Cummings is aiming to walk tall in the land of the GIANTS
IN every possible sense of the term, the task of trying to displace Richie Gray and Leone Nakarawa from the Glasgow Warriors second row would seem a distinctly tall order.
Two colossal figures with a sublime skillset to match, Warriors fans are rightly salivating at the prospect of their new-look heavyweight tag-team being unleashed.
But what about the other guy? Surely there is an argument that, despite their superstar status, both Gray and Nakarawa must first of all dislodge Scott Cummings from the boiler room?
‘I don’t know,’ says Cummings, with all the politeness and modesty you’d expect from a man who was once deputy head boy of his school. ‘I’m just trying to focus on playing my best rugby. If that gets me the starting jersey, then great. Whoever gets picked gets picked.’
Plainly, he has earned the right to keep hold of the jersey once the action resumes against Edinburgh later this month.
Cummings has enjoyed a stellar 18 months, establishing himself as a first choice for club and country. He was a late bolter into Scotland’s World Cup squad last year and started in all four games during this year’s Six Nations.
His performances saw him named as Glasgow’s Test Player of the Year — his contribution to the national cause recognised ahead of club-mates Adam Hastings and Zander Fagerson.
It has been a stunning rise to prominence for the 23-year-old who, as a boyhood Warriors fan, admits he is now living the dream.
‘It has all come quite quickly,’ he says. ‘I’ve been loving what has happened over the past year — being able to play for Scotland as much as I have.’
Cummings (below) vividly recalls the cold and wet Friday nights when it was Firhill for thrills. It was an environment far removed from the relative opulence of Scotstoun.
He would arrive home from Kelvinside Academy — the school also attended by Gray — and then make the journey to Maryhill to watch Glasgow in action prior to their move to Scotstoun in 2012. ‘I went to the same school as Richie,’ explains Cummings. ‘I was round about Primary Seven when he was a few years older and coming towards the end of his time at school. ‘But I grew up as a Glasgow fan, so I remember him from then. I remember him breaking onto the scene and playing really well. ‘I hadn’t met him too much prior to him signing, only briefly in one or two Scotland camps I had been in and around. It’s been great to get to know him.’ A friendship may well blossom between them, but the competitive beasts inside them could also see a healthy rivalry develop. If former European Player of the Year Nakarawa is an automatic pick when fit, they can’t both play. The alternative for new Warriors head coach Danny Wilson would be to slot the big Fijian star into the back row. Still in the relative infancy of his career, Cummings is a pup in comparison to his two superstar team-mates.
Yet, in the land of giants, he’s determined to walk tall and relish the competition.
Standing 6ft 5ins and weighing in at the thick end of 18 stone, he’ll take some amount of shifting, both for opposition and any teammates intent on taking his place.
‘I was here during Leone’s first stint,’ says Cummings. ‘I made my debut in (September) 2015, which I think was Leone’s last season (prior to leaving).
‘So I got to play a couple of games with him when I was just breaking into the squad.
‘These were all guys I was watching as a fan. I still remember going to Firhill and watching the games Richie played in. It’s great to now be able to play alongside them.
‘I don’t know too much about the injuries Richie’s had in the past. But he’s been looking really good in training and I’m sure he’s ready to get back out on the pitch. A lot has probably changed in Glasgow since his first spell at the club. I’m sure he’ll be excited to get out at Scotstoun and enjoy the atmosphere.
‘There is a big competition for places but we are all trying to get the best out of each other.
‘Richie can share things he has brought from his time in France and all the caps he has had for Scotland. We are all working together and I’m sure it will drive us all to get better.’
With the derby double-header against Edinburgh now looming large, Cummings is counting down the days until kick-off at Murrayfield on August 22.
He has proven himself as a powerful ball-carrier, capable of hitting the line at speed and punching holes in opposition defences.
It has offered a real point of difference to Scotland’s forward pack but he is determined to take his game to a new level.
Doing so will be as much a mental task as anything. With guidance from time-served pests and wind-up merchants like Rob Harley and Ryan Wilson, he’s learning from the best.
‘I want to try and get involved a bit more in the game,’ he says. ‘At times I look at myself and think I don’t put myself forward to carry quite as much as I would like.
‘I feel like when I do carry, I am quite effective, so I’d like to promote myself.
‘A bit of a weird one, but something I have learned from Rob Harley is being a nuisance in the game — having that ability to cause the other team to get annoyed at you, get them riled up by slowing ball down at rucks and that sort of thing.
‘Ryan does it a different way. He does it with what he says to people and he is really good at it because he gets the opposition annoyed and often they end up doing other things.
‘Whereas Rob Harley is very good at the subtle arts of grabbing people and pulling them back off the ball and all that sort of stuff, which is maybe hard to learn but — if you can add it to your game — then it really does impact the team.’