After missing the controversial defeat to France to attend the birth of his first child, Kyle Steyn is delighted to be back with the Scotland squad – not least so he can get a good night’s sleep.  

Steyn was initially named to start on the right wing against Les Bleus, the same position he’d occupied for the win in Wales, but withdrew on the morning of the game with wife Ally in labour.  

Rather than worrying about Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Damian Penaud, he rushed back home to be at the birth.  

Steyn explained: “I was at dinner and had my phone on do not disturb but I'd left it so that only my wife’s number could get through.  

“As soon as the phone went, I knew exactly. I got a bit of a fright, to be honest.  

“She had been in labour from about 4 o’clock on Friday and we were hoping maybe I could make it back if baby was born in the middle of the night, but it didn’t go that way.” 

Steyn’s focus may have been on family matters, but he did attempt to have one eye on events at Scottish Gas Murrayfield.  

He added: “I was trying my best to watch but every five minutes my attention went elsewhere.   

“Big credit to Harry and Kyle, both changed positions last minute and Harry had a great debut and Kyle did really well on the wing.” 

Eventually baby Arabella was born on Monday 12 February. Steyn said his wife had been an “absolute champion”, not just during labour but also in supporting him during the Six Nations.  

“My wife was amazing those last couple of weeks, being fully supportive of me going out to Spain and going down to Cardiff, and by that stage she was over her due date so it literally could have been any minute. 

“It took a lot of support from the fact that she was going through probably the toughest moment of her life, and she was willing to get behind me and support what I wanted to do. I’ve loved that I’ve been able to go between home and camp.” 

Ahead of a first night back with the national team at their base on the outskirts of Edinburgh on Monday evening, Steyn said: “I’ve had a sauna, an ice bath and I’ve got a massage later then a full night’s sleep, so I can’t wait.” 

He also can’t wait to take part in his first Calcutta Cup match at Murrayfield, having been part of the team that won at Twickenham 12 months ago.  

Steyn knows just how special the fixture is. He said: "As far as the Six Nations goes and being a Scottish rugby player, there’s no bigger occasion than Calcutta Cup at home.  

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“We’re really excited by the opportunity, especially in a year where we’ve only got two home games.” 

He knows Scotland can ill-afford to repeat their mistakes of the first two matches, where they have let leads slip away from them. They narrowly held on in Cardiff, but succumbed to defeat against France.  

The Glasgow captain said: "It felt like we’d done enough to have that [France] game dead and buried before that, and I think we can use that going into this week.  

“There are elements of that from the Wales game as well, we put ourselves in a really good position and almost let them back.  

 

“We’re coming up against a really good English side and that’s the message, if we work hard and put ourselves in that position, we need to be better at executing and make sure we don’t let them come back.” 

He knows Scotland can ill-afford to repeat their mistakes of the first two matches, where they have let leads slip away from them.  

The Glasgow captain said: "It felt like we’d done enough to have that [France] game dead and buried before that, and I think we can use that going into this week.  

“There are elements of that from the Wales game as well, we put ourselves in a really good position and almost let them back.  

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“We’re coming up against a really good English side and that’s the message, if we work hard and put ourselves in that position, we need to be better at executing and make sure we don’t let them come back.” 

Steyn is also looking forward to a final home match of the championship and wants to give the Scotland supporters – and his own biggest fans – further cause to celebrate.  

Scotland Rugby News:

He revealed Ally and Arabella will be at Saturday’s game, along with Kyle’s mum Gillian, who arrived from South Africa this week. 

He added: "Yeah, they’ll be there at the weekend. My mum’s over. Scottish Rugby gifted me a little jersey which says ‘daddy’ on the back, so if I get to play with them there it will be amazing.”