Finn Russell: ‘If I play at Gleneagles I can say: oh, I did work on that house’

“If another stonemason had told me 10 years ago I’d now be playing rugby and living in Paris I would have thought: ‘No chance,’” Finn Russell says with amusement as he reflects on how his life has changed since early 2011. Racing 92’s brilliant fly-half will be vital to Scotland’s hopes of beating England again on Saturday in their opening match of the Six Nations – but 10 years ago he was playing for Falkirk in the second flight of Scottish domestic rugby while working as an apprentice stonemason.

Russell is now feted as one of the most gifted playmakers in world rugby with a rare talent. After years of rugby being dominated by kicking metrics, robotic gameplans and grim attrition, Russell is at the heart of a much more attractive and imaginative attacking vision. The 29-year-old hopes to inspire Scotland to the Six Nations title while also leading Racing to their first European Rugby Champions Cup triumph after losing three finals over the last six years.

But Russell had to move from his hometown club Stirling County before the 2011-12 season because he could not break into their first team. At the age of 19 he dropped down a division so that he could play rugby on a regular basis. “I went to Falkirk to give it a last crack at making a professional career,” Russell says. “I knew that if I didn’t do anything at Falkirk I was just going to be playing rugby for a hobby and working as a stonemason. I wouldn’t say I was concerned because I was accepting of being a stonemason. My best mate was there and I was happy enough with a normal life.”

Did Falkirk work out immediately that they had found an extraordinarily promising player in Russell? “Not from the get-go. But Bob Wylie [his coach at Falkirk] said something after a