Spared the Scotland tour to North and South America, Zander Fagerson has enjoyed a rugby-free summer, spending time with his growing young family and serving as best man at brother Matt’s wedding. It was a much-needed recharging of the tighthead’s batteries.

“It was absolutely awesome, even if it was probably tougher at home with the kids than it would have been on tour,” he smiles, although with two under six and twins on the way, maybe he was only half-joking. “But I absolutely loved it and had a really special time with the family. 

“I was maybe a bit larger, a bit fluffier than I would have liked to have been when I came back. But it definitely helped, mentally as well. It's such a long, intense season. Think about when we started pre-season for the World Cup the year before, at the end of May, and we didn't finish the season until the end of June. It was a long, old year.

“So to have that time with the kids and time alone has been really nice. My wife definitely made sure I was busy, doing bits and bobs around the house, getting ready for the new arrivals. Matt’s wedding was a great day too, really special with all the family and friends around. I had a five-wedding summer. My wife called it the summer of love.”

Those happy memories, though, will need to be shoved to the back of the memory banks now as Fagerson prepares to return to business. There will be little love in the front row of the scrum which is where he hopes to be next weekend when Glasgow open the defence of their URC title away to Ulster.

The 28-year-old hasn’t played since the trophy was secured in Pretoria in June, a calf niggle impacting his pre-season preparations, but he is eager to get back into the thrust of it. New campaign, new challenge.

“Last season’s done,” he confirms. “What an awesome end to the year it was: really special to get the job done and win the trophy. But, as people have touched on, there’s a target on our backs and everyone’s going to be trying to beat last year's champions.

“It’s such an intense league. You can't switch off, you can't get complacent. For me, nothing changes, it's the same as every year. Let's not look ahead of ourselves, let's stay in the moment, stay present, make sure we get the job done. And then when it comes to the tailend of the season, then we can talk about what the gameplan is and how we're going to win it again. But that's the aim.”

Does he feel any different as a champion? Fagerson shrugs. But it is definitely more enjoyable than the alternative which he experienced when Warriors lost the 2019 final to Leinster.

“I was really fortunate that my first year at the club was when we won it, 2015,” he adds. “And then, of course, getting so close in 2019, it really ate me up quite a lot. So to finally get the job done and actually have a winner's medal, for me, it was a big sense of finally ‘we've done it’.

“That feeling after winning the final is something that I'll be chasing for the rest of my career. I want to try to repeat it every time I can.”

Four different clubs have now won the last four URC/Pro 14 titles and at least half of the division will start the season genuinely believing they can do it this time around.

“I think the whole league every year is taking a step up,” confirmed Fagerson. “That could be in terms of physicality, it could be speed. Just look at the resurgence of the Italian teams, with Benetton having come through really well after winning the Rainbow Cup.

“They've gone on from strength to strength and recruited well as well. So there are no easy games in the league anymore. You can't just rest on your laurels. You have to keep developing, keep getting better. And you can't just think, ‘oh, we did it last year’ We can’t rely on that, it has to improve as a whole squad and as a whole group.”

Did winning the title earn them new respect or congratulations from rivals? A laugh. “No, I don't think they respect us at all. We've done it. We've won the league. We played really well last year. That's that. But everyone wants to beat the reigning champs. It doesn't matter where you come from, you want to try to beat them. I wouldn't say we’ve got any more respect or anything.”

Fagerson may become even more grateful for having this summer off should be find himself named as part of the British and Irish Lions party for the 2025 tour of Australia. He doesn’t deny it’s a goal.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to go on it. So I’m doing all I can to put myself in the best position for that and improve every week so I can go. It's such a long season that you can't think about it.

“You’ve just got to keep trying to improve and do all you can for Glasgow and hopefully get selected for Scotland and do all I can for them. And if I'm good enough and I get picked for the Lions, I get picked. But I can control what I can control. That's the mindset.”