SCORING for Scotland with my first touch of the ball after getting the better of Simon Geoghegan and then setting up Tony Stanger for a try was a real Roy of the Rovers start to my Test career. We beat Ireland 15-3, and I started all four games in the 1993 Five Nations. Sport, and life in general, is often about being in the right place at the right time, and luckily for me I took my opportunity whereas for Simon, a great player, that one below-par performance probably cost him a place on the Lions tour.
Sometimes, obviously things went against you rather than for you. For instance, a few years earlier, when I was playing club rugby for Kilmarnock, I got picked for the Scotland trial, in the blue team, but I had a poor game against Iwan Tukalo, and Tony Stanger got in for the Five Nations. I lost a bit of confidence and decided to take a year out. That was the '90 Grand Slam season so it was a big one to miss. That still niggles me if I'm honest.
For a while I thought I'd give athletics a proper go as I could run 10.6 seconds for the 100 metres, which earned me the title as 'the fastest man in rugby'. I was running for Dundee Hawkhill in the British League, I think it was down in Luton or somewhere like that, and it dawned on me then that I was quick but not that quick. There were guys of Caribbean descent running 10.3 seconds, which may not sound like a big difference but in sprinting terms, it was a chasm. Anyway, as a sociable person I felt I was much better suited to rugby.
This story is from the July 07, 2024 edition of The Rugby Paper.
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This story is from the July 07, 2024 edition of The Rugby Paper.
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