SCOTLAND, as everyone from Vern Cotter downwards has remarked, enjoy greater strength in depth these days than they have had for a long time. That much was evident in Saturday’s 27-22 win over Ireland, an impressive all-round team performance in which every man had a significant part to play.
One of those who had a bigger role than most, however, was Zander Fagerson, who played from first to last at tighthead prop - a relative rarity these days when a bench has three front-row replacements. Add in the fact that the Glasgow Warriors player only turned 21 last month, and the weight of responsibility being put on his shoulders is clear.
The game against Ireland was just the fifth time Fagerson had played for Scotland, and was his first start in the Six Nations Championship - his debut was off the bench against England last year, while he also played in the three Autumn Tests. On Sunday in Paris, he will win the sixth cap of what should be a long and extremely successful career.
But no matter how well Fagerson has risen to the challenge since entering the Test arena, it is obvious that Scotland are heavily reliant on him. If he had been injured on Saturday, his replacement would have been Simon Berghan, who has no international caps and fewer than 20 appearances for Edinburgh to his name.
At 26, Berghan has been around the block a few times, but his selection for the bench ahead of Jon Welsh raised a few eyebrows. According to assistant coach Jonathan Humphreys, however, the New-Zealand-born prop is ready to step into the breach when called upon – which should be this weekend in the Stade de France.
“We like Simon,” Humphreys said yesterday. “He potentially has a lot to offer us. He’s shown up well in training and we’re pretty confident he has the ability to do what we need.
“Yeah, I would hope so,” the coach continued when asked if Berghan was likely to play against the French. “We were looking to put him on at the weekend, but we started getting momentum back towards the end of the game and we didn’t make that change. You’d think the way the modern game is, it’s fairly unusual for props to go 80 minutes, so there’s every chance he may figure if he’s selected.”
The fact that WP Nel is out for the whole tournament with a neck injury only adds to the importance of a fit Fagerson to Scotland. Humphreys warned, however, that no matter how quickly the Glasgow prop is developing, it should be accepted that he still has a long way to go.
“We’ve got a hell of lot of time for Zander, but we’ve still got to understand that a lot of the stuff with him is potential. He’s got the minerals to make a significant impact in international rugby for a long, long time. But like any 21-year-old there’s a lot to work on.
“He’s basically learning his trade in the hardest arena possible. So while we’re delighted with him, we’re more happy with what he could become.
“He’s 21. He stayed on because he gives you so many other things. The last thing we want is for him to feel he’s the finished article, because he’s not. He’s got a lot of growth and that is the exciting thing for him.”
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