6N: Opting for Scotland over England was "a no-brainer", says Fergus Burke

01/22/2025 03:00 PM

AS A New Zealander who last year moved to England to play his club rugby, Fergus Burke might have been expected to feel a certain affinity with Steve Borthwick’s side. Instead, he is part of Gregor Townsend’s Scotland squad for the Six Nations – and, as he explained today at team headquarters, deciding between the two rival countries was an easy decision.

Indeed, far from needing to resist the pressure from his club, Saracens, to throw in his lot with England, the 25-year-old stand-off revealed that the London club had actually played a helping hand in his opting for Scotland.

Born in Gisborne on New Zealand’s North Island, the former Canterbury playmaker qualifies for England through his mother, who is from Dover. His Scottish qualification is through a late grandfather who was born in Edinburgh and raised in Glasgow.

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It is a matter of record that both Scotland and England made contact with him before last year’s Autumn Nations Series. As it turned out, he did not need to commit himself to either camp then – but by the time Townsend got in touch a couple of months later to invite him to join up with Scotland, he had made up his mind.

"When Gregor gave me that call it was something that I wanted to do and that I’m fully committed to,” Burke said. “Simple as that, mate. 

"I feel like the style that Scotland play definitely suits my game and it’s exciting. It’s an awesome environment, a successful team and it was a no-brainer to represent Scotland.

"I spoke to England a little bit in the last wee while. It was kind of 'You’re close, so stay English-qualified'. But I spoke to my family and made a decision to commit to Scotland.

“I’ve always known that my grandad was Scottish and I’ve been having conversations with Gregor and Gavin [Vaughan, Scotland’s performance analyst] for three or four years, for quite a while. 

“I’ve always known it’s kind of there and the exciting opportunity that could arise if it went that way and I’m grateful that it has.

"This week has been unbelievable, everyone is so welcoming, there’s no egos. It’s a super-cool environment to be part of.”

When it became obvious last year that Burke was set on a move to the UK, it began to be rumoured that he was in talks with Glasgow. Not so.

“That didn’t get off the ground,” he insisted. “It’s not true whatsoever.”

Instead, he signed for Saracens in what at the time may well have looked like an implicit preference for England. Indeed, it might have seemed the logical thing to do for Saracens to try to persuade Burke to throw in his lot with England, but the club were more altruistic than that, while a certain Scottish team-mate also had a say.

“They were awesome,” he continued. “When I was deciding whether I went to Sarries, Gregor gave me a call. They actually put Gregor in touch with me, and so they were always open to the idea of me playing for Scotland.

“There’s always banter in a footy team, but Sean Maitland is at Sarries as well,” he added when asked if his team-mates had tried to influence his decision. “When Gregor gave me the call, deep down I knew that’s what I wanted to do.”

Of course, declaring for Scotland and playing for Scotland are two separate things, and as things stand Burke looks like being third in line for the No 10 jersey behind Finn Russell and Tom Jordan.  Yet, even if he has to wait patiently for his chance, he knows he is learning a lot from training with Russell in particular.

“He’s world-class – I’ve watched him for a long time. He’s definitely got his own style of playing and I definitely rate him as at least one of the top fly-halves in the world if not the top. 

“So to be able to come in here and learn from him, have conversations with him about how he sees the game, is so good for my development as well.”

Having played for the Barbarians against Fiji at Twickenham last June, Burke already has experience of playing in England’s national stadium, and would relish the prospect of turning out there against the home side later in the Championship. However, before Scotland head south for that match, he hopes to have a chance to make his Murrayfield debut.

“It would be awesome,” he said when asked about a potential return to Twickenham. “Twickenham’s a cool stadium – the atmosphere in that Barbarians-Fiji game was so cool.

“But also the prospect of playing at Murrayfield excites me: people speak so highly of that opportunity and how cool the atmosphere is there. So if I got the opportunity there I’d be looking forward to that as well.”

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