Perspective can be an elusive commodity in the high-octane bubble of squad competing at an international tournament, which is why Cam Redpath is grateful for some words of wisdom delivered by his mother, Gill, just after his selection to represent Scotland at this Autumn's World Cup.

As a natural competitor, he would have loved to have been in the starting fifteen for the tournament opener but had to make do with 14 minutes off the bench at the end of that 18-3 defeat in Marseilles.
 
He’s now hoping for promotion to wear the No 12 shirt against Tonga next weekend, but if he misses out again, Redpath will make sure that he shrugs off the disappointment and stays positive by focussing instead on all the things he has achieved already – despite some awful luck with injuries – in his fledgling career.

“When I got into the squad, my mum said to me: ‘To do two ACLs and have seven operations at 23, you could easily have been written off as a young player’ – which made me realise what I’ve come through to get here,” he recalls.

“I know a lot of people who have had big knee injuries or neck operations, and they’ve just faded away and not really played at international level. So, for me to be in the position I am is a reward for all the work I’ve put into rehab and things like that.

“It is never nice to be out for a long period of time – after my debut it was a year out until my next cap, and then it was exactly the same until my next cap, so my first two years of international rugby didn’t exactly go too well. 
 
“It is nice just to be in the mix. Even though I want to be starting and playing the full game every week, all the centres here get on really well and work hard together, and we all feel like we’re playing well so it is really up to the coaches who they pick.”
 
Redpath acknowledges that it was quite emotional when his mum praised his resilience.

“As a player, you just keep getting up and going to the gym every day, and you forget about how much you have been through,” he explains. “At the time, you watch games and would love to be out there, but then you kind of forget that feeling.

“And, if I’m honest, because this whole pre-season was so long, I kind of forgot the special side of being in a World Cup squad until I got out here, with the police escorts taking us everywhere, the hype around the stadium on match-day, seeing my family and girlfriend after the game.

“It did feel really special and I did take a minute to look in the mirror and think: ‘I have been through a lot’. And I am proud of myself because even if I’m not getting a start, I am still in a position which every kid who picks up a rugby ball dream of getting to.”

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Among the various injury set-backs Redpath has suffered since bursting into senior rugby as an 18-year-old includes an ACL rupture which kept him out for nine months between the summer of 2018 and early 2019, a bulging disc in his neck which required surgery soon after his first cap in February 2021, another cruciate rupture in May 2021, followed by another neck/shoulder injury after his second cap against Wales in February 2022.

“I’m quite a positive person when it comes to injuries – it is something I pride myself on,” he says.  “Being young when I got my first one, it was something I had to get my head round, and, if I’m honest, I didn’t really come back from it very well because I never really found my feet at Sale Sharks again after that, so moving to Bath [in the summer of 2020 - where he will team up with Finn Russell next season] was a really good thing because it was a fresh start and a fresh pair of eyes on my body.

“Going through all those injuries, I’m 23 now and I’ve figured out a lot more about my body and what I need to do to get myself right.

“I suppose I’m unfortunate that all those things happened at the start of my career, but it looks like things have srarted to go my way in the last year or two.

“It is obviously not nice at the ime, it can hurt, and when I’m a 50-year-old man I think I’ll be complaining about it, but I’ll deal with that when it comes – I’m just enjoying the ride at the moment.”

Scotland must win against Tonga to keep alive their dream of progressing to the knock-out stages of this World Cup.
 
“They are a good team, full of talented players, so you can’t write them off,” concluded Redpath.  “They are also very physical, so if you get a hospital pass then you are going to get your ribs broken.
 
“It is just about clarity for us and getting our roles right, then picking the right option when it comes.”