Finn Russell given licence to thrill in final for Bath after

Fly-half enjoyed some special treatment from club’s owner to get fit for Premiership run-in

Whisked off to the Bahamas by a multimillionaire, escorted from island to island in a speedboat and strapped to a machine described as a probe that heats muscles from the inside – Finn Russell’s recent trip to the Caribbean is beginning to sound like the plot to the latest Bond film.

As with much of Russell’s career, however, the truth is stranger than fiction. Bath’s marquee signing and star fly-half suffered what the club would call only a “serious groin injury” in early April. He had, in fact, ruptured his adductor longus and torn an abdominal muscle and, such has been Russell’s impact in his first season at the Rec, Bath’s playoff pursuit was suddenly in danger of unravelling.