JACKSON COLUMN: Warriors have shown stuff of champions

The occasion may have long since acquired historical significance in the Dubliner's emergence as the greatest player of his generation but it would not have distracted a six-year-old from making the most of the school holiday.

By then O'Driscoll had already taken the first step on the monumental journey to becoming the world's most-capped player, in Brisbane against the Wallabies a few months before they recaptured the World Cup in Cardiff under John Eales.

If Ireland had taken a beating, their new outside centre had achieved something highly unusual, not that he would have wasted any time dwelling on it.

At 20, O'Driscoll had made his international debut before his provincial one. That followed two months later, against Munster in Cork at the start of the 1999 inter-provincial championship rescheduled for the first week of August to clear the decks for the World Cup that autumn.

While the colossus of a centre bestrode the global stage through four Lions tours and four World Cups spanning 15 years, Russell's journey over the same period took him from school to Stirling County, Falkirk, Lincoln University in New Zealand on a rugby scholarship, Ayr and the Glasgow Warriors.

His collision course with O'Driscoll takes place at the Royal Dublin Showground on Saturday May 31 - Leinster against the Warriors in the Grand Final of the RaboDirect PRO12.

Twenty-four hours after the Glaswegians had edged home in a Clydeside classic against Munster, Leinster came from behind to knock Ulster out and preserve their record of never having missed a Grand Final.

When they line up for their fifth in a row, the Irish holders will not be viewing Russell's presence as one way of emphasising O'Driscoll's longevity.

Instead they will see the Warriors' new fly-half as a very real threat to the Grand Old Man leaving the stage empty-handed.

Russell will hope that O'Driscoll finishes with Leinster the way he started all those years ago, on a losing note.

The Warriors will settle for nothing less, not after losing successive RaboDirect PRO12 play-off semi-finals at the RDS in each of the two previous seasons - the first by four points (19-15), the second by two (17-15).

When they were last at the RDS, at the beginning of March when both teams were without their respective international contingents, Leinster won by three points (28-25).

The Warriors have not lost since, a run which has taken Russell from a Scottish League and Cup double with Ayr into the climax of the RaboDirect PRO12 season over a period of 12 months.

He only made his first start three months ago, against the Newport Gwent Dragons at Rodney Parade on a night when his four goals failed to save the Warriors losing by the narrowest of margins.

In the process the Dragons achieved the distinction of being the only team this season to beat the Grand Finalists home and away.

It will be an occasion like no other but then that was true of the semi-final against Munster before a record 10,000 at Scotstoun where the Warriors lived up to their name on a night of almost unbearable tension.

The manner of their victory will have left nobody in any doubt, least of all Leinster, that Glasgow's finest are imbued with the stuff of potential champions.

When the going was at its toughest, nobody made a more telling contribution than Russell whose chip led to Gordon Reid's decisive try.

Head coach Gregor Townsend can hardly be accused of exaggeration when he refers to his young No. 10 as having 'exceeded expectations'.

No praise for Townsend, his coaches and players can be high enough for putting a Scottish team where none has gone before.

Had it not been for Ian Madigan's late try pulling Leinster through their semi-final against Ulster, the Warriors would have been preparing for a Grand Final in Glasgow.

If they are to win their first RaboDirect title PRO12, they will have to beat the home team at the RDS, as the Ospreys did in 2010 and again two years later.

Ulster, beaten finalists 12 months ago, and Munster, champions in 2011, will be kicking nothing more than their heels.

As European Cup semi-finalists, Munster at least went one stage further than their northern rivals. The demoralising effect of Ulster's narrow 14-man elimination at the quarter-finals by Saracens can be gauged by their subsequent results, successive defeats in Glasgow and Dublin costing them the comfort of a home RaboDirect PRO12 semi-final.

Since winning their last trophy, the Celtic League in 2006, Ulster have developed a chronic habit of losing a series of big matches, none bigger than the 2012 European Cup final against Leinster.

Head coach Mark Anscombe acknowledged as much after watching his team fail to batter their way through the impregnable blue wall of Leinster resistance.

The Glasgow Warriors' nine-match winning streak into the Grand Final:

March 22 at Scotstoun:
beat Scarlets 14-6 (Try-NMatawalu. Penalties-D Weir 3).

March 28 at Scotstoun:
Beat Ospreys 11-9 (Try-T Seymour. Penalties-D Weir 2).

April 4 at Scotstoun:
Beat Benetton Treviso 29-10 (Tries-H Pyrgos 2, N Matawalu, S Maitland. Conversions- F Russell 3. Penalty- F Russell).

April 12 at Thomond Park:
Beat Munster 22-5 (Tries-S Maitland, J Gray, J Strauss. Conversions- D Weir 2. Penalty-D Weir).

April 18 at Scotstoun:
Beat Ulster 27-9 (Tries-S Maitland, T Seymour, M Bennett. Conversions- F Russell 3. Penalties- F Russell 2).

April 26 at Scotstoun:
Beat Edinburgh 37-34 (Tries-P Murchie 2, R Jackson, M Bennett, R Harley. Conversions-F Russell 3. Penalties-F Russell 2).

May 2 at Stadio Monigo:
Beat Benetton Treviso 38-16. (Tries-T Seymour 3, G Reid. Conversions-F Russell 3. Penalties-F Russell 3, M Bennett).

May 10 at Scotstoun:
Beat Zebre 54-0. (Tries-S Hogg 2, N Matawalu 2, R Grant, G Cross, A Kellock, A Dunbar. Conversions-D Weir 6, R Jackson).

May 16 at Scotstoun:
Beat Munster 16-15. (Try-G Reid. Conversion- F Russell. Penalties- F Russell 3).

To get your hands on tickets for the RaboDirect PRO12 final, visit http://www.rabodirectpro12.com/final/tickets.php