The Lions tour of Australia last summer was Russell’s third but the first in which he was the undisputed king of the 10 jersey. Leading the Lions to a series win down under was a fitting reward for one of the greatest players to ever pull on a Scottish jersey.
He laughs off questions about his career entering its final throes in typical Russell style, but there is a hint of frustration that the topic keeps coming up, probably because he feels there is so much left to do in the time he has left.
Title wins with Glasgow Warriors and Bath, a European final with Racing 92, three Lions tours and 95 caps for his country – Saturday will be his 100th international across Scotland and Lions Tests – is an impressive body of work, but finally winning something with the national team would surely top it all.
We know what Scotland can do at their best. They welcomed an England side on a 12-match winning run to Murrayfield in the last Six Nations and took them apart. They put 50-points on a French side that had looked on an unstoppable march to the Grand Slam.
They put seven tries on Argentina in Cordoba in the summer and, despite going down to South Africa the following week, the Scots ran in four tries and could have scored a few more as they gave the world champions an almighty scare in Pretoria.
At their best, they are a match for anyone, but their best often eludes them at the critical point in tournament rugby. How do Scotland make the step from a very good side to a title-winning one?
“It’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?” Russell responds to a question he has been asked many times before.
“From the summer, we were really good against Argentina when we got into the 22 and we were really good at executing there. The percentage was really high.
“We actually had more chances, I think, or more entries against South Africa, but the conversion rate was a lot lower, probably half of what we had against Argentina. So, how to capitalise and convert when you get into the 22 is probably the main growth that we need to have.”
