Dave Cherry reveals Scotland call came during antenatal session - 'I snuck out of the class and spoke to Gregor'
The Edinburgh hooker left the room to take the call from Gregor Townsend, a pregnant pause before being told the good news. With their first child on the way and a World Cup around the corner, it looks like being an exciting time for Cherry and his partner Olivia who is due to give birth during the tournament.They’ve not had time to work out the logistics just yet and are still coming to terms with Cherry’s first World Cup call-up which, at the age of 32, is reward for a player who has worked diligently to force his way into the Scotland set-up. He joins George Turner and Ewan Ashman as one of three hookers in Townsend’s squad, with Stuart McInally the unlucky one to miss out.“I was certainly quite anxious on the day,” said Cherry. “I was actually in an NCT class at the time. I saw a call coming in from Gregor and was like, ‘oh no’, because I didn’t know either way. Obviously the hooker position was pretty competitive, so I snuck out of the class, spoke to Gregor and obviously it was good news. I came back in with a smile on my face and got a hug from my partner which is nice.“They were talking about pain medication, I think. They were in the third hour of it so I think I had switched off a bit! It certainly made it a memorable one anyway. This is our first child, a baby girl. It’s a busy period in my life. My partner is due at the end of September, so the timing is not great! It depends how Scotland do whether she will come out. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it!”The impressive Cherry has had to be patient for his chance at Test level, winning his first cap at 30 in the historic win over England at Twickenham in 2021 after a peripatetic club career which saw him overlooked initially for a pro contract in Scotland. He headed south to play for London Scottish, then Stade Nicois in France before finally returning to his home city to earn a deal with Edinburgh. In short, he’s paid his dues. He cemented his place in the World Cup squad with an important contribution off the bench in the warm-up win over France at Murrayfield earlier this month. It was Cherry’s try from a lineout drive that sealed the win and highlighted again his knack of scoring for Scotland. The try against France was his fourth in nine Tests, only three of which he started.“I think there was a bit of pressure on me in that game,” he said. “I thought it could be my only opportunity to really stick my hand on. You’re obviously reliant on a lot of people in a game of rugby to help things go well and your way, and luckily it did. Consistency is more my game. I might not do the Duhan van der Merwe 80 metre tries, but I’ve backed myself and tried to put my hand up as a consistent player that can deliver in pressure situations.”Townsend has taken note. “Dave was really good when he came off the bench against France at home,” said the Scotland coach. “His set-piece was excellent and that’s really important. He’s a consistent thrower and a strong scrummager but he took the game to France as well.”Townsend’s decision to pick Cherry signalled the end of the road for McInally, his Edinburgh team-mate who had announced his intention to retire from rugby in the autumn to pursue a new career as an airline pilot. McInally had hoped to bow out at the World Cup but it was not to be. “I feel for Rambo - it would be a horrible thing to get the call saying you’re not in,” said Cherry. “He’s a great bloke and I’ll see him at the weekend. I’m sure he’ll be delighted for us even though he’s not in, because that’s the kind of guy he is.”Cherry thinks the three hookers picked by Townsend complement each other nicely, offering a nice balance in a position which invariably involves the replacement having a big role to play in the second half. “I think we dovetail quite well,” he said. “Ewan is the high-flying one, even though he’s the biggest of the lot of us. Youth helps there. George and I are maybe a bit more set-piece based.”Scotland’s World Cup base will be near Nice and the squad will make use of the Stade Nicois facilities, familiar terrain for Cherry who helped the club win promotion in 2018 to the Federale 1 division, the fifth tier of French club rugby. Five years on and he will be returning to the Cote d’Azur in very different circumstances, with Scotland playing their opening two matches in the giant football stadiums of Marseille and Nice.“I’ve been thinking about it since I was in Nice,” reflected Cherry. “I thought, the World Cup will be happening here and it would be pretty cool to come back here and play. That’s when I first thought about it, and obviously I’ve started to progress more and more and it became a more realistic goal. Finally we’re here and I’m going back to Nice, so I’m over the moon.”