Fraser Brown will likely hit 50 caps for Scotland this weekend having thought he’d never get one and as recently as last May worried he might never get another.
Brown – who will become a Dad next week into the bargain – has shown remarkable resilience through multiple injuriesin his career, not least the lisfranc tear sustained in the PRO14 final last year playing for Glasgow that he thought could have ended his career with the World Cup just three months away.
“It took quite a while to come back from it in the summer and there were periods when myself and the medics maybe didn’t think I was going to be able to do it but that’s all water under the bridge now,” said the Glasgow hooker.
“I tore my lisfranc at a clearout in a ruck, had to get an operation and got plates put in across the middle of my foot to hold it all together.
“I didn’t play any of the world cup warm-ups and wouldn’t you know it, when I make my comeback against Ireland, it’s playing in the backrow.”
Injuries early in his career meant he was a latecomer to international rugby, but even then it took him 20 or so caps before he began to truly appreciate it, he admits.
“You look at Zander (Fagerson) he’s got 28 caps already and he’s only 24, but I’m not jealous because what I’ve learned is that you don’t look at other people,” he continued.
“Everyone’s got different situations, everyone’s approach to the game, everyone’s route into the game can be completely different. It’s a bit corny, but every cap is a gift, so every time you get in this environment it’s just an extreme privilege to be here.
“It doesn’t matter if someone’s on five caps or 105, the fact you get to play is just a massive honour.”
Fagerson, as far as Brown is concerned, is someone who has come on leaps and bounds since the World Cup.
“Pieter de Villiers has come in as scrum coach and has been brilliant,” he continued. “He’s got a great personality in the group, he gets on well with everyone, but the detail and the passion that he bring to that area of the game has been taken on board and you can see the improvements we’ve had already in such a short period of time.
“He’s maybe not done a lot of individual technical work with Zander, but Zander’s been playing really well all season.
“He’s been exceptional probably since November to be honest. In the last couple of weeks he’s added the dynamism and the workrate about the pitch in some really strong and powerful performances in the setpiece.
“What you see from a guy who’s just turned 24 is someone who has matured really quickly in the last 6 months and is turning into one of the best tight heads in the world.”
Brown has another hugely important date looming – his wife is due to deliver their first child in six days – but although much of his focus is understandably there, he plans to be available for Wales next week as well as France on Sunday, and the work that’s to be done in those games.
“In every French team I’ve played, whether club or international is big men, big powerful men who play well, run off nine, carry hard.
“What they’ve changed in the last six to seven weeks is they’ve got a little more direct than they have been in the past – I think with Shaun Edwards coming in (to coach) their defence, it has improved quite substantially and part of that is because they’re playing less risky rugby.
“If they can limit turnovers by kicking the ball a bit more and playing more risk-free rugby in their own half it probably gives them a better opportunity to pressurize teams. They’ve just added that to their game and are less likely to maybe play from their own third.”
France come to Murrayfield – where they’ve not won since 2014 – three-fifths of the way to a Grand Slam, but the pressure is on both teams, says Brown.
“There is pressure on us as we are playing at home,” he said. “Either way teams will try and shut that out and try and focus on what they are trying to do.
“Last season we did not start games very well and that is what we have targeted to do in the last three games of the championship.
“The longer you are in a game the more chance you have of winning it. The more chance you give to let teams get ahead in that first 30 mins it is difficult to claw that back.
“If they get ahead with such an aggressive defence they have the ability to sit back a bit and soak it up. With a big crowd behind us we have to start well and attack them in the right areas of the pitch.”
