Jamison Gibson-Park expects Finn Russell partnership to flourish for Lions

Jamison Gibson-Park believes his half-back alliance with Finn Russell will develop quickly as the British and Irish Lions prepare to unleash the much-hyped combination for the first time.

Gibson-Park and Russell form a creative axis for Wednesday’s clash against the Queensland Reds after the Ireland scrum-half was given the green light to make his comeback from a glute injury.

As the pre-tour favourites to start the Test series against Australia in the number nine and 10 jerseys, expectations are high for the partnership even if they will have been limited to a single training session together ahead of the Brisbane showdown.

In a sign of the urgency to deploy them in tandem, especially after Tomos Williams was ruled out of the tour by a hamstring injury, Russell will be starting his second game in five days.

Andy Farrell has urged caution over anticipation levels, stating they will be “all singing, all dancing everything going to plan, but that won’t be the case”, but the ultimate fantasy pairing in British and Irish rugby is ready to shine.

“We know each other pretty well – we have played against each other enough,” Gibson-Park said ahead of his first outing with the Scotland fly-half.

“Myself and Finn have already had conversations and hopefully we don’t have to change too much up, just play footy like we normally do.

“For all the stuff you see of Finn and his ability to break a game open, he’s pretty calculated in the way he manages the game as well, so it will make my job easier hopefully.

“There is a gelling period with any nine and 10 combination. When you are largely in charge of driving the game there’s going to be a bit of a feeling out period, but it has been good and hopefully we can see it out there on