Zander Fagerson: 50 caps, early doubts about his rugby future and a lesson from Shagger

A lesson in scrummaging from a moustachioed veteran helped set Zander Fagerson on the right path when the young prop was nursing doubts about his future in the game.

On Saturday in Santiago del Estero, Fagerson will win his 50th cap for Scotland but he admits that there were times in his late teens when he wondered if rugby was for him.

On leaving school there was no contract from the SRU academy, no offers to join the Scottish Institute of Sport. Fagerson contemplated a year out, a chance to travel and pursue his love of mountain biking.

In the end, he played club rugby for Glasgow Hawks, turning out for their second team under the watchful eye of Jimmy Sinclair.

The veteran coach can take credit for helping nurture Fagerson’s raw talent and the player remains forever grateful. But he also owes a debt of gratitude to Lindsay ‘Shagger’ Ross, something of a local legend in club rugby circles in Edinburgh.

It was during a second XV match between Hawks and Ross’ Stewart’s Melville that Fagerson came up against Ross, a wily doyen of the front row. Experience trumped youth on the day and the teenager had to face the music.

“It was my first game for Hawks 2s,” explains Fagerson. “After the game I had a good heart to heart with Jimmy Sinclair and he gave it to me with both barrels and said that wasn’t good enough and I have turned it around since then.”

It’s something of an understatement. The tighthead is reaching his half century of Scotland appearances while still only 26, is a Lions tourist and has been the cornerstone of the Glasgow Warriors scrum since breaking into the team a few short months after his time with the Hawks. But there were a few bumps along the road.

“I was pretty young in my year at school and when I