Matt Fagerson is grateful to Dave Rennie for giving him his chance and support, but the Scotland back rower will be looking to put one over on him and Australia this weekend.
Rennie promoted Fagerson to be a regular in the Glasgow Warriors during his time as head coach at Scotstoun, and there’s a clear bond between the two based on respect and honesty.
‘He was a brilliant coach to me’
“I’m very fond of Dave, I thought he was a brilliant coach and he was really good to me,” he said.
“One of the things I took from him was his player management to me personally. If I was playing poorly he would tell me and if I was playing well you would tell me that as well.
“We had some good honest discussions about things to work on, things I was doing well and why he was picking me and sometimes why I missed out.
“I really respect that. My footwork was probably a big thing for him. He quite liked the fact I could get soft shoulders here and there!”
‘A play before you kick’ coach
👏 Check out this Try & A Half brought to you by @CadburyAU#Cadbury #TryAndaHalf #Wallabies pic.twitter.com/36JGoWIjHP
— Wallabies (@wallabies) October 24, 2021
He sees a lot of stuff that is familiar when watching tapes of the Wallabies as Scotland prepare to host them on Sunday.
“They the love to play from deep, and they are pretty brutal in contact,” he said. “They have some great jackalers as well.
“Dave was always a `play before you kick’ sort of coach, and he brought that into the whole squad.
“(Australia) won’t be afraid to play. I remember when we played Exeter at home one year we scored two tries from our own line. That was the way he wanted us to play and I think we came out on top by about 20 points in that game.
“I think they will try to play expansive rugby and keep the ball in hand. There are aspects of knowing how he wants his team to play, things that he holds dear to his heart in terms of tactics and the way you go about your business.
“But I think he has put his own spin on Australian rugby and where he wants them to go.”
‘You never feel at home’
This is awesome, @StrathCommTrust really making a difference in people’s lives. Give them a follow and find out more what it’s all about 👍🏽 https://t.co/42wXFv8geq
— Matt Fagerson (@FagersonMatt) September 3, 2019
Fagerson would appear to be the man now in possession of the 8 shirt beside first-on-the-teamsheet backrowers Hamish Watson and Jamie Ritchie, but he doesn’t see it that way.
“The good thing about this Scottish back row is that you never feel at home,” he said. “There is always massive competition which keeps you on your toes and helps you to perform better.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to have a good run of games recently in the last year or so which has helped the confidence a bit. Playing alongside guys like Mish and Jamie really helps as well.
“They lead by example and they have been awesome.”
Scotland have confidence from recent wins over Australia – away and home in their last two meetings – and from the improvements in the last two Six Nations.
“We trust in our systems,” he said. “For the past couple of Six Nations we had a really good defence. “If we do that and what we do well, we will hopefully come out with a good result.
“We have a lot of attacking threats, players all over the Park with some great individual talent. If we can pull all that together it will be a pretty good occasion and hopefully get a win.
“It was great to get back against Tonga. The set piece was good at times and our defence and attack were really good in open play.
“We got bent a couple of times on the edge, but we just have to tidy those things up. Not massive errors, just positional clarity kind of things.”