Masibaka eyes 'full-circle moment' for Scotland against Fiji

BBC News

10 hours ago

Alex Masibaka says facing Fiji in a Scotland jersey this summer would represent "a full circle moment" as he aims to make his debut on the international stage.The 23-year-old back-rower qualifies for the Scots through his Paisley-born mother, but could just as easily be in the white Fijian jersey given his father's heritage."I'm very excited," said Masibaka, ahead of Scotland's trip to Suva in the middle of two matches in New Zealand."My mother's, she's Scottish and my dad's Fijian, so it'll be a full circle moment for me and my family."We're trying to get my parents over and I've got family in Fiji as well who will try to come down for that Fiji game and yeah, it's going to be huge."Masibaka plays for French side Montpellier but spent last season on loan at Pro D2 side Soyaux-Angouleme and was a shock call-up to the Scotland squad during the Six Nations.Although he did not manage any game time, the number eight admitted that even being called into the wider squad by Gregor Townsend came as something of a surprise."I was a bit shocked at first, to be honest," he said. "I was just sitting on the couch talking to my mum on the phone while she was at work and just got the call and instantly just froze."I was just like, 'wow, this is real'. But I had to quickly shape up and come prepared and it's everything I dreamed of."I felt like a new kid. Honestly, I was a bit nervous. I know there's some superstars in here and the first person I met was Finn Russell."I was very nervous talking to him, but he was just very humble and very good to talk to."I'm just trying to learn off the other boys and try to be a sponge and take as much as I can from the team and try to bring it into the next training session. That's my focus at the moment."