THE Fagerson family – they really are an extraordinary bunch. We all thought it was an incredible feat when Zander got the call inviting him to join the Scotland Six Nations squad the day before his 20th birthday, but now his younger brother Matt has outdone him by winning his first call-up to an international squad just a month after his 19th birthday.
Not that the young back row will have felt too out of place when the party assembled in St Andrews at the weekend. He arrived to find that he would have a familiar room-mate for the two-day camp – brother Zander, by now a veteran of 12 caps at the ripe old age of 21.
"I thought it was a practical joke but, yes, we are in the same room," Matt said as he took a break between yesterday's training sessions. "It is good, he was helping me out with plays.
"He came in as a young guy as well and has been through the whole process. It helps. If I do something wrong he will give me a pointer or a kick, depending on what he feels like. He is a big help."
Like his brother, the younger Fagerson has been earmarked as a player going places for the last couple of years. He got his first taste of international Under 20s rugby at 17, played professionally for Glasgow Warriors when he was 18 and is now getting a taste of a full Test camp.
With Gregor Townsend, now the Scotland head coach, having already demonstrated his faith in the player when he was in charge at Glasgow, the first cap cannot be too far away.
Certainly, as far as Fagerson himself is concerned, while he knows there is no shortage of competition in the Scotland back row, he does not see himself as being there just to make up the numbers.
"I'm going to soak it all in. You are training with the best guys in the country, so I'll get as much out of it as I can, tap into the more experienced guys, [John] Barclay, [Ryan] Wilson and the rest – and enjoy it," he said.
"You don't turn up to a camp just to be there and have fun. You have to train and you have to focus and get your head down, do the hard yards and the work. It will be good getting stuck in as much as I can."
The first hurdle for the season, though, is just to get regular rugby at Glasgow. Though he played nine matches for them last season, only three of them were starts and he knows he needs to be out there wearing the number six, seven or eight jersey before he can have realistic hopes of gong further.
"Last year there was a bit of pressure, I was the brand new guy. I wanted to make a claim, play the best I could," he said. "I aim to play as much as I can. There are a lot of young guys and guys like Callum Gibbins coming across [from New Zealand]. There is a lot of competition – [Ryan] Wilson, Adam Ashe, good competition.
"Come Autumn time, depending on how you are playing for your club, everyone has a claim for a game."
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