There are some moments that define an athlete’s career. Alain Baxter’s infamous bronze medal, Chris Hoy’s heart-stopping Olympic gold, or Gary Caldwell’s winner against France in October, to name but a few.  Each will have their individual ups and downs, but they will never forget those moments. 

In the case of Gregor Townsend, and indeed, Scottish rugby in general, there have been many such monumental occasions, good and bad.  His ‘Toony flip’ reverse pass to Gavin Hastings against France in 1995; scoring in every game of the 1999 Six Nations; controversially missing out on a Lions place in 2001 while playing (excellently) for Castres; running out at Netherdale in mid-May for the last time, not just in his hometown farewell as a player, but sadly, and quite literally, the Borders’ swansong as a team.

However, being part of the epic series win for the British Lions against South Africa in 1997 stands out in the minds of many, not just their wand-waving fly-half Townsend, as one of the greatest achievements in modern sport.  Fans and players alike revelled in the greatness of their achievement, defeating the feared African ogres, the World Champions, in their own backyard.  The tour was made all the more significant by the fact that it was the first fully professional Lions outing, and their first tests against the surly Springboks in 17 years, following the lift of apartheid.

The legendary tour will celebrate its tenth anniversary this summer, but it is still fresh in the memory of Gregor Townsend who, contemplating his imminent retirement from top-flight rugby, took the time to sit down with In The Winning Zone, ponder on days gone by, and talk to us about what the future holds for Scottish rugby.  But first, South Africa ‘97.

“I think that Lions tour would be hard to top for me, because it is such a special team that only comes together once every four years.  It’s above any other level, above Scottish international level, so just to be on the tour once in your career shows that you have been at the top of your game.  But to be part of the team that would beat the World Champions, and with the two subsequent tours having been series losses, makes it even better.”  Clearly still reminiscing, he smiled: “Special memories.”

A Lions tour, for the most part, comprises two teams; the Saturday (test) team, and the midweek (2nd) team.  In the past, and certainly since 1997, this division has led several touring sides to self-destruct, splitting the squad in half.  But this wasn’t the case for Gregor and his boys. “I think a lot of the team spirit came from winning games early on.  If we’d lost early you wouldn’t have had the same team spirit.  The midweek team was so strong, you could basically have changed a lot of those players with the Saturday team.  So possibly if the midweek team had been poor there may have been more of a ‘them and us’ situation, but Ian McGeechan [the coach] was desperate not to let that happen, like it did in 1993. So the coaches have to take all the credit, they make the rules to make the players bond as 33, not as 15 and the rest.” 

With Gregor having seen (and been the catalyst for) so many memorable moments with the oval ball, planet rugby will be sad to say goodbye to the effervescent Borders back.  But Gregor is ready for retirement, his body battered and begging for a rest after nearly two decades of first class rugby. 

Unfortunately, he isn’t going out on the high he deserves.  The long-running saga involving the Border Reivers has ended, inevitably, with the disbandment of his Gala team, who played their last game on May 12th.  Asides from the Borders headache, the Scotland national team, whom Gregor represented with such flair and distinction 82 times, had what was, to say the least, a disappointing Six Nations in 2007.  Scottish rugby is in need of some help. 

And, right now, Townsend is in a unique position to assist.  In the twilight of his career, he can boast almost seventeen years of first class rugby experience to ensure he is taken seriously by the various chairmen, executives and directors who make the decisions in Scottish rugby.  But, still getting out on the training ground each day, he can also be, and often is, the voice of the players.  Just as he has done from fly-half on countless occasions, he is the perfect middle-man.  So where does he think Scottish rugby can go from here to regain its balance?

“There are a few things I have strong views about.  The first is to change rugby to a summer sport in Scotland.  We are the most disadvantaged country because we play in the worst conditions, which don’t help our skills.  The two ways of getting round that is move our game to the summer and the other is to put as many 3G indoor pitches and  training centres in as we can, because there are none in existence just now.  There is no rugby team who has a 3G pitch. 

“We have been training in a mud bath this winter.  Our pitch was called off for our biggest game of the year against Northampton.  So that’s a bit of a joke for professionals to have to be doing that, but that’s happening throughout the country.  That would be my biggest thing to see.”

And he is speaking from experience.  Having been somewhat of a journeyman in rugby terms, representing clubs in five countries, [Scotland, England, France, South Africa and Australia] he is all to aware of the lack of necessary facilities in his homeland, and the problems that can bring.

“I trained on a 3G pitch at Montpellier and it was a revelation for me to play on such a smooth surface.  It was soft so you could do contact on it.  The reason we trained on it was our pitches were too hard because it was so dry.  After training on this pitch in France, I thought ‘We’ve got no future,’ because all these countries have got much better facilities than us, as well as better weather, so they will always be that bit ahead.  At schoolboy level in Australia they are passing the ball better than our international team because they get the weather to do it. 

“There are lots of these 3G pitches in England, all the professional teams train on them, and we don’t have any.  They know they are playing a winter sport, and the climate isn’t that much different in England to Scotland, so they have put money into facilities.
 
“The money is the big thing.  The SRU aren’t going to be able to provide that, but if the government say ‘Here’s £10million for facilities’, then there would be 20 sponsors putting their hands up saying ‘We want a slice of that’.”

Gregor, though deservedly more celebrated for his maverick, enthralling and close to the line play, has a depth of knowledge and opinion that rugby officials in Scotland could do with listening to.  Having played Super 12 rugby for the Natal Sharks in South Africa, Gregor picked up on something else about rugby elsewhere in the world.  It receives the attention a top level sport deserved.  A trait not applicable here in Scotland.

“There was a real passion for rugby in South Africa, and Natal had crowds of 35,000.  It reminded me of playing for say, Newcastle United.  The players were so revered and had all these sponsorship deals – they were just the football stars.  John Smit was the captain and all the players were massive names in South Africa, like the David Beckhams of today.  It was great to experience that.  They were certainly very professional, everything was catered for.  It was great to live in that environment.”

Compared to playing in front of barely 1,000 people in a team that is ceasing to exist, it is a bit of a comedown for Gregor in barely four seasons, and not really a fitting end to a glistening career.  But, he says, the reasons for the problems at home aren’t purely down to the lack of fans, finances and facilities.  The media, he reckons, are responsible for much of the blame.

“I feel very strongly about the way other sports are marginalised in Scotland by the dominance of football.  We used to have a programme on a Sunday night - Rugby Special - which doesn’t exist any more.  I listen to nothing but football on the radio, there is no rugby, and it is the second biggest sport.  It then affects the culture, because if you’re not watching it, or listening about it, you’re not talking about it.  All you talk about is the Six Nations because it’s on TV.

“I feel that the media have got a role to play, especially the media we pay for.  The BBC should be showing club rugby, not just the Six Nations.  I’ve had this argument with people from BBC and they say there’s not a market for it - but they create the market!  You can’t tell me that you want to hear about football for 2 hours every night, as what happens on BBC Scotland, you want to hear about other sports. 

“Rugby Special used to show amateur club rugby, and now we’ve got professional teams, it doesn’t even show professional or amateur!  And if they think there’s not a market for it, I’d maybe have bought that argument 10 years ago, but look around every country – rugby has taken off!”

If there is a man in Scotland who can help rugby take off in the same way that it has elsewhere, it is Gregor Townsend.  He has lit up the pitches of rugby venues around the world with his unique rugby repertoire.  Hopefully, in his retirement, he can ignite a few more individuals into taking action to save Scottish rugby, and perhaps create a few more ‘special memories’ for Scotland’s rugby stars of the future.

RO

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