He tasted defeat far more often than he would have liked and was not enamoured with the attitude of his opponents.

Indeed, when the time came for him to continue his rugby education outside Zimbabwe, Gray snubbed the chance to join South Africa’s renowned Stellenbosch University, opting instead to move to Australia.

He said: “We used to play against schools in South Africa. We would get beaten by them quite regularly and I found them to be quite arrogant, so I didn’t want to go there.”

Gray’s career path took in spells in both union and league Down Under but he always had ambitions to represent Scotland, his father’s country of birth.

After joining Bath in 2004 he realised his dream, making his Test debut against Australia.

But after dropping off the international radar at National League One Doncaster he had to wait until last weekend to earn his second cap, coming off the bench in the 32-6 defeat to New Zealand.

Should he take to the field tomorrow, he could come up against a fellow Peterhouse old boy who had no such qualms moving to South Africa.

Gray had left the college by the time Springboks prop Tendai Mtawarira - known as The Beast - started there but revealed the pair’s old rugby coach has been looking forward to the prospect of his former pupils facing off.

“Hopefully I’ll get on when he’s still on the field,” added Gray, whose family members in South Africa will put aside their Springboks allegiance to cheer him on.

“I said to them already, ‘Who are you supporting this weekend?’ and they’ve given me the old, ‘Blood is thicker than water’ line and said, ‘Good luck, we hope you win’.

“It would mean more to me to beat them than anything, just to get one up on the South Africans.

“I’ve always watched them play and actually to go up against them is like a dream.”