Gavin Hastings on rugby, fullbacks and the Wallabies

 
Andrew Logan Columnist

By , 19 Nov 2009 Andrew Logan is a Roar Expert

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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

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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