{"id":251368,"date":"2025-07-09T17:55:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T17:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/251368\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T17:55:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T17:55:13","slug":"risking-russell-for-80-minutes-paid-off-lions-found-midfield-tempo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/251368\/","title":{"rendered":"Risking Russell for 80 minutes paid off \u2014 Lions found midfield tempo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finn Russell is used to playing all 80 minutes. At Bath he regularly stays the course, a combination of keeping the customers satisfied and not trusting the other 22 blokes in his absence. <\/p>\n

But here he was on the other side of the world in chilly Canberra, a week and a half out from the first British & Irish Lions Test against Australia, on the field \u2014 directing the Lions \u2014 from first to last. There remains an alarming feeling that the Lions would be lost without their ringmaster.<\/p>\n

My mind went back to the 2023 World Cup in France when the hosts took the field against Namibia in the second half, the pool game already in the bag, but their talisman, Antoine Dupont, still on the pitch. Had he been removed from the firing line at half-time he would not have fractured a cheekbone and the hosts, with their captain at full tilt, may well have beaten South Africa in the quarter-finals and gone on to win the tournament.<\/p>\n

\"Finn<\/p>\n

Russell coming through the Brumbies match unscathed gives the Lions a significant advantage in one department<\/p>\n

MARK NOLAN\/GETTY<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat will happen to the Lions if they lose Russell?\u201d a little demon whispered in my head as he stood out, yet again, as the focal point of the tour party. The delayed passes, the unerring accuracy from the tee, the percentage kick to within a metre of the opposition tryline with an hour on the clock \u2026 the fly half is well served by Jamison Gibson-Park, but there\u2019s no misidentifying the maestro.<\/p>\n

So why did Andy Farrell take the risk when there isn\u2019t a Lions fly half at present playing in the same stratosphere? Only on Sunday Joe Schmidt and the Wallabies lost their own No10<\/a>, Noah Lolesio. He isn\u2019t in the Scot\u2019s class but he\u2019s at a different level from any other Australian option. Australia are massively weakened without Lolesio.<\/p>\n

But Farrell didn\u2019t worry about lightning striking twice down under. Russell ambled off the field as confidently as he had swaggered, smiling, on to it. He tackles like a tank but his low technique keeps him safe. The odds have swayed further the Lions\u2019 way as Russell avoided an injury on match day while Lolesio succumbed.<\/p>\n

Farrell played his main man \u2014 when the result was never in doubt \u2014 because he was taking the opportunity to give his Test midfield a full 80 minutes together. Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose have the experience and balance of styles to physically storm the gainline with the ball (Aki) and knock the opposition backwards in the key outside-centre position (Ringrose). <\/p>\n

Huw Jones is a tremendous operator but the Lions know that Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii could be a potential game-changer for Australia. However, he\u2019s not experienced and he isn\u2019t used to the defensive line speed of Ringrose. The Leinster outside centre and Aki maximised their match time with Russell. It was good to see Ringrose picking lovely late lines in attack, good to see Aki unloading over the gainline from those deft, delayed passes.<\/p>\n

The difference between the good and the great is to be found in the millisecond of extra time a fly half has somewhere all wrapped up in his mind, eyes and hands in which to make his play. The further the distribution from the opposition, the easier it is to readjust. Whereas in Russell\u2019s blink of an eye, there is the split-second of space in which breaks are made and tries are scored and defences are millimetres out of position.<\/p>\n

Learning to judge runs to perfection in those split-seconds takes time. Hence the understandable call for the Scottish midfield throughout the early weeks of the tour. Aki does the dirty work better than any; Russell is free to delay until Australia are all but on top of him. If nothing is on, Aki will bludgeon the team over the gainline to maintain momentum and let the Lions start again.<\/p>\n

Yes, the battle is obviously crucial up front, but this is a Lions midfield that looks more composed with every extra minute in tandem. The Lions world would have been screaming had Russell been clobbered in the 70th minute but \u2014 unlike Dupont \u2014 coach and catalyst got away with it and are in all the better position to dictate the series from midfield. Australia will target the main man and that will only enlarge the opportunity for Aki. Advantage Lions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Finn Russell is used to playing all 80 minutes. At Bath he regularly stays the course, a combination…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-251368","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114824565786427004","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}