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.