{"id":410678,"date":"2026-01-13T19:49:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T19:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/410678\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T19:49:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T19:49:07","slug":"finn-russell-ready-for-bruising-clash-with-scotland-colleagues-against-edinburgh-rugby-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/410678\/","title":{"rendered":"Finn Russell ready for bruising clash with Scotland colleagues against Edinburgh | Rugby union"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finn Russell is braced for a potentially bruising reunion with his Scottish international teammates but is intent on winning the \u201cbragging rights\u201d when Bath host Edinburgh on Friday in their Champions Cup<\/a> pool decider. Russell has already messaged Duhan van der Merwe to warn him to expect a tough night and says the English champions are seeking to sharpen their attacking game in pursuit of a crucial home draw for the knockout phase.<\/p>\n

With the victorious side at the Rec set to top pool 2, Scotland\u2019s playmaker is anticipating a physical examination from an Edinburgh team he knows extremely well. \u201cI\u2019d imagine there\u2019ll be a couple of late shots and being held on the ground which is always the case when you\u2019re against your old side,\u201d said Russell, who spent the first half of his professional career at Glasgow Warriors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure what the weather will be like but if it\u2019s like it is now there\u2019ll be a lot of balls going up in the air. I\u2019ve already texted Duhan to tell him to be ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good fun running into boys you know but there\u2019s always bragging rights with the Six Nations coming up. If they win or we win we\u2019ll wind each other up. Hopefully we\u2019ll get the win on Friday night. If not it\u2019ll be quite a rough [Six Nations] camp. Edinburgh will be coming down with everything to play for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russell also revealed Bath<\/a> are seeking to step their game up another gear following high-scoring defeats to Toulon and Northampton either side of Christmas. The loss of the popular attack coach Lee Blackett to England has also prompted some readjustments under his replacement, Martin Gleeson. \u201cSince the November Tests we\u2019ve spoken more about playing more expansively like we used to do last year and the year before,\u201d Russell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLee and Glees have different views about how we can run an attack shape so we\u2019ve been figuring out how we can adjust and what works best for people. In the last few games we\u2019ve gone slightly wider off 10. We have probably had more joy with that, focusing a little bit more on multi-phase and trying to take teams apart like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edinburgh, even so, can still expect a daunting challenge up front. \u201cWith the forwards we\u2019ve got why wouldn\u2019t you use pick and go\u2019s,\u201d Russell said. \u201cThey\u2019re so good at that. Its definitely a strength of ours but as backs we\u2019re looking to try and be more expansive as well. It\u2019s about getting the balance right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duhan van der Merwe has been texting Finn Russell as their teams prepare to play each other. Photograph: Jamie Johnston\/Focus Images Ltd\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Bath\u2019s head coach Johann van Graan, meanwhile, feels Russell and his entire side are attracting more scrutiny after winning three titles last season. \u201cIf you are a player with Finn\u2019s talent, sometimes an 8\/10 performance isn\u2019t good enough for some people. I\u2019m certainly very happy with Finn\u2019s form and his influence on the group.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving won three trophies we\u2019ve had a target on our backs since round one. It\u2019s a different kind of pressure. Certain teams are throwing different things at us but that\u2019s something we embrace. The moment you stand still in sport is the moment you fall off it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gloucester\u2019s efforts to reinforce their pack for next season are continuing with the Springbok lock Jean Kleyn agreeing to join the club from Munster this summer. Scarlets, meanwhile, have appointed the former Wales coach Nigel Davies as their interim director of rugby with immediate effect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Finn Russell is braced for a potentially bruising reunion with his Scottish international teammates but is intent on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-410678","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}