Scotland dedicate win to Ben Fisher

Scotland dedicated their win over USA to hooker Ben Fisher, cruelly injured in the warm-up of what would have been his last game.

Fisher, 32, is a veteran of the Scotland set-up, having been involved since 2005, and was in the team to start at hooker, but picked up a calf injury.

It meant a last minute re-shuffle for coach Steve McCormack, with Andrew Henderson starting at nine, and Sam Barlow coming in on the bench.

And it took the Scots until the second half to hit their straps, overturning an 8-0 half-time deficit to win 22-8.

McCormack said: “We dedicated the win to Ben Fisher. We knew it was Ben’s last game, and the lads were devastated for him.

“You saw him singing the Flower of Scotland with his young family, and you could see how dedicated he is.

“We didn’t need inspiration anyway, but if we needed anything extra, it was for Ben.”

Tries from Kristian Freed and Taylor Welch had the Bravehearts behind at the break, but they hit back with four unanswered tries in the second half to put the ball back in Italy‘s court when it comes to topping Group C.

McCormack added: “We got over three or four times without getting the ball down in the first half, and we were probably a bit desperate without needing to be.

“We tried to score a lot of points instead of being patient. In the second half, we stayed composed and started doing what we practicised.

“The commitment, effort and desire the players have shown, their skill levels and the way we’ve gone about the job; the second half probably summed us up!

“We’ve got ourselves in position and we’ve come up with two wins and a draw in a World Cup, so there can be no negatives.”

Australian-born Fisher is set to hang up his boots at the end of the season having spent the majority of his career in the northern hemisphere, joining Halifax from North Sydney Bears in 2004.

He played the bulk of his club career at Hull KR, but also turned out for Catalan and London.

Photo courtesy of www.swpix.com