Uncapped Glasgow front-rower Johnny Matthews revealed he was stunned to get a call out of the blue on Saturday asking him to fly to France to join Scotland’s World Cup squad.
The 30-year-old was enjoying a day out in the Fife coastal town of Elie when assistant coach John Dalziel phoned to tell him his services were required after Stuart McInally suffered a neck injury and had to withdraw just over a week after the 33-year-old Edinburgh forward got his own late call-up to replace the concussed Dave Cherry.
Matthews – effectively the Scots’ sixth-choice hooker – rushed back to Glasgow to get himself organised and caught a flight to Nice on Sunday morning before being officially added to the squad.
“I’m buzzing to be here,” he said, speaking from the Scots’ training base in the south of France on Tuesday afternoon.
“I was very shocked to get the call but I’m obviously delighted and just looking to throw my hat into the ring to try to get some games while I’m here.
“I was in Elie with my wife and some good friends when I got the call from John. We were taking the dogs for a walk and when I saw John’s number pop up I knew he wasn’t phoning for a catch-up.
“He said ‘how quickly can you get to Nice?’ and now I’m here. It didn’t really feel real until I got here. It was a whirlwind 24 hours, trying to get packed, find my gumshield, get my boots and all the other stuff I needed.
“My boots were at (Glasgow’s home ground) Scotstoun, so I had to shoot there and get them to keep the place open. I then quickly packed and got on a 6am flight on Sunday morning.
“Once I finally got here and got the (Scotland World Cup) kit, that’s when it felt real. My wife flew out with me so she is loving it too.”
Liverpool-born Matthews – who qualifies for Scotland through his Blantyre-born mother – enjoyed an impressive season for Glasgow.
However, he knew it would be a tall order to make the initial squad, with George Turner, Ewan Ashman, Cherry, McInally and Fraser Brown all more established in the international fold.
Ultimately the misfortune of Cherry and McInally over the past few weeks, allied to an ACL injury sustained by Brown in May, paved the way for Matthews to land an unlikely crack at the biggest tournament in the game.
“My aim is to play for Glasgow, and if you do that, you’re always in contention for the Scotland squad I suppose,” he said when asked if the possibility of World Cup involvement had featured prominently in his thoughts.
“The more I played for Glasgow, the more my hopes got a little bit higher, but it’s a very hotly-contested position. There are five or six brilliant hookers in Scotland so I’m just happy to be here.
“I was hoping I had an outside chance of making it into the original training squad, but it’s a pretty settled group and there have been the same three, four or five hookers in the last x-amount of squads so I knew I’d have to do pretty well to get in.
“I was disappointed but it wasn’t a shock that I didn’t get in.”
With Matthews’ only international appearance to date coming for Scotland A against Chile in June 2022, he now has the chance to win his first full cap at a World Cup, with must-win pool games against Romania and Ireland to come over the next two weekends.
Asked if he ever thought his opportunity of playing for Scotland had passed him by, Matthews – a prolific try-scorer at club level – said: “You never say never – you just keep playing well for Glasgow, keep scoring and you’ve always got a chance I suppose.
“It’s a hotly-contested position but I’ll do all I can over the next few days and hopefully I can get in the (match-day) squad. Rugby is a pretty brutal and physical contact sport and hookers are at the coalface.
“I’m gutted for the boys who have missed out on the opportunity (due to injury) but at the same time you’ve got to look out for yourself and take the opportunity when it presents itself.”
Although he has not had the same intensive pre-season build-up that the rest of the Scotland players were subjected to, Matthews – who has thrived under Glasgow head coach Franco Smith – feels he is in good condition.
“I tried to keep myself in a shape that wasn’t round over the summer,” he smiled.
“I didn’t want to come into Franco’s pre-season unfit anyway. Anyone who has done one of them will tell you you can’t be unfit going into that.”
Smith not pinning blame on Ford for England loss
Marcus Smith does not blame England's narrow defeat to New Zealand on Saturday on George Ford, despite his late missed kicks.
Ford replaced Smith, who had scored 17 points and set up England's only try in their 24-22 loss, hitting a potential match-winning penalty against the post before narrowly missing a drop goal.
England had held an eight-point advantage when Smith left the field, but Mark Tele'a's 76th-minute try before Damian McKenzie added five late points proved enough to get the All Blacks over the line.
The hosts' autumn series got off to a losing start as Ford struggled to find his clinical edge in the dying moments, but Smith does not lay any blame at his team-mate's feet.
"Sometimes that's the life of a kicker, we've all experienced that. It's part and parcel of the job," said Smith.
"I've learned so much off George. He's an unbelievable kicker, both off the tee and out of hand. It was one of those days.
"It's nothing to do with him why we didn't win the game. It's a team effort. Every kicker in the world has experienced that.
"We practise [drop-goals] as kickers every single day, but sometimes it doesn't go for you. We're all human and people miss."
Saturday marked a third consecutive narrow loss to New Zealand for England, with their last win an emphatic victory over Japan in June.
Despite that run, Smith remains confident that England can take lessons from these defeats to set themselves up for success in the future.
"International rugby is very different to the Premiership and the experiences we're experiencing now are very painful, but we'll be better for them," Smith added.
"Keep the faith. We've fallen again on the wrong side of the result, but we'll learn from it 100%.
"These experiences will tighten us as a group, and it will be worth it in the long run. We will be better for it."
England 'banging on the door' of rugby's elite, says proud Borthwick
Steve Borthwick reckons England are "banging on the door" of the elite nations after their close loss to New Zealand.
England went down 24-22 to the All Blacks in Saturday's Test match at Twickenham.
Mark Tele'a scored the decisive try for New Zealand, who beat England twice in July, in the 76th minute.
England missed the chance to win it late on when George Ford missed a drop-goal attempt, after he had struck the post with a penalty.
But coach Borthwick, who was immensely proud of his team, feels England showed they are capable of mixing it with the best teams in the world, despite losing four of their last five Tests.
"It is a mixture of immense pride at the performance against a very tough New Zealand team and one of incredible disappointment," Borthwick told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"They are the emotions we balance and will work through over the next few days.
"When we started two years ago we wanted to get England right to the top of world rugby again. You can see the team banging on the door."
With the pre-match build-up having been dominated by Joe Marler's jibe at New Zealand's pre-match haka routine, tries from Tele'a and Will Jordan put New Zealand in control.
Marcus Smith's penalties kept England in contention, though, and he set up the hosts' only try when he intercepted a loose pass and teed up Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.
Yet England ultimately failed to hold on to an eight-point advantage, with Ford having to be consoled by his team-mates after the match.
Next up for England are Australia, with fixtures against South Africa and Japan also in store.
"We really have to find a way of winning these close ones," said captain Jamie George. "We put ourselves in a really good position after 60 minutes.
"Eight points is a lot in Test match rugby but we probably went chasing the game a bit and gave away too many penalties. We have to be smarter in that respect."
England walked up to the halfway line to face the haka, something George explained was planned prior to Marler's comments.
"That was always our plan before Joe's comments but we did it in a respectful way," said George. "I saw a smile on Scott Barrett’s face, I was smiling, and it was done in good spirits."
England aiming to be one of 'world's best' teams, says Earl
England have aspirations of greatness, asserted Ben Earl as he prepares to face New Zealand in a friendly at Twickenham.
The 26-year-old was optimistic about the progress England had made under Steve Borthwick despite registering two losses at the hands of the All Blacks in July.
England will be seeking revenge after losing the second match of the test in a devastatingly close 16-15 defeat. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso had scored a try to put England ahead after scores had been tied 10-10 at half-time, but two penalty kicks from Damian McKenzie ended their hopes.
Earl, however, believes the heartbreak has given his country an opportunity to develop.
“I think it’s an experience all the big teams go through, you have to go through some heartache to get over the line,” he told TNT Sports.
“It just feels like it’s the evolution of all the top teams, and we are a team that wants to be known as a great team, some of the world’s best.
“So we know the heartache is good for a while, but it’s time to go and do it at the right time. We got a glimpse of it against Ireland last year, and we feel we are due one, and we have learnt some really hard lessons over the summer, so we feel we are in a better place for it.
“We have always said you don’t win easily against us and that’s something we have developed over the last 18 months with Steve’s mindset and the boys getting hold of it, and now I feel it’s time to get over the line in one of these big games.”
New Zealand have won their last three matches, having defeated Japan and secured a double over Australia. They struggled against reigning world champions South Africa, however, as they failed to exact revenge on the Springboks in late summer tests falling to defeat twice.
Undoubtedly, the All Blacks still represent some of the best talent in the world, with Earl expected to line up opposite New Zealand’s superstar Wallace Sititi.
“There’s stardust littered all over the pitch isn’t there? There’s some pretty cool match-ups; it just feels like a game that isn’t going to disappoint,” he said.
England won’t be overawed, though. Instead, they aim to make their west London home a fortress for visiting sides to travel to.
“[Twickenham is] a place where we want to be really, really hard to beat. And we’ve always said in the camp, if you want to beat us at Twickenham you are going to have to be over and above the norm,” Earl said.
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