Finn Russell would welcome the opportunity to forge a creative axis with Owen Farrell on the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia.
The rivals butted heads for years as influential playmakers for Scotland and England but struck up a friendship during the pandemic-affected Lions venture to South Africa in 2021.
Russell discovered that while they “view the game differently”, there was also more to the snarling heartbeat of English rugby than he initially realised.
They started together once in a 56-14 demolition of Emirates Lions but through a combination of Dan Biggar’s position as first choice fly-half, Warren Gatland’s preference for a ball-carrying inside centre and Russell’s Achilles injury, their game time against against the Springboks was limited.
Farrell’s departure for Racing 92 complicates his availability for next year’s tour, while his absence from international rugby will also count against him, but Russell insisted that if the stars align, they could thrive as a 10-12 partnership.
“We view the game differently so there would be a bit of a clash there, but we are good enough mates that we would get on with it,” said Russell at an event hosted by TNT Sports.
“We would have to find that balance between us, but he’s a brilliant player and I would love to play with him.
“I got on really well with Owen in 2021. I’d heard he was so focused and he was intense, but I didn’t see any of that at all. I thought he was quite chilled out. He was relaxed and I had a laugh with him.
“We have always had an interesting relationship when we have played against each other. At the start it was head to head but then recently, even before the Lions, it turned into a friendship.
“Before it was me against you and by the end of it, it was still me against you, but we could have a laugh while we were doing it.
“At the end I looked forward to playing against him, for his competitiveness but I liked the bloke. It changed as the years have gone on.”
Russell is the current frontrunner to claim the jersey for the Test series against Australia and if the Scotland captain is selected in Andy Farrell’s squad, he will see it as third time lucky.
His debut Lions tour in 2017 came as part of the ‘Geography Six’, a group of temporary replacements, while the Covid-affected enterprise of 2021 took place behind closed doors.
“You see the videos from 2013 when the Lions were last in Australia, with all of the fans all there. That would be a very different experience to the first and second tours I went on,” Russell said.
“The first was very much ‘you are here to do a job and get out of here’. The second one had no fans. It was great, but different.
“To experience it fully and go on a tour with fans, be part of it all again, that would be a complete Lions tour. It would be amazing.”
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