He was born in Irvine in 1993 and is part of a team that has earned a place in one of the year’s biggest rugby finals… but the player in question is not Scottish international centre Mark Bennett.

Tellingly, given the explanation he provided, the name of the Glasgow Warriors centre did not immediately register with Matty Russell, the 23-year-old Scotland rugby league international who is set to play for Warrington Wolves in his sport’s grand day out, the Challenge Cup final at Wembley this weekend.

“I’ve not heard the name,” he said, before adding, when illumination was offered: “I did watch all the sevens games, but with it being GB I didn’t click on that he was from Scotland.”

As well as speaking to the perception of the British team his response, provided in an accent that owes much more to his Wigan upbringing than his birthplace, also offers insight into how separate the two rugby codes remain, some 110 years after they split and more than 20 years after the union version stopped turning its nose up at paying players. Antipathy has generally been replaced by mutual respect, but other than when players are poached from one to the other, they still operate in separate bubbles.

That has contributed to rugby league largely continuing to be confined to strongholds either side of the Pennines and down the east coast of Australia, but Russell is part of a Scotland squad that is contributing to efforts to break out of them. Their performance at the 2013 World Cup, when they were expected to turn up and make up the numbers, served notice that Steve McCormack, their long-suffering coach who had previously worked to make something of very little in more than a decade that has seen him become the sport’s longest serving international coach, had finally assembled a competitive squad.

Buoyed by that they then earned a place at the forthcoming Four Nations tournament, facing the sport’s super-powers Australia, England and New Zealand on successive weekends in October and November, by winning the 2014 European Championship, Scotland’s first success in that competition.

That has given McCormack greater scope to attract Scottish-qualified players from both the NRL and England’s Super League and while they remain rank outsiders a group of men whose commitment to the cause cannot be questioned given that the tiny rewards they will receive are hugely out-weighed by the risk of injury impacting club careers, recognise the opportunity.

“The Four Nations is a huge platform for Scotland rugby league,” said Russell.

“We had a meeting the other week and looking round the room it was exciting to see the quality of players we now have. A lot of people have put their hands up and Steve was speaking about the NRL players we’re bringing over.

“There’s definitely going to be competition for places. We have people who genuinely wanted to be part of this.”

As they gathered they reflected upon the events of three years ago which formed strong bonds.

“A lot of us were thinking about the World Cup,” said Russell, who had been among those playing in Australia at that time.

“We had a bit of a slide show which was a reminder of how much the players enjoyed it. I came directly from the Gold Coast and Steve told me: ‘You’ll have one of the best times of your life in this camp.’ He was right. It was and when we were at the meeting it had that same sort of feeling about it.”

Challenging as their schedule will be, as tough as any to be encountered in global sport, they are well aware of the promotional opportunity that presents.

“It should be great for rugby league in Scotland, massive for the country and if we can get a few people to start playing it a bit more then that will be even better,” Russell observed.

That, though, comes at the end of what could yet become the greatest season in his club’s history as they also battle for top spot in Super League with Challenge Cup final opponents Hull, ahead of the end-of-season play-offs and their bid to win the Grand Final for the first time.

Everything else can wait, however, as the focus goes onto one of the great days in sport when representatives of every club in the English game traditionally turn out to support the occasion, along with those backing the respective finalists.

“It’s pretty much all about Wembley,” said Russell.

“It’s definitely up there with all-time achievements. Playing a Challenge Cup final at Wembley is massive especially because we’ve slipped up in the semi-final a couple of times. We all grew up watching it.

“It will be a great experience. There’s a lot of neutral fans, we’ve sold a lot of tickets and Hull have a big following as well, so records have been broken in terms of the speed of ticket sales.”

Boosted this time, too, by a substantial turn-out from the Scottish rugby heartland that has produced the likes of Scotland captains Ian McLauchlan and Peter Brown, the latter’s late, great brother Gordon ‘Broon frae Troon’ and Al McHarg, as well as Olympic silver medallist Bennett.

“I’ve still got a lot of family in Ayrshire and quite a few of them are coming down from Dalry to Wembley,” Russell reported.

“My dad and my brothers are up there quite a lot at weekends. Obviously because of games I don’t get up there so often, but my dad’s got three brothers up there and all my cousins are there.

“There’s been a lot to do in the build-up to the final, having to sort out hotels and tickets. I’m nervous, but I’ve tried not to think about it too much.”

He knows, too, that this is just the start of a formidable but thrilling few weeks.

“Every match is big from now on this season,” Russell acknowledged.

“Our coach has reminded us that we’re still chasing top spot in the Super League table, so we’ve got the final and then we’re back to it with the league.”