Legendary Wallabies fly-half Stephen Larkham believes Finn Russell is only going to get better while on tour with the British & Irish Lions in Australia, but confidently acknowledged the ACT Brumbies’ efforts to shut the world-renowned playmaker down on Wednesday.
Russell wore the No. 10 jersey against the Western Force in Perth before backing up four days later when the Lions played the Queensland Reds in Brisbane, with the Scotsman partnering Ireland’s Jamison Gibson-Park in the halves.
Russell and Gibson-Park have long been the fan favourites to start in the halves for the Lions during the upcoming Test series, with the pair having another opportunity to develop their combination in a mid-week clash with the Brumbies.
Libbok on his goal kicking
On a cold night in the nation’s capital, Gibson-Park was named the Player of the Match after the touring side held on for a 36-24 win. Russell scored 11 of those points off the goal-kicking tee, which included a surprise penalty attempt in the 61st minute.
English trio Marcus Smith, Fin Smith and Owen Farrell are other contenders to start for the Test side in nine days’ time, but Russell’s “quality” is a constant talking point after tour matches, leading Larkham to praise both the Scotsman and Brumbies post-game.
“Thought we handled him pretty well tonight actually,” Brumbies coach Larkham told reporters.
“He’s been very impressive, obviously spoke about him before the game and how good he’s been this year with Bath, sort of leading that team around.
“He’s been good on tour so far. But there’s a couple of plays that involve him and I thought we shut them down – that lineout play was quite tricky, involved him, and I wouldn’t say that he determined whether they scored or not.
“I thought we handled him pretty well tonight, but you know, he’s a quality player, class player. He’s only going to get better the more he plays against Australian teams and over here in these conditions, that better he’s going to get.”
While Russell seems to be the front-runner for the Lions, who wears the No. 10 jersey for the Wallabies remans a mystery for now. Noah Lolesio has started all but one Test during Joe Schmidt’s time in charge, but the playmaker went down injured against Fiji.
After leaving the Test against Fiji on a stretcher, Lolesio was discharged from the hospital that night before returning for surgery on Tuesday. The Wallabies did confirm in a statement that the fly-half will “spend a period of time away from the game during his rehabilitation.”
Larkham mentioned Tom Lynagh, Ben Donaldson, Tane Edmed and even James O’Connor as possible replacements. Joe Schmidt and the Wallabies will unveil their squad for the Lions Series in Brisbane on Friday, eight days before the first Test.
“Yeah pretty gutted for him to be honest. I know how much he was looking forward to playing in that series and probably going to start and lead the team around the field,” captain Ryan Lonergan said after the Lions match when asked about former Brumbies teammate Lolesio.
“ Gutted for him. I sent him a message last night and think he’s doing pretty well, not sure when he’s back down in Canberra but it happens. It’s unfortunate that it’s happened at this time.
“We’ll just support him through his rehab and hope that he gets back fit and ready to go.”
