AUSSIE fly half Zac Zropf has revealed that he had to Google Dunfermline before arriving at McKane Park in October.

But the 19-year-old has been so impressed with the welcome he and his family have received from members of the club that he has not ruled out extending his stay beyond the end of the current season.

Zropf, along with long-time friend and fellow Queensland native Harry Masters, answered coach Derek O’Riordan’s call for a number 10 and number nine after being spotted on online rugby recruitment agency Inside Running as the team struggled to adapt to life in BT National League Three.

The duo’s arrival has led to an upturn in results and performances and Dunfermline have given themselves a fighting chance of finishing outside of the bottom three relegation spots with seven matches remaining. Their happiness on the pitch has been matched off it and Zropf’s parents, Becky and Leon, brother Charlie and sister Zoe were joined by scrum half Masters’ parents, Rebecca and Scott, and sister Imogen for a three-week break in Scotland over the Christmas period.

Although left disappointed at the cancellation of Saturday’s match with Dalziel at McKane, the players’ families were able to watch them star in the 24-8 win at Royal High Corstorphine on 10th January and Zac told Press Sport, “It was nice to have them over for three weeks although the conditions against RHC were crazy – I’ve never seen anything like it! I think though they were interested to see Scottish rugby at its best and the standard is really good.

“The physicality has been the main difference as I guess we’re used to more running rugby back home, whereas here there is more of a kicking game and Harry has to do more work around the pack and make more tackles. We’ve had to work on more skill sets but that has been good for our development.

“When I first got the offer, I was a bit reserved because I wasn’t sure what I was coming over to, particularly living in another country. Once I got my head around that I was pretty keen to come and try to make a difference – I saw it as a bit of a challenge.

“Everyone we’ve met and people around the club have been really great in offering support. On the first day we arrived at Edinburgh airport, there were people from the club there including Hazel (Swankie, honorary secretary) to meet us and when we arrived at the club, a couple of the players took us out for lunch and showed us around Dunfermline. That was really nice, esepcially for two 19-year-olds away from home for the first time and I think that put our parents at ease a little bit.

“We’ve got a really good young squad that has the potential to do better so it would be nice to come back and see that through. If we can stay up this year then we’ll see what we can do.” Zropf and Masters have put degrees in sports science and business and education and science respectively at the University of Queensland on hold to pursue their rugby dream, and Zac continued, “This time last year we posted profiles on Inside Running but didn’t hear anything for 10 months until we got a message from Derek. It was a move we both wanted to try as we’d never played outside Australia before or had much experience in contracted rugby. We thought we better jump at the chance and we’ve been able to defer our studies for a year which has been good because we might never have got an offer like this again.

“There’s been initial talks about coming back which I would love to do, but I’d have to make sure I’m not giving up too much back home. But I’ve always aspired to go to as high a level as I can so we’ll see what happens.” AUSSIE fly half Zac Zropf has revealed that he had to Google Dunfermline before arriving at McKane Park in October.

But the 19-year-old has been so impressed with the welcome he and his family have received from members of the club that he has not ruled out extending his stay beyond the end of the current season.

Zropf, along with long-time friend and fellow Queensland native Harry Masters, answered coach Derek O’Riordan’s call for a number 10 and number nine after being spotted on online rugby recruitment agency Inside Running as the team struggled to adapt to life in BT National League Three.

The duo’s arrival has led to an upturn in results and performances and Dunfermline have given themselves a fighting chance of finishing outside of the bottom three relegation spots with seven matches remaining. Their happiness on the pitch has been matched off it and Zropf’s parents, Becky and Leon, brother Charlie and sister Zoe were joined by scrum half Masters’ parents, Rebecca and Scott, and sister Imogen for a three-week break in Scotland over the Christmas period.

Although left disappointed at the cancellation of Saturday’s match with Dalziel at McKane, the players’ families were able to watch them star in the 24-8 win at Royal High Corstorphine on 10th January and Zac told Press Sport, “It was nice to have them over for three weeks although the conditions against RHC were crazy – I’ve never seen anything like it! I think though they were interested to see Scottish rugby at its best and the standard is really good.

“The physicality has been the main difference as I guess we’re used to more running rugby back home, whereas here there is more of a kicking game and Harry has to do more work around the pack and make more tackles. We’ve had to work on more skill sets but that has been good for our development.

“When I first got the offer, I was a bit reserved because I wasn’t sure what I was coming over to, particularly living in another country. Once I got my head around that I was pretty keen to come and try to make a difference – I saw it as a bit of a challenge.

“Everyone we’ve met and people around the club have been really great in offering support. On the first day we arrived at Edinburgh airport, there were people from the club there including Hazel (Swankie, honorary secretary) to meet us and when we arrived at the club, a couple of the players took us out for lunch and showed us around Dunfermline. That was really nice, esepcially for two 19-year-olds away from home for the first time and I think that put our parents at ease a little bit.

“We’ve got a really good young squad that has the potential to do better so it would be nice to come back and see that through. If we can stay up this year then we’ll see what we can do.” Zropf and Masters have put degrees in sports science and business and education and science respectively at the University of Queensland on hold to pursue their rugby dream, and Zac continued, “This time last year we posted profiles on Inside Running but didn’t hear anything for 10 months until we got a message from Derek. It was a move we both wanted to try as we’d never played outside Australia before or had much experience in contracted rugby. We thought we better jump at the chance and we’ve been able to defer our studies for a year which has been good because we might never have got an offer like this again.

“There’s been initial talks about coming back which I would love to do, but I’d have to make sure I’m not giving up too much back home. But I’ve always aspired to go to as high a level as I can so we’ll see what happens.”