2017, it was announced that Russell would leave Glasgow Warriors at the end of the 2017–18 season to play in France's Top 14 with Racing 92, where he was to replace All Blacks legend Dan Carter after the latter's move to Japan.[12]

Scotland

Russell earned his first call-up to the senior national team during the team's summer 2014 tour of North America. That autumn, he started in all three of Scotland's November Tests against Argentina, New Zealand and Tonga.

In 2014, Russell had what Scottish sportswriter Andy Newport called "a meteoric rise [that] saw the former Stirling County youngster blast his way into the national team in the space of six months."[2]

Russell established himself as Scotland's first-choice Number 10 during the 2015 Six Nations Championship, starting four of the team's five matches.[13] He missed the defeat to Italy through suspension, his sin-binning against Wales having been upgraded to a two-week ban following a citation (and unsuccessful appeal).[14] Russell scored his first international try in the final day defeat to eventual champions Ireland.[15]

Russell was selected in Scotland's 31-man squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, and scored a try in the team's opening match victory over Japan.[16]

The summer of 2017 began with Russell as part of Scotland's Southern Hemisphere tour. He created two tries in the opening match win over Italy in Singapore,[17] and followed this with a try of his own a week later during victory over Australia.[18]

Russell played in all five of Scotland's 2018 Six Nations Championship fixtures. During the 25-13 victory over England,[19] he threw an audacious pass on his own 22-yard line as part of an attack leading to a try scored by Sean Maitland. This piece of skill was subsequently described by many pundits as being one of the greatest of all-time.[20][21][22]

Russell played in four of Scotland's 2019 Six Nations Championship fixtures, missing the match against France due to injury. He scored a try and two conversions and played pivotal role in Scotland's come back against England to earn a 38-38 draw.

Russell played in three of Scotland's group matches at the 2019 Rugby World Cup scoring a try in the loss to Japan, as Scotland failed to qualify to the quarter finals.

British and Irish Lions

Following an instrumental Man-of-the-Match performance for Scotland against Australia in Sydney, Russell was called up to the 2017 British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand.[23]

Russell made a brief mid-week appearance during the 31-31 draw with Super Rugby champions Hurricanes[24] as replacement for Dan Biggar who had sustained a head injury, becoming Lion number #835.[25]

Barbarians

In 2018, Finn Russell was capped with the Barbarians against England during the mid-year rugby tests. He scored 19 points (1 try and a 7/7 kicking conversions), allowing his team to beat England 45–63 at Twickenham.[26] England had never conceded so many points in their stadium.[27]

Personal life

After secondary school, Russell worked for three years as a stonemason. He recalled that time in a 2015 interview with Newport:

On rainy days it could be pretty miserable. . . . It could be tough but I enjoyed it. I'd be making windowsills, door frames, fire places – even building walls. But compared to playing rugby, it's night and day. If I ever have a bad day at training, I think back to what it was like working in that cold shed.[2]

References

1. https://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst4141.html
2. Newport, Andy (2 February 2015). "Finn Russell, former stonemason, hopes to chisel out Six Nations success". The Herald. Glasgow. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
3. https://www.scotsman.com/sport/rugby-union/interview-finn-russell-his-rapid-career-rise-1497529
4. https://www.sportsjoe.ie/rugby/finn-russell-interview-scotland-lions-gregor-townsend-211526
5. "Finn Russell on a roll with Glasgow pro contract". scotsman.com.
6. Russell was drafted to Ayr in the Scottish Premiership for the 2017–18 season Pro-player scheme, which seeks to increase integration between the BT Premiership and the professional game."Pro-player draft".
7. "Russell Receives John Macphail Scholarship". scottishrugby.org. Archived from the original on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
8. "BBC Sport – Glasgow Warriors: Finn Russell agrees two-year deal". BBC Sport.
9. Colin Moffat. "BBC Sport – Pro12: Glasgow Warriors 32-10 Ulster". BBC Sport.
10. Tom English. "BBC Sport – Pro12 semi-final: Glasgow Warriors beat Ulster 16-14". BBC Sport.
11. Tom English. "BBC Sport – Pro12 final: Glasgow Warriors 31-13 Munster". BBC Sport.
12. "Finn Russell will join Racing 92 to replace Dan Carter at the season's end". ESPN (UK). 28 November 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
13. "RBS 6 Nations Fixtures & Results". rbs6nations.com.
14. "BBC Sport – Finn Russell: Scotland fly-half's appeal against suspension rejected". BBC Sport.
15. Andy Burke. "BBC Sport – Six Nations 2015: Scotland 10-40 Ireland". BBC Sport.
16. "Rugby World Cup 2015: Scotland 45-10 Japan". 23 September 2015 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
17. "Italy 13-34 Scotland: Scotland thump Italy in steamy Singapore".
18. Agencies (17 June 2017). "Gregor Townsend hails Scotland's unity in hard-fought win over Australia" – via The Guardian.
19. "Scotland v England - 2018 Six Nations". Six Nations Guide.
20. "Finn Russell: Greatest pass ever?". SkySports.
21. "Is this pass of the century?". 26 February 2018 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
22. http://www.planetrugby.com/videos/finn-russell-greatest-pass-ever/
23. Gray, James (17 June 2017). "Australia 19 – Scotland 24: Finn Russell celebrates Lions call with historic win".
24. "Lions 31 Hurricanes 31: Lawes and Henderson shine as Lions hold on in thrilling draw".
25. "Lions Player Numbers". 19 February 2017.
26. "England 45-63 Barbarians: Chris Ashton notches hat-trick as Baa-Baas run riot". Sky Sports.
27. Twickenham, Robert Kitson at (27 May 2018). "Chris Ashton hat-trick makes forceful point in Barbarians defeat of England" – via www.theguardian.com.

External links

• profile at Scottish Rugby