Fraser Brown owes his career and all his 42 Scotland caps to the chance the Glasgow Warriors gave him, and his loyalty and love for the club meant that captaincy is an even greater honour.
The hooker was pretty much heading out of the pro game due to injury and lack of opportunity when Gregor Townsend and Shade Munro took a punt on him seven years ago, and it’s transformed his career.
“I’ve been at Glasgow for my whole career, so to be in a position where I can share some leadership duties with Ryan (Wilson) is obviously a pretty big honour, and something I’m looking forward to over the next couple of weeks, and then the coming season,” he said ahead of the re-start game against Edinburgh at BT Murrayfield this weekend.
“The love and loyalty I have for the club is huge. If it wasn’t for Glasgow and Gregor and Shade, the coaches there at the time, then I probably wouldn’t have a career right now and I wouldn’t have played however many times it is for Glasgow and Scotland.
“I’m hugely indebted to what they’ve allowed me to do by giving me the opportunity of coming back into professional rugby.”
Brown and Wilson are pretty much chalk and cheese as characters, but that should make a good fit as co-captains.
“Ryan’s done an excellent job in the last couple of years, and he’s a really good club man, who brings lots of energy to meetings, to training sessions,” he said.
“He’s been there, he’s done it before, so for me it’s just about picking up in some of the areas that Ryan maybe isn’t as comfortable with, and working with him on and off the pitch.”
It’s likely that Brown will the man at the referee’s ear, as he has done for Scotland in the past year.
“Stuart (McInally) and I did that role in the Six Nations to spare ave Hoggy having to bust a lung running 50 or 60 metres every time we need to communicate with the ref,” he said.
“I like studying rugby and I spend a lot of time watching rugby and having input into the background, chatting with coaches and the playmakers. Being captain you’ve obviously got to be a little bit more aware of your tactics but also where you are during the game, of the influence of the scoreboard, of officials. It’s something I’ve really enjoyed doing.”
Brown signed a three-year contract last season, so he’ll be around for a decent time yet.
“The last couple of years I feel like I’ve been improving year on year, having worked under Dave (Rennie) and Jason (O’Halloran) and now Danny (Wilson) and Jonny Bell.
“Every time you get new coaches in they add different bits and pieces to your game. If you can retain the things that have worked then add bits and pieces then you’ll improve and that’s where I feel I am at the moment.”
