Zander Fagerson was a teenager and in his first season as a professional rugby player when Glasgow Warriors claimed their only major trophy four years ago.

A full World Cup cycle later and the proud new dad, whose daughter Iona was born last week, is an established international player whose position within the squad is rather different.

“I played eight games that year but was ill for the semi-final and told not to come in. Then I was at the Junior World Cup in Italy when the final was on and watched it over there which was awesome, but I was gutted I wasn’t there to support the boys,” is his memory of the day the Pro12 title was won in Belfast.

Yet, as well as he has done to date, the prop might have felt some empathy last weekend with the Australian cricketer Mark Waugh who was one of the finest batsmen of his generation, but was goaded by a vastly inferior opponent who, accurately if rather harshly, sought to undermine Steve Waugh's twin when pointing out that: “At least I’m the best cricketer in my family.”

Fagerson was, after all, putting in the hard graft against an Ulster front-row that was being led by Rory Best on an emotional night for the Ireland captain as he played what turned out to be his last game for the province, while younger brother Matt was gambolling around in open-field, catching the eye sufficiently to pick up the man-of-the-match award.

The following day, meanwhile, the men Fagerson will be directly up against tomorrow, Leinster’s all-international front-row of Cian Healy, Sean Cronin and Tadgh Furlong, were grabbing the headlines with interplay worthy of an All Black back move in created the pick of their team's tries in their victory over Munster in the second of the Pro14 semi-finals.

The Scotland prop was, however, almost certainly one of those Dave Rennie, his head coach, had in mind when he responded to being asked about Matt Fagerson’s award on Friday by observing that he rarely agrees with the pundits on such things and, after studying re-runs, is generally more inclined to hand the accolades to those who have had their heads in dark places all evening.

Fagerson sr knows that what will matter tomorrow night is not which set of front-row forwards is more visible in the loose, but who gets the upper hand in the close quarter exchanges, albeit one frequently leads to the other.

A smile played on his lips, then, when he was reminded of what happened in Dublin last month when, as Leinster sought to deny Glasgow their first win in the Irish capital for eight years, they brought their first choice front-row off the bench at half-time, only to see their pack shunted backwards at the first scrummage after the interval, Fagerson going on to score a try in what was a psychologically important victory for his team. However, he is not foolish enough to think that facing Leinster in a regular season match when they had already romped to top spot in their Conference, can be compared with the prospect of facing them at Celtic park tomorrow.

“It is what it is... it was alright,” he mused.

“When it comes to finals rugby then Leinster is a different animal. The same as the other Irish provinces, they step it up another level so we can’t read anything into that game three weeks ago. It is a clean slate and we will do our analysis on their game against Munster but it will be a big challenge and I am looking forward to it, if selected.”

He will be, having performed outstandingly well since recovering from a broken leg which cost him a significant chunk of this season and he sees the freshness he has been able to bring to the squad as payback for the hard work done by his team-mates to put them all in a position to enjoy this special occasion with a major final in their home city.

“I didn’t snap it to be fresh for now,” he noted wryly.

“When I was rehabbing I had a great support network around me, doing all that rehab, doing all the extras, coming in day in day out, pounding away and it is all worth it as the boys are doing such an awesome job on the pitch, knowing if I can do my job and get in a position to play and when we get into the final I would be quite chuffed with myself. So it is awesome to be here and I’m proud of the boys. It is absolutely amazing.”

As to whether they can reproduce the style of play that has brought them this far when up against the team that has consistently proved itself the best in Celtic rugby over the past decade, Fagerson sounds ever more like the veteran tighthead prop as he stresses the importance of getting the basics right and earning the right to play, while grabbing what chances come their way as they did within two minutes of kick off in the semi-final against Ulster.

“We did not have a set game plan to go absolute tonto and score a try off the bat but we will take it,” he said.

“We did our homework and executed and hopefully we can do the same this week.

“We have done our review and gone through things, so it is a normal week for us. Everybody at the club knows this is what you work every day for, why you come in and it is an exciting time.”