The Scotland starlet who ended up in the Australia squad and the story behind it

Instead, the former Glasgow Warriors and Scotland Under-20 prop is wearing green and gold and hoping to win his first Wallabies cap.

Lambert, 25, has one of the more unusual rugby back stories. He has family roots in Ayrshire but admits the call to come and play for Scotland in 2020 came out of the blue.

Murrayfield’s tentacles stretch far and wide and the young Sydney-born loosehead was identified as someone who could come in and do a job in the Under-20 Six Nations. His late Scottish grandfather, also Tom, provided the qualification link and Sean Lineen, the Scotland U20 coach at the time, reached out to him.

My agent got a call from Scotland saying they were looking for a prop

“I’d represented the Aussie under-18s in my last year of school and then had a year out of school playing a bit of club footy at Sydney Uni, then the 20s stuff rolled around,” explained Lambert.

“I wasn't initially selected for the under-20s for Australia, and then my agent got a call from Scotland saying they were looking for a prop and if I would be interested in coming over for the [Under-20] Six Nations and being involved in that environment.

“I just jumped at that opportunity. It was an eight-week trip going all around the UK following the Six Nations, playing under-20s, so I did that.”

Lambert made his bow off the bench in a 38-26 defeat by Ireland U20s in Cork, playing with the likes of Ewan Ashman, Rory Darge, Matt Currie and Ollie Smith. He went on to start the next four games, wins over Italy and Wales and narrow losses to England and France, and impressed sufficiently to be offered a contract which led to him joining Glasgow Warriors for whom he played five matches. He made his debut at the same time as Darge in a heavy away reverse against Benetton in the Rainbow Cup.

Scotland didn’t give up on Tom Lambert and a fresh approach was made

He was also invited into the full Scotland camp to train alongside the squad as the prepared for the autumn Test against South Africa in 2021

“I played for the 20s, really enjoyed that,” he said. “At the end of that tournament I got an offer to come join the Glasgow academy.

“In two of the down weeks during the Six Nations I did a week with Glasgow, did a week with Edinburgh, just to get a feel for it. And then at the end of that tournament I got an opportunity to come join the academy for a year, and there was an offer to do one year in the academy, one year full-time professional.

“It was an opportunity that I just wanted to jump at because it gave me that chance to go full-time into rugby, which is what I wanted. So packed up around mid-2020, moved over to Glasgow and just got stuck in there for two years in the academy.

“I ended up playing a handful of games at the back end of my first year, which I really enjoyed, and then the second year, unfortunately, I was injured most of the time, so I pretty much missed that whole season. But I really enjoyed being part of that group. Off the back of those games I was lucky enough to get a contract back in Oz, in my home state playing for the Waratahs. I ended up going back home just to be closer to family.”

Scotland didn’t give up. Lambert may have been on the other side of the world but he had impressed sufficiently for the under-20s and Glasgow Warriors to warrant another approach.

The prop had been identified originally by Murrayfield’s Scottish Qualified (SQ) programme which scours the globe looking for players with Scottish heritage. Having put in the groundwork, an attempt was made to bring Lambert back for a second stint.

What Tom Lambert learned during his time in Scotland

“They reached back out about potentially going back over to join Glasgow,” said Lambert. “But at this point, I'd played for the Aussie As, which is the second team for the Wallabies. So that would rule me out to be eligible to play for Scotland because they changed the rules around that. You have to wait three years [to switch international allegiance]. So I was ruled out to be able to come back.”

While he enjoyed his time in Scotland and credits it with helping improve his scrummaging, Lambert said “his heart was really back in Oz”.

“I did a training week with the Scotland team in the build-up to a South Africa test, just to kind of get involved in that environment and get a little bit of a taste, had a little bit of chat with Gregor Townsend as well. But ultimately, I just thought the best decision for me was to go back home. I had a chance to play for the Waratahs and that's my boyhood club.”

He still keeps in touch with his old Glasgow and U-20 team-mates and hopes to meet Gregor Brown this week for a coffee. He admits it would be “surreal” to make his Wallabies debut against Scotland and remains grateful for the part they played in shaping his career.

“It's hard to put into words if it were to happen because I understand that Scotland had a lot to do with the infancy of my career and they gave me my first opportunity to play professional rugby,” said Lambert. “And I've also got a lot of mates on the opposing side. It'd be a surreal feeling.

“I know the atmosphere at Murrayfield and how amazing it is. I've been to a fair few games there over my two years there to watch the Scotland team play. I'd relish the opportunity.

“I think having those couple of years in Glasgow helped me massively around set-piece. I think the scrum is probably one of my strong points. I probably pay respect to Glasgow and Scotland for that. I feel like I'm in a good spot now, but I feel like I've got a lot more to go, a lot further to go to be able to be a good Test prop.”

Lambert still has family here, based in the East Ayrshire village of Mauchline - “I've sorted out a few tickets” - but it’s all about Australia now. Scotland’s loss is the Wallabies’ gain.