Downtown Houston, Saturday afternoon.
Finn Russell is sitting in a coffee shop, taking it easy with his family: dad Keith, mum Sally, brother Archie and sister Jessie. This is the same Finn Russell who is about to make his debut for Scotland. Has a player ever gone into his first Test looking more relaxed than this?
Everyone handles pressure differently, but Russell appears to deal with it by failing to acknowledge its existence. This is not bravado or contrived insouciance; it's just the way he is. There are players who would be gnawing the furniture in their hotel rooms in Russell's position, but he would rather jut go out for a coffee.
And given his performance against the United States a few hours later, who could question his strategy? There was nothing particularly showy about what Russell did, nothing flash, no attempted miracle plays. He just settled into the groove of being Scotland's newest playmaker and got on with his job. "You wouldn't think it was his first cap because he played with such confidence and composure," said Vern Cotter, who looked a good deal edgier than his 21-year-old fly-half.
Now, when you have grown up dreaming of playing for your country, nobody is going to mind if you show a few nerves when the great day arrives. But at the end of a remarkable season in which he has taken everything else in his stride, this is just another waymark for Russell, another rung on the ladder. So why fret?
"I see every game as the same," said Russell with a smile. "I tried to make sure the circumstances of the game did not get to me. I'm quite relaxed before a game and when I'm in it I try not to get wrapped up in the moment. I felt I did that quite well at the weekend actually, considering it was my first cap."
It is perhaps worth acknowledging that the team Russell was playing against was rather limited. It is no disrespect to the US Eagles to say that he probably came under more pressure, and had less time to settle on the ball, when he was playing for Glasgow Warriors against Munster and Leinster in the final stages of the RaboDirect PRO12 last month.
In his evolution from decent prospect to international playmaker, those matches were critical. They taught him what intensity really meant, but they also showed the world - and, more significantly, Cotter - that he had the kind of grown-up game that was ready for the international arena.
"Those games were at as high a level as anything I'd ever played," said Russell. "A Test match is a pretty intense experience but, after playing against Munster and Leinster, I kind of had a feel for it."
It would be almost reassuring to learn that Russell has a fear of spiders or heights or injections, for nothing else seems to phase him. In rugby terms, he has spent the past eight months with the roof down and his foot pressed hard on the accelerator, but he has come through the entire experience without a hair out of place.
His rate of progress can be measured by the fact that, officially, he has only been a full-time player for a few days, having been retained on an elite development contract until the end of May. And while he was one of three players - the others being Ruaridh Jackson and Duncan Weir - who were being birled through the revolving door of the Glasgow No.10 berth during the Warriors' recent nine-game winning streak, the fact he was the preferred man for the Munster and Leinster matches speaks volumes for his status at the club.
The early indications are that Russell will double his Scotland cap collection against Canada in Toronto on Saturday, and the long-term forecast is that it will just keep on growing after that.
"I think it went pretty well," he said of his debut. "It was a good run for the boys. There is still a lot from me personally to work on and we will hopefully be fixing that up this week. It was a decent performance, I'd say. You always have the capacity to get better."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article