Captain Stuart Hogg had “a massive say” on Cameron Redpath’s decision to choose Scotland and make his dream debut in Scotland’s 11-6 win over England at Twickenham.
The 21-year-old centre had a sparkling first showing in a Scotland shirt in the first win at England’s HQ in 38 years. He finally made the decision after years of soul-searching to play for the country his father Bryan captained, having been brought up in England and capped for them at age-group level.
Redpath was on the ball from the off, showed up well in defence and won a couple of turnovers – “I do love a jackal from a back” he joked.
He paid tribute to the way Hogg, Finn Russell and others had eased him into the international side.
‘He felt I could play a massive part for Scotland’
“Hoggy presented me with my cap after the game, which was pretty cool,” he said. “He’s been in touch with me a lot over the last couple of months. He’s a massive name in Scottish rugby so for him to do it really meant a lot.
“He’d been in touch with me quite a bit saying he felt that I could play a massive part for (Scotland). I didn’t want to rush into any decision, I wanted to earn it.
“But if felt like this was the right time to come into international rugby and (Hogg) had a massive say on my decision.
“The way we play as a squad is enjoyable for fans and enjoyable for us. That was a massive appeal for me. This came at the right time.”
‘Couldn’t have been a better first cap’
Redpath’s mum and dad and the rest of his family saw the cap presentation by way of a video link in the dressing room after the game – “that was nice, the whole family was buzzing”.
“It really couldn’t have been a better first cap,” he continued. “I wasn’t nervous at all, which is the best feeling to have.
“Finn (Russell) said to me during the week that they’d get me on the ball as quickly as possible, and I was happy with that. It’s been my dream to play international rugby from the age of three. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and how can you be nervous about a dream?
“Now we’ve got to take it week by week. We’ve got to push hard this week and have a good game against Wales on Saturday.”
‘These don’t come around very often’
While the euphoria was obvious after Hamish Watson booted the ball into touch to end the game, Hogg was trying to bring his players back down to earth almost immediately, according to head coach Gregor Townsend.
“Hoggy mentioned staying grounded to the players in the post-match huddle, and we’ve mentioned it since then,” said the coach, who said it was one of the best results in Scottish rugby history.
“We’ve got a couple of days to get our feet back on the ground, but we also want to enjoy the moment. These don’t come around very often.”
Townsend noted that a first weekend victory was a rarity in the Six Nations for Scotland – this was the first time they’d done it away from Murrayfield.
“It’s an opportunity we’ve seldom had to build on a first victory. It’s a quick turnaround and we’ll be well prepared for Wales. That will become our focus from Monday morning.
“I don’t think we’re favourites for the title. We certainly weren’t the favourites going into Twickenham for a one-off game, never mind the Championship. Everyone will be picking France as the favourites now.
“We have to improve from Saturday. There were a lot of good things to build on – but there is still a lot to improve. The Six Nations is five one-off games against great teams. We know Wales will be very good next week.”
‘It had to go tighter’
Scotland did play a little more open rugby than the autumn but Townsend says there’s more to come.
“Because of the weather and because of our opposition defence, it had to go tighter,” he said. “But was pleasing to see guys like Duhan (van der Merwe) still manage to get on the ball a lot.
“It wasn’t just the forwards that were carrying. Cam Redpath had a couple of good close carries.”
There are no injury issues out of the game, although both Jamie Ritchie and Sean Maitland came off early.
“Both were just feeling a bit of tightness having not played much rugby, but should be okay for next week.”
