Russell set for 96th Scotland cap as Murrayfield hosts Nations Championship clash with New Zealand

Finn Russell will earn his 96th Scotland cap when Scotland face New Zealand at Murrayfield in the Nations Championship on Saturday, the Bath fly-half said as he prepared for the match.

Fans have repeatedly asked Russell when he might retire, prompting the 34-year-old to joke on the BBC Scotland Rugby Podcast: "I'm only 34 – you'd think I'm 44." He has won domestic titles with Glasgow Warriors and Bath, reached a European final with Racing 92, toured with the British and Irish Lions three times and has, the article states, 95 caps for his country; Saturday will be his 100th international across Scotland and Lions Tests. The Lions tour of Australia last summer was his third and the first in which he was the undisputed holder of the 10 jersey, and he led the tourists to a series win.

On the toll of being a Lion, Russell said: "I think the year after the Lions takes a lot more out of the players than you think - mentally, physically, emotionally. "It's a big, big high. It's a long season. I think to come back and play the next year as you had done the year before is quite tough." He added: "But this year I'm feeling much better. Fresher mentally, physically, feeling good going into this season and now I'm feeling good."

Scotland have shown they can compete with top sides this year, beating England at Murrayfield when England were on a 12-match winning run, putting 50 points on France, and scoring seven tries against Argentina in Cordoba. They followed that with a narrow loss to South Africa the next week in Pretoria, where they still ran in four tries.

Asked how Scotland progress from being "a very good side" to a title-winning one, Russell replied: "It's the million-dollar question, isn't it?" He pointed to finishing in the opposition 22 as an area for improvement: "From the summer, we were really good against Argentina when we got into the 22 and we were really good at executing there. The percentage was really high. "We actually had more chances, I think, or more entries against South Africa, but the conversion rate was a lot lower, probably half of what we had against Argentina. So, how to capitalise and convert when you get into the 22 is probably the main growth that we need to have."

Russell has faced New Zealand three times with Scotland without a victory and Saturday will be only his fourth match against the All Blacks in 12-and-a-half years of international rugby, the article notes. The Nations Championship format will increase Scotland's exposure to southern hemisphere teams, and Russell said there is at least one more chance after Murrayfield when "the Scots travel to Dunedin for their final match before next year's Rugby World Cup".

Previewing Murrayfield, he said: "It'll be really exciting to play them again at Murrayfield. It's always a great occasion." He added: "Obviously, there's a lot of footage from the All Blacks from the last few months that they've been playing against South Africa and Australia, so we'll look into that. The boys know [head coach, formerly of Glasgow] Dave Rennie and [former Edinburgh head coach, now All Blacks assistant] Mike Blair really well. "Knowing them, they'll have something up their sleeve to attack us and to defend us, but just prepping as best we can to try and rip in and kick on from the summer that we had. "We've definitely got the belief, but it's about going in and delivering the product on the field, I suppose, and turning them over. "It's all very well having the belief, but we need to get the results from that."

Scotland can also look to their upcoming trip to Dunedin as the next confirmed test following Saturday's match, with that fixture described in the article as the final match before next year's Rugby World Cup.