Mcconnochie happy to take scenic route to top

FROM the University of Gloucestershire to being named in England’s Rugby World Cup squad, Ruaridh Mcconnochie’s path to Japan has been unconventional to say the least.

The uncapped 27 year old was one of the surprise selections by Eddie Jones after just one season playing Premiership Rugby for Bath.

And his time in Gloucestershire, where he also played for Hartpury, played a huge role in his meteoric rise.

It was during his four years studying and playing rugby at the University of Gloucestershire that Mcconnochie was encouraged by coach Phil Llewellyn, a former Great Britain Sevens international, to play for Nuneaton in the National League.

With the help of Llewellyn, Mcconnochie decided to pursue the sevens route and after a spell at Hartpury he broke into the England sevens setup in 2015.

He won a silver medal with the Great Britain team at the Rio 2016 Olympics before switching to the 15-a-side game last year.

And Mcconnochie believes there are more from the university system who can follow in his footsteps.

“I’ve been a massive advocate of the uni game and the sevens game,” said Mcconnochie.

“I think there’s a lot of untapped talent in the uni system. You see Alex Dombrandt coming through this year and that’s just one name.

“I think there are a lot of uni guys there who have slipped under the radar going through Under-18s and maybe developed later and I was definitely one of them.

“If you ask me now looking back at a 17 or 18-year-old me I probably wasn’t good enough for that academy setup but having the experience I’ve had, the life experience, I wouldn’t change my pathway.”

Mcconnochie admits he would have quite happily continued travelling the world playing sevens but the urge to have a crack in the Premiership was too strong to resist.

He said: “I remember being in talks with people when I was at sevens and chatting to my mates and actually thinking ‘do I want to leave the sevens’ because the environment is so unique and I’ve got such good memories there, thinking ‘why am I trying to fix something that isn’t broken because I love it here.’

“It was more in the back of my head having never done an academy pathway and never being involved in professional 15s I wanted to give it a try.

“If at the end of the first year it wasn’t going well, that’s life, but if it was I would’ve hated to have retired from the sevens and not given it a try.

“We were obviously asking around and Bath seemed quite interested and I’ve got a mutual link there with Dan Cooper who was one of the analysts with England and GB before leaving there.

“So he obviously knew me and knew my character and I’d say he helped a lot to get my foot in the door. Then after that it was just trying to repay their trust and showing what I could do.” Mcconnochie was due to make his England debut against Wales on Sunday only to miss out with a hip injury followed by an anxious wait to find out if he had made the World Cup squad.

He said: “It was a dark 24 hours with the injury. Then come Monday morning I was quite at peace, if it didn’t happen I’d have no regrets over the process.

“I wouldn’t have expected it but it’s quite cool to be able to say I’ve done the tournaments I did with the sevens and now a potential World Cup.

“I’m incredibly lucky and incredibly proud to be part of it.”

Jones, inset, says it was an easy decision to name Mcconnochie in the squad.

The England head coach said: “Firstly, I think it’s always nice to bring new blood in,” said England head coach Jones.

“It freshens everything up. When you have the enthusiasm that young players do, it adds to the squad.

“Ruaridh we’ve been watching quite closely through the club season. I was impressed by him.

“Once he came into camp, he cemented our impression of him.

“He’s a very good worker, a very good communicator.

“He’s a mature boy who has played a number of positions, so he was a pretty easy selection in the end.”