By Andrew Logan
November 19th 2009 @ 2:02am
Related coverage
Gavin Hastings on rugby, fullbacks and the Wallabies
Sydney, June 19, 2004. Australian Wallabies captain George Gregan gets a pass away during the second Australia v Scotland test at Telstra Stadium. AAP Image/Dean Lewins
“Hang on a minute,” comes the raw Scottish brogue of Gavin Hastings as he stops speaking for a moment to chastise a tradesman in the background. And then faintly, “Can’t you see I’m on the phone? OK, well just wait a few minutes and I’ll get my toolbelt on”.
He’s then back on the phone. “Right … Andrew? Are you there? Sorry, I’m gettin’ Sky installed!”.
He may be one of the greatest fullbacks world rugby has ever seen, but it appears that even the rugby gods have to deal with the mundanities of everyday life, like getting cable put in so you can catch up with the latest rugby events around the globe.
Of course, there’ll be no urgency to have it done by this weekend at least, as Andrew Gavin Hastings (61 caps for Scotland; 6 for the British and Irish Lions; 10 for the Barbarians) will be front and centre for the festivities at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, his home ground where he thrilled crowds for a decade of Test rugby.
Strangely enough, although Hastings played for Scotland 11 times against New Zealand, he only managed to play twice against Australia in Scottish colours, although he toured Australia in 1989 with the victorious British and Irish Lions, and again with the Scots in 1992 (where he was injured).
He remembers Australia fondly, particularly for its approach to rugby.
“Playing New Zealand” he says now “was always like some sort of massive physical challenge. You really had to front up up-front and take them on that way if you were to have any chance”
“But playing Australia was different, you know.
“They always had so many talented backs – Lynagh, Campese, Horan, Little – all these guys who were just so fantastic with the ball in hand, that you just knew that you were up for a game of rugby. Against Australia, there was always the opportunity for an open game and it was very enjoyable rugby in that way”.
Of course, the Wallabies would have also known that they were up for a game, playing against a team with Hastings in it.
This is a man who was without doubt one of the outstanding rugby players of his generation.
As his Scotland and Lions coach Ian McGeechan once put it “Gavin is a big man in every sense of the word … his greatest asset was to engender confidence in those around him and to lead by example when the opposition had to be taken on.”
Hastings had some stellar moments in a stellar career, not the least of which was the Lions win in Australia in 1989. As well as that success, he has at various times been the all-time leading point scorer for Scotland, the British and Irish Lions, and the Rugby World Cup competition.
He was the the first player to captain a Scottish schoolboys side to win in England, and then played in only Scotland’s third ever Grand Slam win in 1990. In 1995 he scored a try to give Scotland its first win over France at Parc des Princes since 1969.
Twice he set the world record for most points in an international match, only to have the record broken both times on the same day.
It comes as no surprise then, to hear that Hastings craved opportunities to play against the great fullbacks, and regrets that he didn’t ever have a chance to face the Australian legend Roger Gould. “I always was disappointed that I missed Roger.
As a fullback, I felt I was playing very well for Scotland and I always wanted to play the best players, but it was quite rare that a fullback was the best player in the team during my time and the teams we played then. Serge Blanco was the obvious exception for France and I played Serge a number of times, he was a beautiful player.”
“But Roger was so dominant as a fullback and I used to love watching him. We often see each other in Hong Kong and he is just such a tremendous bloke too, so I’m sure we would have had a great time playing each other”.
Hastings is a great fan of the friendships that international rugby has to offer, but fears that in the modern era, they are going by the wayside.
“The 1989 tour was a great thrill and a wonderful experience, especially as a first Lions tour. The Lions hadn’t toured for quite some time, so to go to Australia was brilliant. They were those good old-fashioned days where you’d train hard…well, certainly harder than most other teams in those days anyway, and then have the afternoon off.”
“I remember some good times in Queensland where we were in Cairns and we slipped out to the Reef for the afternoon after training one time. We played some great golf courses. One afternoon in Perth we were taken sailing and ended up getting absolutely mullered on rum and cokes with all the sailing guys, which was a great bonding experience!”
“And you know, for me that’s where your team spirit and understanding is built. During those times where you share experiences and just spend time together in an unstructured environment with guys who are different to you. It’s those times where you learn to help each other and work together and its those times that give you a foundation to work together and back each other up on the field”.
“For me it’s a very sad thing that it’s so structured now. I mean, I’m sure guys get free time and so on, but it is so much more structured and controlled, and I’m sure they miss out on some of the great experiences and friendships that rugby touring has to offer”.
“I remember one great story, I think from the Wallabies 1984 tour where their liaison officer called Colin Deans to liven up the boys after a couple of weeks in all the rubbish places around the UK, and they were on their way to Pontypool the next week. It ended up that they were taken out late at night by some of Deans’ mates to go salmon poaching.
Half of them were wearing their Aussie tracksuits at the time! That sort of thing just doesn’t happen any more, and the game is poorer for it definitely”.
Although Hastings may appear to be a little gloomy about the changes wrought in rugby by professionalism, he is cautiously optimistic about the future for Scottish rugby.
“Andy Robinson is a great bloke and he’s done a super job with Edinburgh. He’s very, very focused and committed to getting Scotland playing at a high level. I think he feels that he has something to prove as a coach, given that he left England under a bit of a cloud and he is certainly working hard here in Scotland, like I say, he is a very committed guy with a real desire to take the Scotland team to another tier of competition.”
So Gavin, can Scotland beat the Wallabies? After all, they’ve been talking it up quite a bit this week.
“Oh look, if I’m really honest here, I have to say that I don’t expect them to win. We’re a good team with a lot of very good players, you know we have 9 or 10 really excellent players, but perhaps we don’t quite have that consistency of real quality that we need right across the board to threaten the top teams.
And that’s just being realistic. At 10 for instance, we’re just not as strong as we need to be.
If we had say, a Matt Giteau, we’d do well but Phil Godman just hasn’t quite reached that level yet. He’s a committed player who gives his all and he’s very, very good, but he’s not in the Carter or Giteau league yet and that’s what we need to win against the top teams in the world.”
“Of course, it’s also very difficult to win a one-off Test at home like this too when you haven’t been playing for a while. I always used to think that if we were playing New Zealand or Australia we had a better chance of beating them at home when we were on tour. When you were on tour, you were there to do a job and you were mentally and physically prepared to take them on”.
In the background, the whine of an electric drill and the rattle of tools has Hastings distracted.
“Och, I better go and get this sorted out” he says, and then, referring to a chance meeting we had at the 2008 offshore Bledisloe. “Are you going up to Hong Kong next year? I’ll probably see you up there somewhere.”
Maybe, I say, but I’m sure you’ll be pretty flat out with the old official functions.
“Oh no, don’t worry about that” he laughs, “there’ll always be time for a drink.”
(PS … Andrew Logan tips Australia by 19)
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PastHisBest said | November 19th 2009 @ 6:30am | Report comment
Nice article Andrew. I always saw Hastings as a very solid player without being spectacular, ala Balnco. He played for a season for Auckland in the NPC and was good without being great. Seems to be a terrific bloke though from all that I’ve read and heard.
Andrew Logan said | November 19th 2009 @ 7:38am | Report comment
Apropos of nothing…..I have a feeling that Hastings played for Auckland University during a gap year. Did he also play for the full Auckland side?
PastHisBest said | November 19th 2009 @ 7:50am | Report comment
He did. I seem to remember he was competing against another fullback for the position…Howarth?, and didn’t play every game.
SteveDarke said | November 19th 2009 @ 6:40am | Report comment
I didn’t mind Gavin, but gee this is a big call “This is a man who was without doubt one of the outstanding rugby players of his generation.”
I mean, really? I’d like some of whatever you’re smoking.
Andrew Logan said | November 19th 2009 @ 7:11am | Report comment
I think it pays to remember that many of the great players, particularly Scottish ones, have been somewhat hamstrung by the teams around them. Just because they weren’t part of a world-beating team, doesn’t mean they didn’t have a huge influence on matches. Note Steve too, that I didn’t say “the best” or “of all time”, I said “one of the best” and “of his generation”.
It pays to remember that Hastings won a Lions tour in Australia in 1989 and then captained the Lions to New Zealand in 1993. On this tour, a hamstring injury put his participation in the second test in jeopardy, but coach Ian McGeechan insisted he play “no matter what”. McGeechan reckoned that even if Gavin only lasted a minute, his presence would have a powerful psychological effect on the other players. Hastings lasted the whole game and the Lions won 20-7.
If you asked most people who was the outstanding player from Scotland between 1985 and 1995, I’d be amazed if you got an answer other than Gavin Hastings. If you asked who were the best fullbacks in the world during the same generation, you’d most likely get Hastings and Blanco.
So…”one of the outstanding players of his generation”? I’m happy with it.
Knives Out said | November 19th 2009 @ 7:23am | Report comment
‘If you asked most people who was the outstanding player from Scotland between 1985 and 1995′
That’s a huge call, Andrew: Gary Armstrong, Finlay Calder, Colin Deans, John Jeffrey, Roy Laidlaw, Iain Milne, Iain Paxton, John Rutherford, David Sole, Derek White..
Andrew Logan said | November 19th 2009 @ 7:29am | Report comment
All great players….and I might remind you that I know what I’m talking about as I once had a dog called Finlay after the great Scotland and Lions captain. I’ll stick with Hastings, but this is an opinion site after all, so if you think it’s someone else, then I respect your right to a different view!
For the record, if it wasn’t Hastings, it would (in my book at least) be Calder or Jeffrey. Probably Jeffrey shades Calder since Calder started his Test career quite late.
Knives Out said | November 19th 2009 @ 7:50am | Report comment
I suppose the key to the debate is how you define value, Andrew. Iain Milne was incredibly highly rated by apparently everyone… even Topo Rodriguez himself. However, does the fact that Milne was never in the limelight mean his contribution to Scottish rugby is often overlooked? Perhaps.
From a personal perspective I’d have to pick a forward given that the lightweight nature of Scottish rugby meant that the pack often had to try and play the game from a different perspective: hence the way that Sole and Deans redefined the nature of propping and hooking, and the vicious rucking of the back five. And we all know that no ball means no rugby.
Interestingly, due to the myth of the great stoic Scotsman people tend to forget that Hastings was actually quite error prone. Anyway, whilst we’re talking about error-prone backs I recall reading how various NZ newspapers had taken out full page blocks advertising Andy Irvine during his last few games in the country and how it was the last chance of the general public to see a living legend. Praise indeed.
Andrew Logan said | November 19th 2009 @ 7:57am | Report comment
Knives – you beat me to it! I was just about to say that it depended on how we defined “outstanding”. Certainly he scored a lot of points for Scotland and the opposition and his coaches rated his influence on the game to be significant.
However, would he have been able to do the job without Sole, Deans, Milne up front? Probably not. Are they underrated? Probably.
Does this mean Hastings wasn’t one of the greats in his generation? Ummmm…..waiter? More wine please…..this could take some time……
ohtani's jacket said | November 19th 2009 @ 12:09pm | Report comment
Gavin Hastings was one of the best fullbacks of his generation, but I always get a kick out of Will Carling’s impersonations of him
pothale said | November 19th 2009 @ 7:32am | Report comment
I’m with Andrew – I’d rate Hastings as one of the best of his generation. Scott was pretty handy too.
Justin said | November 19th 2009 @ 7:39am | Report comment
Good article. Was it GH who missed a sitter that would have put Scotland into the RWC Final in 91?
Andrew Logan said | November 19th 2009 @ 7:53am | Report comment
Yes indeed. He has said that that was the one moment that he would change if he could go back through his career.
It was 9-6 and Hastings missed a shot from 20 metres in line with the right post, or just outside it.
You can see the horrible moment here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCHMLnC2FeA
Knives Out said | November 19th 2009 @ 7:55am | Report comment
Apparently one of the only times that Rory Underwood uttered a curse.
BennO said | November 19th 2009 @ 9:11am | Report comment
oh that’s horrible. I had forgotten that. Imagine how sweet that would have been for the scots to get into the final over the poms.
AndyS said | November 19th 2009 @ 5:37pm | Report comment
Yeah, cheers for that! I had just about managed to forget about that after 18 years, now I have to start over…
mcxd said | November 19th 2009 @ 10:28pm | Report comment
whoa.. i wouldnt blame him for waking up in the middle of the night with sweats for the rest of his life over that kick. Another thing see how many were at that game ? The hill at the end looked like the spectators pockets had spectators.
Clarky said | November 19th 2009 @ 7:45am | Report comment
Great article Andrew, and a top bloke is Gavin Hastings. I met him at the 2003 World Cup quarter final at Suncorp. Scotland v Australia. Hastings was a few rows in front and responded well to the well lubricated gibes from behind, and called me down for a half time drink and chat. At the end of the game we stumbled out of the stands and Gavin turns and waves farewell as he had to head to a live cross on the BBC!
Top bloke, and as for one of the best of his generation, yes, without a doubt. He was a fabulous contributor to both Scotland and the Lions.
Robbie said | November 19th 2009 @ 8:01am | Report comment
Yeah with you Loges…..When I was wee boy in the Burn after watching the 5 nations replays on the ABC late on a Saturday arvo would go out into the backyard and kick the footy around with my dog who was called Suzie and pretend to be Johnny Rutherford…who was my favourite player….sorry as I would comentate in a Bill Mclaren accent…Joooohhhnnny Rutherford…..
Good times
PS: Suzie was able to pick my footy up by a loose lace she had a great step !!!!
Robbie
Andrew Logan said | November 19th 2009 @ 8:17am | Report comment
The wee boy from the Burn! My favourite Bill McLaren description was “Jean-Pierre Garuet…the 32 year old potato farmer from Nice…”, closely followed by “Finlay Calder….the 28 year old grain merchant from Edinburgh”.
Try saying it in a Scottish accent. Wonderful.
stuff happens said | November 19th 2009 @ 12:06pm | Report comment
Lovely article about Gavin Hastings Andrew and Bill Mclaren too!
“There’s a lot of hanky panky going on in that scrum I can tell you.”
Knives Out said | November 19th 2009 @ 8:03am | Report comment
‘Knives – you beat me to it! I was just about to say that it depended on how we defined “outstanding”. Certainly he scored a lot of points for Scotland and the opposition and his coaches rated his influence on the game to be significant.
However, would he have been able to do the job without Sole, Deans, Milne up front? Probably not. Are they underrated? Probably.
Does this mean Hastings wasn’t one of the greats in his generation? Ummmm…..waiter? More wine please…..this could take some time……’
The great and self-perpetuating rugby debate – what comes first, the chicken or the egg? Regardless, a legendary player. Scotland had some fine players in that era. An anecdote that always brings a smile to my face is a story that Brian Moore is fond of telling: during the 1989 Lions tour Moore and another English player turned up to training early and found two Scots plodding about with a ball. Moore assumed that the four would simply wait for the other players to arrive or do a gentle jog round the grass. The Scots had other ideas and insisted that the four of them play two-a-side touch rugby. It takes a lot to silence a man like Moore but he said he was lef speechless by their sheer will to win and competitiveness.
Andrew Logan said | November 19th 2009 @ 8:13am | Report comment
There is a great article which appeared in the Scotsman in the last few days about the Wallabies going salmon poaching. A great read…. http://sport.scotsman.com/sport/-Tom-English-One-that.5825504.jp
countryboy said | November 19th 2009 @ 8:22am | Report comment
Without trying too hard, the memories I have of Hastings generally involve him fumbling a high ball, plus a bit of nice straight running (and of course that missed goal kick).
I think Andre Joubert was a better fullback than Hastings.
Spiro Zavos said | November 19th 2009 @ 9:21am | Report comment
Niice article Andrew. What you captured was the fellowship of rugby. With my Catholic upbringing, I like to think of the rugby community rather like the Catholic idea of a community of saints, with those who played and loved the game in the past being bonded in a special way with those of us living now and with those who will come after us. This is why players like Gavin Hastings, with his rolling, lumbering running style and huge punting, will always be fondly remembered.
The call for a 19-point victory is a big one, Andrew. Let’s hope you are right. So far in Britain the Wallabies have played two good Tests in a row. Can they break recent precedent and play three strong Tests? If they do they should be alright.
The only worry is whether the same side can get itself up three times, and whether Scotland have some dirty tricks up their sleeve.
They’ve played the Wallabies on a deliberately narrow field in the recent past and had officials near the touchlines interfering with Scottish kicksw into touch to stop a quick throw-in. Are there more tricks ready to be exposed?
Andrew Logan said | November 19th 2009 @ 10:55am | Report comment
Spiro…the 19 point call is a big one but I have felt strongly since the Ireland game that Australia would be very angry about losing that match, and that it could well have been the tipping point that leads them to draw a line in the sand. My gut feel is that they are ready to make a big statement by putting someone to the sword, and Scotland could be the unfortunate team that bears the brunt of this changed attitude.
My assumption was reinforced by a conversation I had this morning with Mark Cashman (Editor of Inside Rugby magazine), whose son Sam is on the Wallabies support staff. I told Casho my theory and he said “Funny you say that – Sam said that the Wallaby bus en route to training yesterday was a totally different feel….the boys were pretty angry and very focused on the job, and it was a different atmosphere to anything which has been present up to this point in the Deans era”.
Also with Gavin Hastings pretty much writing off the Scotland flyhalf (and bearing in mind that Godman is the flyhalf at Edinburgh where Hastings is Chairman so he should know him well) I don’t think we can expect an expansive game from the Scots and the Australian backline with ball in hand has the potential to carve them up.
19 points is 3 tries with 2 converted. If the Scots don’t have a flyhalf who can set their backs away, it’s not unrealistic to think that they mightn’t score a try at all.
That’s my logic anyway! We’ll see….
fox said | November 19th 2009 @ 1:45pm | Report comment
The tipping point that has been so long in coming? I am hopeful but will not be holding my breath. If we can’t put Scotland to the sword (especially considering how well the side is playing – ex lineout), then who?
I am looking at 12 points myself, but a blowout of 20 or so would be most welcome!
Knives Out said | November 19th 2009 @ 9:10pm | Report comment
‘They’ve played the Wallabies on a deliberately narrow field in the recent past and had officials near the touchlines interfering with Scottish kicksw into touch to stop a quick throw-in. Are there more tricks ready to be exposed?’
A very nice article. Shame about this. As far as I recall the man who insisted that Scotland play on a narrow field was … Australian.
Viscount Crouchback said | November 19th 2009 @ 9:19pm | Report comment
Yes, but the Scotch do tend to go a bit overboard, Knives. Fixtures against England at Murrayfield usually resemble scenes from Braveheart. I think the English chaps in 2008 were unsure whether they were expected to play a rugby match or re-create the Battle of Bannockburn.
Still, it’s nice to see Spiro continuing his obsessive hunt for examples of northern nefariousness. I daresay the Welsh will give him something to frown about next week.
Knives Out said | November 19th 2009 @ 9:46pm | Report comment
‘Still, it’s nice to see Spiro continuing his obsessive hunt for examples of northern nefariousness. I daresay the Welsh will give him something to frown about next week.’
You may be on to something there.
On a side note, I can’t help but think that Andy Robinson has made a rather large error by jumping on board the Flying Scotsman. I rather fancy Australia to absolutely blitzkrieg them.
Viscount Crouchback said | November 19th 2009 @ 10:04pm | Report comment
I’m not sure. I think Robinson is quite well-suited to an average bunch of players whom he can get in amongst on the coaching field and seek to improve. Robinson’s problem was always that he saw the small details perfectly, but had only a muddled notion of the bigger picture.
Worryingly, I detect the same trait in Martin Johnson.
Knives Out said | November 19th 2009 @ 10:11pm | Report comment
That’s probably a fair assessment, as it may well prove to be with Johnson. I see Robinson either as a national forwards coach or a club coach. The big job surely isn’t for him, and any amount of beady eyed growling isn’t going to change that. He may well get the best out of Scotland or he may find that getting the best out of such mediocre players is an infinitely harder job than getting the best out of Sheridan, Thompson, Grewcock, Corry and Tindall. As a neutral observer I would like to see Scotland win but I can’t look beyond a drubbing. Will Robinson professionalise and galvanise Scotland into an organised unit, or will he narrow their vision even further and crumble as he did with England? It shall be interesting to see how this scenario plays out.
PastHisBest said | November 19th 2009 @ 9:22am | Report comment
Maybe in Andre’s dreams…
sheek said | November 19th 2009 @ 9:23am | Report comment
Very nice read Andrew….. as per usual!
And the story from the link was just superb, & quite funny!
Frank O'Keeffe said | November 19th 2009 @ 10:01am | Report comment
I loved this read.
In particular it’s nice that Gavin remembers Roger Gould. Roger was the great ‘DEFENSIVE’ fullback of the 80s. I’ve seen one game where Roger touched the ball down in the in-goal area, took the drop-out, and the ball ended up 10m into touch from the opposition try-line. Alan Jones was right, he was just a freak. It was often useless trying up and unders against him because he was so safe. A player had to be so accurate to put him under any kind of pressure. Of course if he called the mark the opposition got the ball back with interest. He is the best punt-kicker of a football I have seen. Kicking was just useless, but he was also big and huge and could tackle. I suppose if he had one weakness (nitpicking here) it was a lack of speed off the mark. Rory Underwood’s try for the Babaas in 1984 is perhaps evidence of this. Also underrated was his attacking ability.
It’s kind of sad there aren’t more people who remember him as one of the Wallaby greats overseas. Therefore it’s nice to see Gavin Hastings mention him as one of the greats and talk about him in the same sentence as Serge Blanco.
I also enjoyed Hastings opinion of playing Australia as compared to New Zealand. Mark Ella used to say playing New Zealand was the hardest thing in rugby, but you had to focus harder against France. His feeling was that when the French were switched on, they were ON. He felt you had to watch out for their unpredictability more than New Zealand. I thought it was an interesting analysis. I enjoyed Hastings saying New Zealand were a physical challenge, and Australia were a different beast. Very interesting analysis.
Lindommer said | November 19th 2009 @ 10:27pm | Report comment
Gould, best Australian fullback I ever saw, a nose in front of Matt Burke.
Robbie said | November 19th 2009 @ 11:08am | Report comment
I am with you on that Loges…I was in Brissie when they clicked and they are due….the only thing that disturbs me is that the Scots have this ability to make Aus teams play at their level….don’t know why they just do
Andrew Logan said | November 19th 2009 @ 1:12pm | Report comment
Robertolini….you are so right. I remember us playing Scotland a few years ago when we weren’t too bad generally, but we put in a complete shocker at Murrayfield. It made no sense except for your point above.
JimC said | November 19th 2009 @ 3:40pm | Report comment
Roger Gould was brilliant at offloading in the tackle. Watched some you tube highlights of the 4 GS tests in 1984 and he was a great player alright.
Jack said | November 19th 2009 @ 8:06pm | Report comment
Wallabies should win this one in a canter. Scots for years now have never had a backline, just the odd reasonable player, but no backline, that’s why, every season, them and the Italians (who also don’t have a backline) fight over the wooden spoon in the 6 nations. They have the odd win, however they find it difficult to score tries and really their only consistent scource of points has been from their radar-like kicker, Patterson, whom a succession of Scotland coaches have fitted-in at fullback/wing/flyhalf/almost anywhere in the backline. Patterson is not selected to run on for this test, he is on the bench.
Re; a Scottish rugby legend, Andy Irvine, every time, the man was a star, a wonderful fullback and player.
Flower of Scotland said | November 19th 2009 @ 9:48pm | Report comment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA6cnXFiE6I&NR=1 Flower of Scotland vs England in 1990. Amazing !!
mcxd said | November 19th 2009 @ 10:22pm | Report comment
Andrew, once again another good read. Always something a bit different than the usual.
The score may well depend on how the skies are. Forecast at the moment for Sat is 10 degs with Heavy Rain ! Dont know if the backs will like this much (or spectators like me who will be at the game ….dammit.)
Dingbat said | November 20th 2009 @ 12:58am | Report comment
So what’s the take on Paddy O sucking up to his fellow countryman Graham Henry? A tight little NZ hugfest, or justifiable? Paddy O must surely be sanctioned by the IRB for publicly humiliating Dickenson?
Muzza said | November 20th 2009 @ 1:07pm | Report comment
Loges,
Good article. I agree, AG Hastings wasd an outstanding player for Scotland and the Lions and the best Scottish player of his generation.
It is great to see he is still heavily involved with the game, being the Golen Oldies ambassador last year for the World wide tournament in Scotland and as you mentioned, Chairman of Edinburugh Rugby and still attends Honkers.
Was he the same AG Hastings that ran around, over and through you at Hong Kong all those years ago?
Andrew Logan said | November 20th 2009 @ 4:20pm | Report comment
Yes Muzza…..in 1997 I played for the Sydney Schooners in the Plate final at Hong Kong against the UBS Quality Street Selection. Included in the UBS side were Hastings, Bill Calcraft (1984 Grand Slam Wallaby) and England backrower Peter Winterbottom, among others.
Unfortunately due to injury I was sent from my nice cosy possie in the backrow, to the wide open spaces in the centres, marking one AG Hastings.
It was a bittersweet afternoon to put it mildly. A wonderful experience playing against a player of such calibre, but no fun trying to put a hit on the great man. He did indeed run around me, over me, through me, and probably under me at some point, although I did get one shot on him whcih caused him to stumble a little. That was the high point!
Thanks for reminding me.