MY LIFE IN RUGBY
THE FORMER BRITISH & IRISH LIONS AND SCOTLAND WINGER
Touring with the Lions in 1983 was the greatest three months of my life. There I was, 23 years old, playing with the best against the best at a time when I was probably the fittest that I’d ever been and also the quickest player on tour.
We lost the series 4-0 but I think 3-1 would have been a much fairer reflection. If Rob Ackerman had given Trevor Ringland a pass when we had a twoon-one in the first Test we’d have definitely won that. But New Zealand were the better side and light years ahead of us. They had two or three coaches whereas poor old Jim Telfer had to do it all by himself. We didn’t help ourselves on selection, with Iain Milne, Colin Deans, Jim Calder and John Rutherford not being considered for the first two Tests. If you go to NZ you’ve got to play those who are on form.
I had some great days in a Scotland jersey but never scored a try. I scored for the Lions, in the third Test, but never in 27 Tests for my country. Try-scoring had never been a problem for me – I still hold the record for the now defunct South of Scotland team – but, for whatever reason, it just never happened. And it did pray on my mind.
Towards the end of my career I thought I’d broken my duck in Bucharest, but the touch judge put his flag up for a foot in touch as I touched down under the posts. Maybe it was better that way, I don’t think I would have got much credit for scoring my only try versus Romania.
My ‘most watched’ moment was probably the try that Jim Calder scored against Wales in 1982. Bill Cuthbertson, the big daft goon, had kicked the ball straight down the throat of their winger and they moved the ball upfield until Gareth Davies decided to chip it into our 22. I was haring across to cover and caught it on the full and launched a counterattack from our 22. I caught Rob Ackermann a bit flat-footed and it all unfolded from there. We scored five tries and played some great rugby to beat Wales in Cardiff for the first time in 18 years.
We had some great players around then, and won the Grand Slam two years later. But I think we actually played better rugby in ’86 when it was only the longest kick in history, from Paul Thorburn, that cost us another Slam.
I think hard tours to Australia and New Zealand earlier in the decade had made us as players, and the ’83 Lions tour proved to us that we were just as good as the English, Welsh and Irish. Up until then, I think us Scots had a bit of an inferiority complex. All the while, Jim Telfer was there as coach.
Ivan Tukalo had the winger’s jersey, and rightly so, by the time the first World Cup came around, but I still made it into the squad. The management said they were going to play their strongest XV in every game, which we thought would never happen, but they stuck to their word and I never made it onto the field.
Instead, me and about five others went on a social tour of New Zealand. I remember we won a shedload of money at the races and drank most of our profits. We ended up going into a bar full of Maori locals and they were playing ‘spin the bottle’. We joined in – but not for long! After the first spin, the ‘loser’ got on the floor and proceeded to have the s*** kicked out of him.
Achilles injuries plagued me later on and the Five Nations game against Ireland in 1988 was my last international. I did carry on playing until I was 33, ending with Watsonians 3rds as stand-off! Whilst not directly connected to rugby – I’ve continued working for WN Lindsay, Scotland’s biggest grain merchant – I’m still in touch with a lot of the boys and I’d have to say that the most satisfaction I take from the game, is the friendships I made, not just with fellow Scots but with players from all around the world.