Interview: Craig Chalmers, Scottish rugby

Published on Friday 18 December 2009 23:25

HE SPEAKS with the same passion that once coursed through each muscle as a player, and obviously retains the deep love of rugby that marked him out as a stand-off of world stature when he first pulled on the navy blue jersey of Scotland 20 years ago.

That may be why Craig Chalmers has taken to the challenge of developing players in the great problem position of Scottish rugby – the guiding, controlling stand-off role he once grasped with a conviction that left no-one in any doubt about the Borderer's self-belief. It is a fair task, one to compare perhaps with following his football team Rangers as they struggle to convince that they have a future among the European elite, or his close friend and former team-mate Bryan Redpath, who faces a harrowing end to 2009 if Gloucester lose to Glasgow in the Heineken Cup tomorrow.

"Pressure," says Chalmers, "is what drives us. I had a few drinks with 'Basil' (Redpath] after Friday night's game and he's going through a tough time, but he knows what he wants and he'll come through it and next year you'll see Gloucester rising. But I'd like his pressure. I'd like to be in that environment and I hope I get the opportunity in the future. I'm delighted to have been given the chance to work with the under-20s and it's quite exciting seeing the young players, particularly the stand-offs, just starting out, looking to make their mark.

"But even at Melrose, I look forward to every Saturday the way I did as a player; a chance to build on a good win or to get out there and start putting things right again after you'd lost. I would go to sleep thinking about it and wake up thinking about it, and I can't wait for this Saturday either. Only now it comes with the frustration of knowing you can't actually do much to change a game yourself; as a coach you rely on players, and players can be bloody frustrating."

He finishes that sentence with a laugh that underlines the reality of coaching and also the warmth he feels, if not always shows, towards the current generation of players at Melrose.

At 41, Chalmers is showing no sign of taking the foot off the accelerator, which has to be good for Scottish rugby as he posses rare insight to the demands of the various tiers of the game.

He has a sympathy for Dan Parks, for instance, that stems from knowing he was given a more comfortable welcome to the Test arena through having many experienced and world-class players around him for those early steps. He believes the Glasgow pivot should be in Scotland's Six Nations squad, despite believing he has not convinced as an internationalist.

"Stand-off has been a huge problem for us since Gregor (Townsend] stopped playing," he said. "Dan is not everyone's cup of tea mainly because he has not really done it at international level; he's never really got the back line moving.

"He is a better player at pro team level, but it is a difficult step-up and it helps who you step up with. When I first got into the Scotland team I had a lot of experienced players around me – Gary Armstrong, who I played a lot with, at the South, Finlay Calder, JJ, Scott and Gavin Hastings.

"I was never out there on my own the way you sometimes feel a Scotland stand-off has been in the last few years. It's difficult. You always want a ten that can mix it up, who can make a break, get his line moving and kick well.

"There is probably more kicking right now than when I played, though that says much about the ambition of the coaches in my view.

"Scotland want to play a fast, open game, and Andy (Robinson] and Gregor are keen to develop that, rightly, but even then, at international level they know that you still need a stand-off who can vary it; knows when to run and when to kick.

"Dan can be world class in how he controls a game with his kicking and though he struggles to get the line moving the way Andy wants it to right now, which is why he hasn't been involved, Phil Godman is not getting it right either. Phil is also a good player, a different player, but he struggles with his length of kick and being able to control a game with his kick. He is neat and tidy, can get a back line moving, but at international level you need more than that.

"International rugby is all about winning games and Dan has shown he can do that at Glasgow, so you can't cut him out. Ruaridh Jackson is coming back and he's a good player, but he has still to prove himself – not just play, but play well and consistently, and show he has the kick, the pass, the tackle skills, and, importantly, the authority to boss a game."

It is interesting listening to Chalmers comparing the eras, from when he first played for Scotland in 1989 and now, 20 years on, before he laughs again and says the game is too different for comparisons to hold real value. He does not say it, but he knows he had an authority and desire to succeed that was innate – his younger sister Paula, a Scotland rugby and hockey internationalist had it too, and his late father Brian superbly nurtured it.

He has been unpopular with some at the Scottish Rugby Union for outspoken views, but having undertaken his coaching certificates is now part of the Murrayfield drive for improvement. He is working closely with Eamon John and Peter Wright to prepare the under-20s for a Six Nations tournament and World Championship in Argentina in June – when Scotland are also in South America to face the Pumas – and raves about the quality of young fly-halves now pushing for selection.

He rattles off the names of Rory Hutton, Matt Scott, Alex Blair, Ross Aitken and Duncan Weir and says that close scrutiny has only enhanced his opinion that they are talents with the ability to play for Scotland. None are ready for full internationals yet – they have still to land full-time pro team contracts – but he insisted: "One of them should have been given the chance to play for Scotland 'A' last month. Playing Hugo Southwell there against Tonga was crazy and made no sense to me. Chris Paterson will play stand-off for Scotland before him, so I'd have played one of the young guys. The stand-off position has been a huge problem for too long, and we now have to give the youngsters the opportunity. "I have a responsibility at under-20 level to help the lads make it, and it's something I take as seriously as I did playing the game. I have to help these young guys understand the game, understand why they are doing this or that, and how to control the game, but they also need the exposure of games if they are to learn and develop the way we need them to."

The SRU has brought in New Zealander Graham Lowe as a new director of performance rugby, in an effort to bring outside eyes to Scottish rugby's development system, and Chalmers welcomes his appointment.

With quality scrum-halves, wings, centres, props and back rows flying off the Murrayfield production line, the lack of stand-offs may prove to have been a cyclical thing, and Chalmers also ponders a reluctance in young players to want to take on rugby's main playmaker role.

"There have been more players not wanting to play stand-off," he said. "There is a lot of responsibility and you're either the good guy or bad guy, never in between; the main man or the man to blame. That goes with the territory and you have to be tough enough to cope with that. I benefited from coming through tough league games every week and South matches from 18, 19 on, and learning from senior guys."

The fact that many young talents are now plucked from the club game to be hot-housed is an ongoing argument, but talk of Chalmers' past leads us finally to the other hat he has just picked up for the future, that of coach of the South of Scotland. The team, a select of the best club players in the Borders, had its first training session this week and will revive the South tradition of red-and-white hoops, and club socks, with a match against Northumberland at Mansfield Park on Tuesday, 30 December.

"It had to come back and there was no way I was going to turn down the chance to coach the team – it is a huge honour," he said. "It's tough now with so much rugby in the calendar. A lot of our boys were training with the Scotland Club International squad on Monday, had our training on Wednesday, and their club sessions on Tuesday and Thursday, but I've been impressed by their skills and I just want them to enjoy playing for the South the way I did.

"Rugby is still a tradition here. You go to Hawick, Gala, Kelso, Jed and people are passionate about their club. I got pelters when I played there and I get it now as a coach, but I like that. I like the parochialism of it and there will be a great atmosphere at our games with Selkirk and Gala this week and next. Without that you don't have the hunger and drive, that edge that Border players are renowned for and successful rugby teams have.

"Ayr and Currie have developed similar community clubs to Borders towns, and I don't think it's a coincidence that they are leading club rugby right now. It's great to see players emerging from new clubs, and clubs growing stronger in new places, and their success just underlines for me the fact that Scotland remains a proud rugby country."

Warming to his theme, Chalmers stands, the passion vivid again.

"We are a small country, with high expectations, sometimes too high," Chalmers concluded, "but we still produce real talent. Our rugby and our football will come back. I'm looking forward to the Six Nations – I like what Andy, Gregor and Graham Steadman are doing – though not as much as I'm looking forward to Saturday and Melrose winning, naturally."