A capital decision for Webster
abroad to play rugby didn’t really make sense to us.
‘Staying in this part of town and having a couple of good friends involved in the club made it an easy decision.’
‘Simon Cross is head coach and we became close when he was at Edinburgh, and this was Mike Blair’s club before he turned pro — so I already felt some affiliation to Accies. It was always the team I’d go to watch if I had a spare Saturday afternoon.
‘I thought about it for a long time before I decided to play this season and it was mainly because I knew, if I didn’t do it this year, I wouldn’t be able to come back in a few years’ time and have one last crack.
‘I’m not sure what will happen next season — it will depend on how I feel at the end of this campaign.
‘It has nothing to do with trying to achieve anything — it is just about enjoying it,’ he added. ‘Also, my wife said she didn’t want me to go all skinny and puny so it is a good way to keep fit as well.’
Previously, Webster’s working life revolved around the national stadium, where he had a team of coaches, nutritionists and medical experts at his beck and call, not to mention instant access to all the modern facilities and equipment a professional athlete needs to perform at the top of his game.
Now he has to fit training around his job as a manager for a leading Edinburgh property developer, and the surroundings he is getting used to at Raeburn Place are positively medieval compared to what he was used to at Murrayfield.
Britain’s oldest club are currently operating out of a cluster of portable huts after their historic clubhouse was knocked down a few years ago in preparation for a fresh development — which subsequently fell victim to the economic downturn.
‘It is a change of scene but, you know what? I absolutely love it,’ says Webster.
‘I’ve really enjoyed the training — they are a great bunch of guys.
‘It is a lot of fun and that’s why we all start playing rugby in the first place.
‘I’ve been really impressed with the culture. They are amateur players but, when it comes to working on the training field or in the gym, they try as hard as any group of players I have seen.
‘The standards they set themselves are really high. Everybody is behind the line when we do our fitness tests — nobody cheats — they all went to get better.
‘There’s a real mix of guys, from the older ones who have been here their whole life and the club means so much to them, to young guys coming out of school looking to make their mark so they, hopefully, get spotted by Edinburgh or Glasgow and can go on to become professional. And they all come together on a Saturday.
‘I’m fit, I’m playing rugby and I’m really enjoying my job — so life is pretty good.’
SCOTLAND CAP: