'It's a weird one': Scotland's latest cap ready to head home

The Saracens 10 found himself making a few more tackles than he had anticipated on his Test debut but he acquitted himself well in what was a relentlessly physical encounter.

He was in good voice too, by all accounts, with a rendition of the Fijian gospel tune ‘E Da Sa Qaqa’ at the post-match dinner to mark his first cap.

“I went for a Fijian song so the Fijian community could all join in and help me out,” he said. “So I think I did about the first line of the song and then let them take over.”

Scotland hope to be back on song on Friday when they take on Samoa in the final match of their tour at Eden Park.

It is a venue at which the Scots have never won but one that is familiar to New Zealand-born Burke who will have family and friends supporting him in the stands. Burke, who hails from Gisborne on North Island, around 300 miles south-east of Auckland, qualifies for Scotland through his Edinburgh-born grandfather and now finds himself returning home to make his international breakthrough.

Burke: ‘Almost like it was meant to be’

“It's a weird one, it's almost like it was meant to be,” he said. “I was in the Six Nations squad and didn't get a crack so it was almost like this is where I was meant to get my first opportunity so my family could actually be here and things like that. So it is pretty cool and I'm definitely not taking it for granted and soaking it all up.”

Defensively sound, with good hands and an eye for putting players into space, Burke impressed against the Fijians on an afternoon when Scotland were second best. He played in Tom Jordan for the Scots’ second try but they were on the backfoot for the most of the game.

“I spent a bit more time on defence than I would have liked, and probably ended up making a few more tackles than I would have liked,” said Burke. “I probably would have liked to spend a bit more time on attack but I guess that's something we can look forward to this week.

“I think we can expect a similar challenge to Fiji and I think for parts of that Fiji game we showed how good we are as a team when we get it right. But when we get our discipline wrong we end up making a lot more tackles than we need to and we're tiring ourselves out against big sides like Fiji and Samoa. So we need to get the discipline side of our game right and that way we can be a bit better.”

Burke has played Super Rugby at Eden Park with Crusaders, scoring a try there against the Blues in 2023, and is looking forward to returning to one the sport’s most storied venues.

“I guess the facility itself is so cool,” he said. “It's got a rich history as a stadium. Also, I really like the surface and hopefully won't end up with as many grazes as I did from the surface in Fiji, so looking forward to that.”