Finn Russell focusing on his own game ahead of Johnny Sexton showdown

Russell does know what it is to defeat Ireland. He was out-half in 2017 when they had five points of a buffer come the final whistle but Sexton, interestingly, was absent that day

READY FOR BATTLE: Scotland's Finn Russell during a training session at the Stade des Arboras in Nice, France. Pic: PA

One is considered a genius, the other a tactical mastermind. Both are generational masters of their particular craft and yet a gulf exists between Johnny Sexton and Finn Russell as they bid to outfox the other on Saturday when Ireland and Scotland meet in a do-or-die Pool B game in Saint-Denis.

Sexton has won pretty much everything the game of rugby has to offer, this tournament notwithstanding. Russell’s career has been a string of illuminating moments but it lacks the spellbinding imprimatur that comes with silverware and his experiences against Sexton and Ireland serve as a microcosm of the relationship between the countries themselves.

Russell does know what it is to defeat Ireland. He was out-half in 2017 when they had five points of a buffer come the final whistle in Murrayfield but Sexton, interestingly, was absent that day. They have faced off for club and for country, in the Six Nations and in the last World Cup, and Russell has never had his number.

Go back to that 2019 meeting in Yokohama and there is a two-minute snapshot that encapsulates all this: Russell being rounded by Andrew Conway for Ireland’s bonus-point try and Sexton being taken off moments later with the job of seeing off their Celtic neighbours complete before an hour was played.

The Scottish talisman is 31 now and playing what his head coach Gregor Townsend believes is his best rugby after a dip in form that followed his standout cameo role for the British and Irish Lions on their covid-era tour to South Africa in 2021. He’s old enough and wise enough to fend off the inevitable question about his opposite number with some ease.

“I’ll play my own game. Everyone is going to have that at 10, 9, or 15. There is always going to be that individual battle to win. I tend not to get caught up in that. There are times in a game it may arise but I imagine it will be me sticking to my job and doing what’s best for the team controlling the game and I imagine Johnny will be doing the same.

“They’ll have a structure they are going to play or a setpiece they are going to have moves off, which allows him play his sort of game and get his hands on the ball. Like I said, there might be some mouthing off here and there, some words exchanged maybe, but you can’t expect anything else. That’s just the way it is in these sorts of games.” 

His interactions with Sexton have been fewer than you might think.

They only featured once on the same pitch during their overlapping three seasons with Leinster and Glasgow, there have been no meetings in Russell’s time with Racing 92, and seven of the 12 meetings at Test level since the Scot's debut in 2014 have been played with one or other either missing entirely, or playing a restricted number of minutes.

Russell did spend some time in the same orbit when called up as a late replacement on the Lions tour to New Zealand in 2017 but the squad had evolved down the middle between Test players and dirt-trackers by then so there was next to no real interaction and they have never really crossed paths off the pitch either.

His respect for Sexton is clear and Russell has heard first-hand from others how influential the Irish veteran is as a voice, not just with other players but the coaching staffs around him. There is no doubting Sexton’s importance to Ireland but Russell wasn’t going to go all ‘Braveheart’ with curdling battle cries against a fellow member of the out-half union.

“I wouldn’t see the need to go over the top and put him off his stride of take him out. We’re obviously aware of what he can do and how he can control the game. On the defensive side if we go out to shut him down it would probably create space elsewhere, which is what they want.

“We’ve got a great defence so we just need to stick to our systems, have confidence in each other in what we’re doing. Ireland will put us under pressure, they are probably going to get line breaks so we need to stay together as a unit, keep going and stay in the moment every minute of the game.” 

For all his creativity, and that of the Scottish back line, it was noticeable how Russell turned the focus on Scotland’s defence more than once on Monday. There was a declaration with it that lessons had been learned from their crushing Six Nations loss to Ireland last spring. That they had chased that game too early.

Fine words all, but Russell and Scotland are overdue on delivery.