The knife-edged nature of a final often demands control over colour, and a foot on the throat as much as fancy flourishes. That was the way with the 50-22 kicks produced by Spencer and Russell to pin their French opponents back in the crucial early exchanges here in Cardiff.
At the same time the Lions’ head coach Andy Farrell can look at Russell’s performance in this match and be reassured – if reassurance was needed – that the 32-year-old Scot can guide a team around a field as securely as any No 10 on the planet.
‘Boys like me push the piano around; Ben Spencer plays it’ (Photo: Getty)
Whenever the three Lions Tests in Australia this summer come down to a full-on scrap for every point and position, as they are almost bound to do, Russell has the ability to marry the smoothness of his passing with a more direct approach to keep his team moving forward.
Russell is rated by his club attack coach Lee Blackett as one of the best passers in the world, even if it may not always be easy to see for TV viewers whose main view is through side-on camera angles, or even to the 20,000 or so Bath devotees who teemed across the Severn by car, coach and train to revel in their club landing a first piece of major silverware since the same Challenge Cup in 2008.
Another plus for Russell was his 100 per cent goal-kicking from the tee, with conversions of all four Bath tries by Tom Dunn, Ojomoh, Beno Obano and Spencer, plus three penalties including one belted from 40 metres with Bath already 34-12 up, and only nine minutes remaining.
As for Spencer, he was not in the England squad for the summer tour to Argentina and the USA who trained this week, as he was busy with this task in hand.
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Raffi Quirke, Harry Randall and Jack van Poortvliet are likelier to be vying with England’s Lion, Mitchell of Northampton, when it comes to next season and beyond.
And the more obvious huge saving grace is he can march on now with his club to help confirm Bath’s long-awaited return to the big time.
“The game’s a bit of a blur, I was absolutely shattered coming off the pitch,” Spencer said.
Bath hooker Dunn said of Spencer: “Boys like me push the piano around; Ben plays it. He leads our defence, sets our tempo and everything we do.”
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