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Matt Fagerson revealed how he and brother Zander got to spend a \u201cspecial\u201d day with their devoted parents last week as they savoured the first time they had both played for Scotland in the same match at a World Cup.<\/p>\n
The siblings featured in last Sunday\u2019s 18-3 defeat by South Africa in Marseille.<\/p>\n
Prop Zander, who had played at the previous World Cup, was on for the first 55 minutes at Stade Velodrome and back-rower Matt, who missed out on selection for the 2019 showpiece in Japan, was introduced from the bench in the 64th minute.<\/p>\n
Although the result did not go as planned, the match held obvious sentimental value for the Fagerson family, and the brothers \u2013 two of five siblings \u2013 got to reflect on it with their parents Gwendolyn and Jonathan as the team were given some down time at the start of last week following the Boks showdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was amazing, our parents came through to Antibes (near the team\u2019s World Cup base in the south of France) and me and Zander spent the day with them,\u201d Matt told the PA news agency.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt was really nice. We went for ice cream, had some food, went to the beach. They\u2019re a huge part of why we do what we do and it was really special to have them out here and spend that time with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a very sporty family. Our little sister is in the Scotland hockey squad, one of our brothers ran a marathon the other day and our other brother is a DJ so everybody\u2019s pretty busy at the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur parents are incredibly proud of us and to be able to spend a couple of days with them out here was really special.\u201d<\/p>\n
At this time four years ago, Matt was at home, effectively on standby, after agonisingly missing out on selection for the squad.<\/p>\n
The Glasgow back-rower has a good idea, therefore, of the range of emotions hooker Stuart McInally will have gone through after finding himself in a similar position over the past month before getting the call to join the squad on Wednesday after Dave Cherry withdrew with concussion after he banged his head when slipping on the stairs at the team hotel last Monday.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe\u2019re all gutted for Dave,\u201d said Fagerson. \u201cIt was a terrible accident that happened and we\u2019re all behind him but Rambo (McInally) was unfortunate not to make the squad in the first place. We have some quality hookers but Rambo\u2019s a quality player and we\u2019re stoked to have him back in the squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2019, I had about a week to get over it and then I was back in with the Glasgow boys doing pre-season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe message to all the boys in that situation is to keep fit because things like this happen, injuries happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt needs the whole squad buy-in. Injuries happen in our sport so everyone should try to stay fit because if you get the call to come out you have to make the most of it and integrate back into the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cRambo has come back in great shape, he\u2019s ready to hit the ground running.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a weird old time for him. It was obviously really tough for him when he didn\u2019t make the squad and he had to get over that but it\u2019s a fairytale that he gets to come out here and hopefully get that 50th cap (he is currently on 49).\u201d<\/p>\n
After losing to South Africa, Scotland know they must win all three of their remaining pool matches against Tonga, Romania and Ireland. They will probably require bonus points from their next two outings to give themselves an opportunity to qualify for the quarter-finals when they go into their October showdown with the Irish in Paris.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got an uphill battle now but we\u2019ve got a lot of belief in the squad so we\u2019re looking forward to it,\u201d said Fagerson.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to put our best foot forward against Tonga on Sunday and then hopefully get a big finish against Ireland.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIf you start looking for bonus points too early in a game you can sometimes miss the beat in the first half but I think we will probably need bonus points so we\u2019ll be looking to up the scoreline.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just focusing on Tonga just now and trying to start the game really well.\u201d<\/p>\n