Gray’s days are far from numbered
Scot confident he has plenty of miles left in tank
TOP-QUALITY second rows have a long shelf life. Ireland and British and Irish Lions captain Paul O’Connell was 36 when he quit playing. Welshman Alun Wyn Jones, who also skippered his country and the Lions, is still going strong at the age of 34. That is why, when 30-year-old Scotland international Richie Gray says he has a good few years left to give Glasgow Warriors, you realise he has time on his side to fulfil his promise.
‘I am not winding-down as I’ve been in France for seven years, learned a lot and me coming back to Glasgow with my experience will hopefully help the younger guys,’ said Gray, who signed for the Warriors from Toulouse. ‘What was Paul O’Connell when he had to hang his up boots? Thirty six? Alun Wyn Jones is 34 and still going and performing really well. It gives you hope.
‘When Paul O’Connell was coaching at Stade Francais for a bit, we played them and I had a really good conversation with him. He was brilliant and I learnt a lot when I was across in France.’
Gray, who is one of the contenders to be the new Glasgow captain next season, is ready to resume his Scotland career two years and four months after his last game for his country. He twice turned down a chance to join Scotland’s 2019 World Cup squad for family reasons.
First he has to secure a starting place in the Glasgow second row, which won’t be easy. The 56-times capped lock forward may have lots of experience but he is in a three-way fight for a starting position with Scotland international Scott Cummings and Fijian international Leone Nakarawa.
‘I’m coming back with big ambitions and big expectations personally,’ said Gray. ‘I still have a lot of drive and certainly in my last couple of years at Toulouse the aim was to win games and get far on in competitions, and I enjoyed that. Winning is pretty nice and I’d certainly like to continue doing that with Glasgow.’ Gray believes the Warriors have signed a far better all-round rugby player than the one who left the club back in 2012. For instance, earlier in his career he was always reluctant to call the line-out to the extent when he was on Scotland duty, it was either his younger brother Jonny or Edinburgh’s Grant Gilchrist that used to do it. Times have changed and in his second stint at Glasgow he believes his lineout game has improved because of his time in French rugby.
‘If I can highlight one area that has improved it is the line-out,’ he said. ‘My role in the lineout has changed and I feel I’ve improved there from a leadership point of view. ‘I went to Toulouse and ended up as part of the group that was running things and leading them throughout the week, so I feel there’s been a massive improvement there which I certainly hope to bring to Glasgow.
‘My work in the tight has improved as well. France is one of these places where you have to be good in that tight combat area and I had to improve to play there.’ Gray is keen to take a major role at the club although he has not yet been designated one by new Glasgow head coach Danny Wilson.
‘I am hoping to be part of the leadership group at Glasgow,’ he said. ‘That is very important for me and I want to share as much as I can with the group, but I know that Scott Cummings has done well with Glasgow so far running the line-out.
‘With regard to captains and cocaptains, there has been nothing said as yet, but from a personal point of view I am just coming back to the club, while there are other guys that have been here a long time like Ryan Wilson, Pete Horne and Sam Johnson. So there is a good group who have been here a long time.’
Standing 6ft 10in tall and with dyed blond hair, he was a massive star at Glasgow in his early days and a reluctant marketing tool, with Richie Gray masks given away at home games and his name used on posters to advertise matches. Never that happy being the centre of attention, the blond locks have gone and he is back to his natural brown hair. He is also relieved that there are new stars on the Glasgow block to take the spotlight away from him.
‘Those days at Glasgow were crazy, but I think now you have some big players at the club, massive fan favourites like Leone and Sam Johnson, who is a cracking player who the fans love,’ he said.
‘As for me not being blond, I’m married with kids and I think you kind of need to grow up. Also, it’s a few months into quarantine, and the hair was just getting out of control. So I asked my wife if she could shave a bit off and she took a razor to it! Thankfully it’s grown back a bit.’