Scotland utilise the Strathallan connection
● Five players in national squad for tour came through at Perthshire school under tutelage of director of rugby Henderson
When international rugby players go on summer tours it is a good chance for them to get to know each other and strike up relationships, but for a quintet of former Strathallan School pupils the upcoming Scotland trip will be like the good old days.
Already capped Zander Fagerson, 22, and Murray Mccallum, 22 and the uncapped duo of Jamie Ritchie, 21, and George Horne, 22, all played in the same school team at one stage at the Perthshire school.
The 19-year-old Matt Fagerson, another rookie, played for the first XV in Forgandenny a couple of years later and will also be on the trip to Canada, USA and Argentina with Gregor Townsend’s senior squad next month.
It should not be forgotten that a number of the boys started their rugby journeys at local clubs – Dunfermline helping Mccallum and Howe of Fife bringing through Ritchie and Horne – before Strathallan helped mould them.
And key to that work at the school was director of rugby Andrew Henderson.
“To have all of these boys in the same Scotland squad is a really special moment for the school and for me as someone who has worked with the guys over the years and kept in touch with them it is really exciting,” Henderson said.
“However, I always say to the boys that it is themselves that have got them to where they wanted to go. We provided the facilities, the coaching and the opportunities, but then it was up to them and they have all got to this stage by a hell of a lot of hard work, making sacrifices and always wanting to get better and better.”
When talent such as props Fagerson senior, Mccallum, back-row Ritchie and scrumhalf Horne were in the same school team you may think there was a swagger and some egos kicking around the squad.
“Not a bit of it,” states Henderson – and certainly anyone who has dealt with the quartet and back-row Fagerson junior from a media perspective in the last few years would agree that they are humble and courteous characters.
“We have had some good players here in recent years, but if anyone came in here and disrupted the team ethos then they wouldn’t have lasted long,” added Henderson, whose own son Josh played for Scotland under-20 last year. “They are all humble guys and I think that is why they are doing so well, they understand what being part of a team means and have a winning mentality.
“Guys like them and swimmer Duncan Scott who have come through the school never get too big for their boots and I believe they are the kind of characters Gregor Townsend wants around his Scotland squad.”
Fagerson senior has 16 full caps already to his name, while Mccallum earned his first cap off the bench against Wales in Cardiff earlier this year. So, what kind of players are Scotland getting in new boys Ritchie, Horne and Fagerson junior?
Henderson said: “Jamie has been in the pro environment since he left school and he has just got better and better as a back-row. He has a very good rugby brain and is tactically astute.
“George has always been the ball of energy that we have seen for Glasgow Warriors and Scotland Sevens this year and he is a clever, clever player. And Matt, well he is a guy who just works and works, is physical and is an asset to any team he is in while playing with his older brother for Scotland would be an amazing story.”