Colin Deans

Published on Thursday 2 May 2002 01:00

Deans was a hooker with such a turn of pace that he effectively acted as a fourth back-row forward in open-play. An extremely accurate thrower at the line-out, he was an accomplished technical player in an era when the hooker’s art was under threat from rule changes and the onset of the ‘eight man shove’.

However, like other great players he was both particularly adept in his specialist role while also possessing the fitness and speed necessary to play modern fifteen-man rugby – exemplified by his superb performance in Scotland’s famous win over Wales in Cardiff in 1982.

Deans won 52 caps - including every game in the 1984 Grand Slam season and all Scotland’s matches in the inaugural World Cup in 1987 - a record for a Scottish hooker. He was also a British Lion, although by common consent one of the most unlucky. The Lions’ selectors made the surprisingly common mistake of picking a captain who is not necessarily the first choice in his position. Deans was widely regarded as the best hooker on the 1983 Tour of New Zealand but had to defer to skipper Ciaran Fitzgerald for the Test berth. This misfortune was further compounded when the proposed 1986 Tour of South Africa, in which Deans had again been selected, was called off for political reasons.

This ‘prince among hookers’ will be remembered as for his lightning breaks in the loose and his constant harrying of opposition defences – probably the best attacking hooker Scotland has ever produced.