Distraught Fisher prays to healing Gods for one last moment

The ex-Hull KR player had to be carried off ahead of their crucial World Cup game against USA on Thursday night after tearing a calf moments before kick-off.

He is due to retire at the end of the tournament but accepts his playing days are now over.

Fisher, who had been drafted into Scotland’s starting line-up after an injury to fellow hooker Ian Henderson, admitted: “Devastation is the only way to describe it. It’s just such a way to go out and finish a career. It’s heartbreaking.

“I’ll see what the scan says and hope the healing gods will help me out but it’s highly unlikely I’ll be featuring again.

“I’ve never had an injury like this before. I’ve been quite lucky. But the way it went, the way I couldn’t use it and the way it felt afterwards it doesn’t feel right.

“It was the very last motion of the warm-up. I just turned off the ground to take off and then in that stride it just pinged.”

An emotional Fisher was in tears on crutches on the touchline, as were some of his Scotland colleagues, as they fired out the Flower of Scotland anthem beforehand.

Needing to win to keep alive quarter-final hopes, the Bravehearts were 8-0 down at the break before scoring four unanswered tries.

Sydney-born Fisher, who first arrived in the UK with Halifax in 2004, spent six years at Hull KR and has a Glaswegian dad, said: “There was complete frustration for me at the start as we had a specific game plan and we went completely away from that.

“We were all over the place That’s normally where I feel that’s my role to point the boys around the field and execute that plan.

“But we gave them a bit of a hiding at half-time, executed it properly and came over the top eventually.

“These crutches were high in the sky when Matty Russell got us the try to put us in front.

“They’ve got some dings in them as well. They were brand new when I got them but they might want to toss them afterwards!”

Ironically, even though they are unbeaten in the tournament, Scotland must still hope that Italy fail to beat Tonga tomorrow to set up a last-eight meeting with holders New Zealand at Headingley on Friday.