Ewan Johnson has lived in France since he was four, but nobody wants Scotland under-20s to win in Pau on Friday evening more than the talented second-row.
The 19-year-old speaks French fluently, grew up in Brittany and now plays for Racing 92’s under-23 team.
However, because of a father from Bathgate he got involved in the Scotland age-grade set-up and has not looked back since.
And he will have to have a big game if Scotland ae to win against their French counterparts at the Stade du Hameau in the third round of the Six Nations (kick-off 8pm GMT/ 9pm local time).
“It will be pretty physical over there against a lot of big boys,” Johnson said.
“They are not necessarily fit if you know what I mean, so we just have to outwork them on Friday night.
“My mum used to go on holidays to France when she was young so my parents always wanted to move there so they thought ‘why not?’.
“I was four at the time, my older brother five and then my younger brother was actually born in France. I wasn’t part of the decision, but I haven’t known much different and I love it in France.
“I grew up in Brittany so on the west coast and played all of my rugby there before moving to Racing 92.
“I got involved with Scotland first so even if I was lucky enough to be wanted by other countries [his mum is Welsh] I couldn’t go through with it because Scotland had trust with me with the under-20s last year and I don’t want to let the country down.
“Back in the day I had a friend who played for England [at age-grade level] and he knew about Exiles stuff and I had never heard about it, but knew it could give me a foot in the door to international rugby.
“So, me and my older brother and my dad did some digging, had a look and I got involved in an Exiles camp in Leeds first up.
“The rest is history and I love playing for Scotland.”
Scotland squad
15 Matt Davidson (London Scottish)
14 Rory McMichael (Heriot’s)
13 Oli Smith (Ayr)
12 Grant Hughes (Stirling County)
11 Jack Blain (Heriot’s)
10 Ross Thompson (Glasgow Hawks, V-C)
9 Roan Frostwick (Currie Chieftains)
1 Murphy Walker (Stirling County)
2 Ewan Ashman (Sale Sharks)
3 Euan McLaren (Ayr)
4 Ewan Johnson (Racing 92)
5 Cameron Henderson (Stirling County)
6 Charlie Jupp (Heriot’s)
7 Connor Boyle (Watsonians, C)
8 Ross Bundy (Stirling County)
Substitutes
16 Angus Fraser (Glasgow Hawks)
17 Andrew Nimmo (Glasgow Hawks)
18 Will Hurd (Cardiff Met)
19 Jack Mann (Edinburgh Accies)
20 Teddy Leatherbarrow (Sale Sharks)
21 Murray Scott (Watsonians)
22 Nathan Chamberlain (Bristol Bears)
23 Robbie McCallum (Complutense Cisneros)
KubeNet are proud telecoms and technology partner of Glasgow Warriors and avid sponsors of Cartha Queens Park ladies and girl’s rugby teams.
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