HERE’S JOHNNIE! I don’t think Finn will be playing the exciting brand of rugby he’s used to. It will be more turgid
By HUGH MacDONALD He scored our only try as Scotland won in Dublin eight years ago before his international career took a nosedive. Now he’s exiled in the French second division but Beattie isn’t giving up...
THE hack’s unthinking obsession for the contemporaneously relevant leads to the shrill beep of a phone in a home on the fringe of Pays Basque in France.
It is answered by the man who scored Scotland’s only try when the Scots last beat Ireland in Dublin, a contented exile who may be expected to have views on the hotly-anticipated arrival of Bonnie Prince Finn in Paris in the summer.
Johnnie Beattie, intelligent and articulate, has, of course, much of interest to say about both that stunning day at Croke Park in 2010 that a nation hopes can be replicated next week and Finn Russell’s signing with Racing Club de Paris.
But an almost routine investigation of two modern topics unveils much more substance.
Beattie has experienced the brutality of elite sport, both in suffering rejection and enduring injuries. He has also savoured its joy in creating memories and, crucially, providing a life of fulfilment.
The 32-year-old has been in France for six years now. The lessons of the past may have been hard, but the present and future are bristling with contentment and hope. The warrior survives. ‘I would love to play another game,’ he says. ‘I know that playing in division two of French rugby doesn’t do you any favours when it comes to international selection. But it is just one more game…’
Beattie now captains Bayonne in a Basque hinterland, but watches Glasgow Warriors and Scotland games with the insight of the pro and the passion of the fan.
He knows his contemporary, John Barclay, has come back to the international squad after a two-and-ahalf-year hiatus. ‘I was so happy for them after the Calcutta Cup game,’ he says of his former team-mates.
‘But there is just a little bit of me that wants to be there to celebrate with them, have a beer with them.
‘It is the feeling you have after a game, knowing what you have achieved, that makes rugby special. Seeing the supporters in the stand going bananas, knowing how everyone back home is reacting in pubs or in front of the telly in their living room. It is an incredible feeling of pride when you know you have worked hard and achieved something as a team’
This emotion is still with him as he represents a town of 40,000 inhabitants that attracts 15,000 souls to home games in the second tier of French rugby.
‘Yes, I still get that feeling every match but there is something about the quality, the level of playing for your country.’ he says. ‘I would love to be part of that again.’
It is telling that his memory of that Ireland try is not of him rampaging through tackles to touch the ball down but of the immediate aftermath.
‘I can’t remember the physical act of scoring,’ he adds. ‘But I remember looking up to the crowd, being mobbed by my team-mates, and seeing Scots going bonkers in the stadium. That is something I cherish.’
Yet, a year later, he would not even make Andy Robinson’s extended 40-plus squad for the World Cup. A year after that, he was heading to France from Glasgow, playing with Montpellier and then Castres before signing for Bayonne.
It is a stark illustration of the brutality of elite sport where one man’s opinion can change the very course of a career. Beattie was hurt, admitting that leaving Scotland was ‘therapeutic’ for him but he is also philosophical.
‘That is the way it is in sport,’ he adds. ‘Every single week you get judged. It is an amazing thing to be part of but you have to accept that judgment.’
There is no bitterness. ‘It’s just life,’ he explains. ‘You can’t get on with everybody because, if you get on with everybody, that is fake. Part of life is that there are ups and downs.
‘Things work with some coaches and don’t with others. That’s just the way it is. There was no clash of personalities, no big falling out.
‘It is just that Andy Robinson decided I wasn’t to be part of the squad. He felt I wasn’t the man for the job.’
Beattie returned to accumulate a total of 38 caps but his absence from the national side since 2015 has not dulled his interest in Scottish rugby. Indeed, his move to France seems to have given it an edge.
‘It was a very, very easy decision,’ he says of leaving Scotland in 2012. ‘I grew up with a sporting family and we loved getting away to campsites playing football, chucking a rugby ball about,’ he adds of a group that included his dad, John, a British Lion, and sister Jenny, who has won 108 caps for the national football team.
‘I remember being in France for the 1998 World Cup final when they beat Brazil and my sisters and I had Tricolours painted on our faces. That love of the place just stuck with me. It was just a fantastic place to be… the sunshine, the food, the culture. I remember watching Toulouse and Biarritz on the telly as a 15 or 16-year-old and thinking: “If I get a chance to do that I would be mental to turn it down”.’ Beattie describes French rugby as the ‘Wild West’, pointing out that the culture is entirely different to that in Scotland. There is a lesson in that for Russell (left). ‘He will quickly realise it is not all set up and organised the way it is in Scotland. You have to do a lot more for yourself, particularly in drawing up a schedule and doing your strength and conditioning. Back home everything is orchestrated for you to be the best,’ says Beattie.
‘In France, the people are not all on the same wavelength and there can be a hundred different languages, but if you give it a good bash, make it work, it can be unbelievable.
‘I know the coaches at Racing quite well, so I don’t think Finn will be playing the brand of exciting rugby that he gets to play with Dave Rennie or with Gregor.
‘It will be much more turgid, much more workmanlike and that will be quite hard for him to adapt to, but there is so much experience for him to tap into.’
He adds of the fly-half: ‘He is an
incredible talent. We saw that again against England. He is one of the best in the world. I firmly believe that. I hope it goes well and I hope it develops him as a person because he will encounter new challenges.’
The move has certainly enhanced the life of Beattie. His two children — Lachie and Coralie — were born in France and he and his wife, Jen, have relished the opportunity afforded by professional rugby.
He admits there is the odd wince now at old injuries and young team-mates.
‘Some of the French lads are just out of school and they watch me on Youtube and tell me I used to be good,’ he says.
He is more serious when addressing the reality of modern rugby. ‘Everybody is quicker, more powerful, more athletic,’ he says.
‘They have more endurance, collisions are bigger, defences are way more organised, the contest at the breakdown is more effective and people on all positions are expected to do it, meaning more collisions.
‘It is a huge war of attrition. It has moved on since when I started pro rugby in 2004.
‘I am almost glad I started when I did. To start now as an 18-year-old and put your body through what Jonny Gray does week in, week out...’
There is a pause to recognise the endurance of a fellow warrior but also to reflect on what life has offered him.
He believes he can play on for another ‘couple of years’ but will complete a business management course from the University of Newcastle this summer, while rugby coaching at professional club or school level has its attractions.
He is happy, though, to reflect on the present with gratitude.
‘I learned when I moved to France that I had to look after myself,’ he says. ‘I was out of that bubble of family and friends. I was forced into situations that I was not comfortable with and I had to fend for myself.
‘I got caught up in things in Scotland because that was my life. But when you leave you realise there is a whole world out there, not just a rugby world but layers of other experiences. I learned a new language, made new friends and made a home for my family. I cherish all of that.’