Hastings heeds dad and savours his first cap

The last words rugby legend Gavin hastings said to his son Adam in a telephone call before he made his Scotland debut were simply ‘go and enjoy it’.

Four minutes into the second half against Canada, he did just that. It was an emotional moment for hastings, who got on earlier than expected when James Lang, another debutant, had to go off with a head knock.

Ruaridh Jackson, who started at fly-half, moved to centre to allow hastings to take up the ten position.

The opposition was poor but the Glasgow Warriors player still managed to make the right decisions at the right times to help Scotland to an easy victory that he will remember forever.

‘My dad told me to go and enjoy myself, savour the moment because your debut only happens once,’ said hastings. ‘That was all he said and I have certainly done that. It was awesome.

‘Before my debut, I had so many messages from so many people and my family got right behind me. I did not realise it meant so much to people but it was a really nice occasion, a moment I’ll cherish for sure. This has been a goal of mine since I was a wee lad.’

hastings managed to keep his emotions in check before kick-off, but only just.

‘When we walked out of the changing room, I was a bit emotional but I held it back and also at the anthems,’ he said.

‘I had a little moment when I saw James had a head knock and I might go on, so I tried to do what my dad had said and savour it a little bit when I got the call to get ready.

‘First thing when I got out on the park, there was a five-metre scrum and I could see DTh van der Merwe lining me up, so I thought: “here we go”. Fortunately, I did not have to make a tackle and we cleared our lines, so that was good.

‘Once I was on and settled, I was pretty relaxed. I thought I might be a lot more nervous during the game but maybe that was just because of the score, with us being so far ahead.’

hastings said he could not remember his first touch of the ball, which obviously was not as memorable as his dad’s against France on his debut in the 1986 Five Nations championship. The man who went on to be a rugby legend put the kick-off straight into touch, the French took a quick restart and ran nearly the length of the park to score.

however, Gavin had the last laugh, putting over six penalties as Scotland won a dramatic match 18-17 at Murrayfield.

‘My dad sticks on his games every Christmas,’ joked Adam. ‘he just kicked it, didn’t he?

‘Seriously, I have seen the main ones, the Grand Slam ones, but have not seen too much of him in club games at Watsonians. he was pretty handy though.’

The 21-year-old looks set to start against the USA in houston next weekend and will be given a much tougher time than he got against Canada.

That is fine by him as he knows he still has a lot to prove despite his impressive debut.

‘I came pretty unexpectedly and quickly into the Scotland set-up as I have not played that much this season at Glasgow and was not expecting to go on tour,’ said the young fly-half. ‘Then Gregor (Townsend) said he felt I was ready to go on tour. I am very grateful that he did.

‘There is relief to get my debut out of the way and it was not a complete horror show. If Gregor wants me to play against the USA, I’ll grab it.’

And did he speak to his dad, who had been at the Rolling Stones gig at Murrayfield on Saturday night before watching his son’s Scotland debut on television?

‘No he had gone to bed after the game but I spoke to my mum, who was very happy,’ said hastings junior. ‘Dad is coming to houston for the USA game.’

Scotland head coach Townsend said hastings would get another run out against the USA, possibly starting the game.

‘I thought he did really well,’ said Townsend. ‘I had thought we would use him at 12 but I did want him to play at ten, too, so I thought this was a good time.

‘It was a gutsy call by Adam to call a wide play when we were down to 14 when Jacko was in the bin, but we did well off that. he made some good decisions.’