Finn Russell breaks silence on Bath deal

Racing’s Scotland fly-half Finn Russell has addressed widespread reports that a deal has been struck that will him see swap the Top 14 for the Gallagher Premiership.

Harlequins edged Racing 92 14-10 in their Heineken Champions Cup clash at Twickenham Stoop and the in demand Scot touched on speculation around his next move.

Russell has been linked with a move to Bath but when asked about his future, the Lions playmaker said: “No, no the weather’s too bad! La Defense Arena is indoors!

“There’s been a lot of chatter around that. Nothing’s been confirmed but there’s a lot of chat around it.”

Driving rain and icy conditions turned the Pool A clash into an arm-wrestle and Quins showed the resolve needed to come out on top, with centre Andre Esterhuizen scoring the decisive try early in the second half.

Russell was unable to work his magic and Harlequins boss Tabai Matson was pleased by the way he was nullified.

“We knew that he would be a key guy because he can control the ball really well. It wasn’t really an attacking game but a lot of their territory battle is won by him,” he said.

“He still had a great game, even in these conditions. The old Scots know how to put the ball behind you! He did a really good job but we cornered him a couple of times.”

Matson took comfort in the result but not the performance. The Kiwi was disappointed by the tactical errors made after seeing his side struggle to make the most of Racing playing the last half-hour with 14 men once Kitione Kamikamica had been sent off for a dangerous tackle.

“It wasn’t the prettiest and we were probably lucky, to be fair. We did our best to ruin that. The conditions were poor but we made some poor calls,” Matson said.

“For all that, we’re back in the hunt for the knockout stage again after getting the four points. Getting the win was the most important thing, but there’s lot to review on Tuesday.

“We’ve got lots to review, we tried to play way too much and that’s a good learning for us at this time of year because at the end of December there’s more of that type of rugby to come.

“Ultimately we move forward in Europe and that’s the key thing.”

– additional reporting RugbyPass