Low: Jet-lagged

Low has had a marathon journey to link up with his international colleagues after being called up on Friday to replace his Glasgow Warriors club-mate Jon Welsh, who was ruled out of the rest of Scotland's South Pacific tour due to a shoulder problem.

This time last week, Low was on holiday in Mexico and he had barely had time to recover from his return flight when he received a call from Gavin Scott, the Scotland team manager, inviting him up join up with the national squad.

The front-row forward, who learned of Scotland's shock 9-6 victory over Australia on Tuesday while at the airport waiting to return from Mexico, said of the call: "It was nice and early in the morning, I thought I had slept in for something.

"Then that afternoon I was on a flight to Sydney, a quick change over and here I am in Fiji."

It may take Low a little time to get up to speed, but he is hoping to be pushing his selection claims to head coach Andy Robinson for Saturday's Test with Fiji at Churchill Park in Lautoka.

"I have to admit that having travelled three quarters of the way round the world in the last few days, I am a bit spaced out but if I can get a good night's sleep, my aim is to compete for a place in the team for Saturday," Low said.

The 27-year-old, who won the last of his 15 caps in the summer Test against Italy last year, has fought back from injury this season to be part of the Glasgow squad that reached the semi-final play-offs of the RaboDirect PRO12.

He is glad to be back in the national team set-up now, even if it is down to unfortunate circumstances.

"I feel sorry for Jon, he had a great season with Glasgow. Obviously for me it gives me an opportunity to come in, knuckle down in training, and then hopefully put myself forward for a selection spot," Low added on www.scottishrugby.org.

At least Low had one person in the Scotland camp who could sympathise with his travel exploits this week.

Duncan Hodge, the former fly-half who is now the kicking coach, was part of the 1998 squad that endured one of the most bizarre exercises in pre-match travel an international team has ever put itself through.

That episode also took the side to Fiji, and involved a flight from Melbourne followed by a four-hour bus journey to get to the game in Suva.

Scotland were subsequently thrashed 51-26, having only been a point behind at half-time, and Hodge admits the preparations on that occasion were not the best.

"It is never great to lose a Test match and the way it happened, especially the last 20 minutes, meant it was pretty demoralising," said Hodge.

"In the space of about 48 hours we had a four-or-five-hour flight, four or five hours on the bus, a game, and then repeated it all going back. It was not ideal.

"It is a tour that is still talked about; somebody has brought the old day sheets over and stuck them up on the team-room wall for a laugh. It just shows how different things are now. We would never dream trying something like that."