Rob plays it by book for tale of two cities
Warrior’s learning game
MOST rugby players would have spent a large part of lockdown pumping iron and readying themselves for a return to the physical rigours of the game.
But Scotland international Rob Harley seems to have been more interested in developing his cerebral muscles after revealing that the last five months have allowed him to concentrate on his studies for a Classics degree with the Open University.
Rarely without his nose in a book, Harley admits that a particular favourite in keeping boredom at bay has been Ursula Le Guin’s anthology of sciencefiction stories.
No writer could have predicted the dystopian scenario that saw sport brought to a shuddering halt all over the world because of coronavirus.
Nonetheless, with the Pro14 season having resumed in order to bring the delayed campaign to a conclusion, Harley is now facing the more down-to-earth reality of ensuring his Glasgow team finish on a high with a derby win over Edinburgh tomorrow night.
‘I was reading an Ursula Le Guin
anthology and I read a good book
on Afghanistan called No Good
Men Among the Living, which I would recommend,’ said 30-yearold Harley, the longest-serving player on the Scotstoun books.
‘During the phase out of lockdown, when we were travelling to Edinburgh back and forth, I thought that was a good chance to use that time as well, so I finished The Brothers Karamazov on audiobook. Not always cheery, but I found it quite funny.
‘I am trying to write, too, but unfortunately I read a lot more than I wrote during lockdown. It’s much easier to read, I guess.’
Not all of Harley’s team-mates have been impressed with his intellectual pursuits, suggesting he should have taken a more practical degree with a view to life after rugby.
‘I’m studying Classics and a few of the other players have criticised me for not doing something specific and more career-focused,’ he revealed.
‘But I essentially picked something that I was interested in and thought I would study and get a degree at the end of it.’
As for his return to action, Harley hopes to begin a new chapter with Glasgow tomorrow after they lost the first instalment of the back-to-back derbies 30-15 at Murrayfield last weekend.
Edinburgh are already looking forward to a play-off semi-final with Ulster. But victory would set Glasgow up for a new future under head coach Danny Wilson, and the versatile Harley, who can play in the second row but started at flanker against Edinburgh, is set to play a big part.
‘Playing in derby matches does mean a bit more, so it would be great to get a win before we have a little bit of time off and can prepare for next season off the back of that,’ he said.
‘We’re confident going into the game. Early on, especially at the breakdown, we made a lot of mistakes. They were sharper than us there and we can learn from that. A lot of the defence was really good but we let ourselves down in those open-play passages.
‘We kicked loose balls off turnover, struggled to find structure straight away and Edinburgh scored two quality tries from our loose play.
‘It’s about trying to take some of the structure and the power that we had in defence for most of the first game, improving, and getting into defensive shape a bit more quickly.’