Finn Russell gives injury-hit Bath timely boost for derby as Scotland talisman booked in for return
Stand-off is back in action after Lions duty
Scotland talisman Finn Russell will make his first appearance of the 2025/26 season for Bath this weekend when he captains the Gallagher PREM champions in their derby clash with Gloucester.
Russell has been absent for Bath for their first two matches of the season after he was given extended time off following his exertions during the summer with the British & Irish Lions. The 33-year-old was one of the tourists’ most impressive players as they defeated the Wallabies to win the series 2-1 in Australia and since then, the stand-off has gone on holiday and announced his engagement to long-term partner Emma Canning.
However, full focus will be on matters with Bath on Saturday evening when he leads them out against west-country rivals Gloucester at The Rec. Bath have an 100 per cent record in the league after defeating Harlequins 47-31 and Sale 28-16, while Gloucester have lost both of their matches to date.
Russell’s fellow Scotland internationalist Chris Harris has been named on the bench by Bath head coach Johan van Graan. The experienced centre moved from Gloucester at the end of last season in a surprise move.
Harris is joined among the replacements by Argentina’s Santi Carreras and he could also make his debut against his former club, but scrum-half Ben Spencer misses out.
Bath also have an issue in their pack, with three first-choice forwards set to be sidelined for a number of weeks. Lock pairing Charlie Ewels and Quinn Roux as well as flanker Ted Hill all went off in the win against Sale Sharks last weekend and were absent from the team-sheet for the game against Gloucester.
"Charlie will be out for a number of weeks with his knee, Ted has gone for some more specialist opinion - it's his ankle, that'll be a few weeks that he'll be out," Van Graan said in an update. "Quinn similar to his knees, we'll take our time on him and see how long that takes to come back."
Matchday three is being billed as derby weekend in the freshly-launched Gallagher PREM, with Bristol facing Exeter and Northampton hosting Leicester on Saturday. On Sunday, Saracens travel to Harlequins.
The first match of the weekend was due to take place on Friday, with Sale taking on Newcastle.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.