MY LIFE IN RUGBY
THE FORMER SCOTLAND, MELROSE, LEICESTER AND EDINBURGH WINGER.
Igot lots of good advice throughout my career but drinking port and lemonade all night before a 7s tournament in Kelso – “because it won’t give you a hangover” – wasn’t one of them. Bryan Redpath and Craig Chalmers had convinced me I’d be okay but it’s fair to say I didn’t have the wheels everyone expected the next morning!
You learn from these lessons and move on, as I did from Melrose to Leicester, swapping one title-winning side for another. I had a Rugby League offer from one of the top three clubs at the time and I also spoke to Rob Andrew at Newcastle, but ultimately Welford Road is pretty awe-inspiring and seemed like a natural place to go.
I loved being a professional even though it robbed me of my competitive advantage. I’d always kept myself fit and strong and done extras but when rugby became a job everyone else had to do the same.
With the quality of squad at Tigers I had spells where I was in and then out of the team. Sometimes I’d be getting picked for Scotland but not by my club which felt a bit strange. My Scotland debut came on tour to Argentina. Not much international rugby was on TV in the mid-90s, other than the Five Nations so it was a bit of an eye-opener to discover what good footballers the Argentinians were. And of course they were immensely strong, fed on a diet of steaks.
Other than making my debut, probably the highlight of that trip was going to Mendoza, to the ground where Archie Gemmell scored his famous goal in the ‘78 World Cup, to watch Real Madrid play River Plate. Real Madrid were on the same flight as us. As they came down the stairs of the plane and turned left they were mobbed; we came down the stairs and turned right and no-one gave a damn!
My second year of international rugby, 1995, was memorable on a number of levels. We famously beat France in Paris when Gavin Hastings scored under the posts to set up a Grand Slam decider against England. I remember going out to acknowledge the fans afterwards and it was the time when the film Wayne’s World was big and they gave us the ‘we’re not worthy’ bow. To have that special interaction with the fans was amazing and I’m glad that’s starting to come back with the current Scotland team.
The World Cup later that year was another occasion I’ll never forget. Security was very tight – we had armed guards at the end of our hotel corridor, 24-7 – and the police insisted on accompanying us everywhere we wanted to go. To play against Jonah Lomu was the ultimate test. I was pretty quick and there weren’t that many people I could show the outside to and not catch, but he was phenomenally fast for such a big man and incredibly light on his feet. That said, I actually had one of my better games against New Zealand and, a year later, in Dunedin, I managed to beat him on the outside for a try. That was very satisfying.
I returned north, in 2000, thinking that it might help me add to my 25 caps. It seemed like the right move for me as Frank Hadden, my former coach at school, was in charge there. I enjoyed my time with Edinburgh, but it was very different to Leicester where rugby was at the forefront of everyone’s minds. One of my first games was a European tie against Ebbw Vale and virtually the entire report in the Sunday Mail was about Noel Gallagher being there!
I look back on my career with a great deal of fondness. The friends I made, the places I went to, being able to sing the national anthem in front of the west stand at Murrayfield … memories that no-one can take away from me.