Just two years ago Finn Russell was playing for Ayr, warming up with his headphones, on listening to his favoured techno music.
In the cauldron of St James’ Park on Saturday, in Scotland’s crucial World Cup game against Samoa, he’ll be exactly the same, even though he now carries such huge responsibility as his country’s creative hub. He’s still have the cans on, listening to Melbourne Bounce (whatever that is) as he takes his practice kicks.
“Obviously it’s a big opportunity to get on to the biggest stage, at a World Cup, but for me though it is just another game,” he said. “It really is no different to playing for Glasgow, or even for Ayr and Falkirk, my other previous club. It’s still just 80 minutes, 15 on 15. That is the way I look at it.”
For such a novice, and at the age of just 23, it’s astonishing that Russell has assumed such importance to the national team so quickly. That’s partly due to him being the best all-round 10 the team’s had for more than two decades, visibly growing in confidence game by game.
And even though Duncan Weir had a fine game against South Africa on Saturday, Russell’s greater attacking edge was badly missed as he recovered from an ankle injury. His recovery, however, was pretty standard stuff.
“I rolled my ankle in the same way earlier in the season so I knew what to expect,” he said. “It was two weeks then so I expected the same sort of thing.
“I did train at the weekend and on Monday I did a full session, so I knew I was okay. There’s wasn’t a day when I was unable to do something like fitness.
“People probably saw me smiling at the crowd after it happened, or when I was on crutches, but that’s because I’m a pretty chilled out type of guy.”
That comes directly as a result of his whirlwind rise from the ranks of Scottish club rugby to being Scotland’s playmaker.
“I look back to 15 months ago when I won my first cap,” he said. “There has been so much happening with me this year, we won the league with Glasgow, I played in the Autumn Tests and the Six Nations and now we’ve had the build-up to the World Cup.
“I’m just trying to enjoy it all as much as possible, I’ve always got a smile on my face and that’s why even when I’m injured and on crutches I’m still smiling.
“It’s not often you get the chance to play at a World Cup and I’m lucky to be doing that now at the age of just 23. Who knows if you’ll get the chance to play at another one so I’m just trying to enjoy every minute of it.”
But although he’s chilled and smiling, he’s still focused on the serious business of getting Scotland into the last eight by beating Samoa tomorrow.
“We need to get off to a good start,” he said. “We’ve not got off to a good start in any game. This is a big focus for us because if we do that we can get the result we want.
“We all know we have to win but we have not talked about that much. It is a good situation for us to be in but there is pressure on us to win the game.
“Samoa will give us opportunities in attack but it will mean our skills and execution will need to be as good as it can be.
“The boys need to be geared up for big hits and we need to adapt throughout the game.”
Samoa do have something to gain, Russell pointed out, knowing a win will mean they don’t have to pre-qualify for the next World Cup.
“The fact they have nothing else to lose makes them dangerous. For us, if we lose the game having and fail to reach the quarter-finals then it’ll be hugely disappointing having managed to win our first two games with bonus points and having put ourselves into this position.
“Everyone has played at a high enough level and we have had pressure like this before. We can go back to that and trust in the game plan. We all know what we need to do.”