Interview: Jim Renwick, former Scotland international

AS SCOTLAND prepare to enter the 13th Six Nations and 112th international championship, Jim Renwick casts his mind back 40 years to when it all began for a diminutive Hawick teenager.

And he sees similarities to now. Renwick will turn 60 a week tomorrow, but he can still recall in his mind’s eye the small and evasive player that the Scotland selectors took a chance on in 1972. Followed that year by Andy Irvine and Ian McGeechan, he was part of a push by Scotland selectors to uncover a more lethal attack, with a turn to young lads who loved to run, were prone to errors and naivety, but who brought something different to energise the Scottish attack.

With typical candour, Renwick recalls: “I didn’t understand the game then. I went in against France at Murrayfield and played the game on my wits, and I suppose relied on natural ability. [He scored one of the team’s three tries, all from backs, in a 20-9 win].

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“Jock Turner and Chris Rea both packed in at the end of 1971 and that left a hole in the centre, and it was a brave selection to call me in. I felt I was lucky, but at that age I felt I was ready for anything. I’d had a good trial and made some mistakes, but I was looked after by Framey [fellow centre John Frame]. Kicking and catching wasn’t a problem, but tackling was a different thing.

“The selector Iain Laughland said ‘you’ve played well for Hawick and for the South so it’s time’. Although I didn’t know much about what was going on, they were looking for more attacking threat and boys like me and Andy and Ian McGeechan were picked for the flair we had, which I think did help bring more tries to the team.”

The facts support that belief, with Scotland scoring 42 tries throughout the 1960s but 62 from 1970-79, and, staggeringly, another 40 in the four years before Renwick retired in 1984.

Comparisons between eras are invidious, but one thing is certain – Scotland are again lagging behind the rest of the other sides in the championship in the try-scoring stakes.

Italy have scored more tries in the first 11 years of the Six Nations, with 73 to Scotland’s 70. England are out in front with 188 five-pointers since 2000, France next on 161, then Ireland with 154 and Wales on 123. It says a lot for Scotland’s defence and Chris Paterson’s kicking, largely, that Scotland have in those years finished third, fourth and fifth, and only twice bottom.

There’s no doubt that rugby has changed almost beyond recognition between 1972 and the present day. Renwick has concerns with the evolution of the game, and wishes he saw more of the kind of swivel-hipped, evasive running that he enjoyed delivering, but it would be wide of the mark to assert that the retired grandfather had fallen out of love with rugby.

Just below the surface there remains the crackling passion fuelled through five decades in Hawick – much of the other was spent ‘in exile’ living and working in Galashiels.

He has enjoyed witnessing the emergence of David Denton and Lee Jones, and becomes quite animated, for Renwick, at the prospect of another Hawick lad in Stuart Hogg making his Scotland debut at the age of 19. Hogg has missed out on the 22 for tonight’s Calcutta Cup match, but his versatility, and rare ability, has him very much in the coaches’ thoughts for a Test debut at some point this year. Renwick was asked by the Winning Scotland Foundation to mentor him two years ago, and so the pair have developed a bond.

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“He’s playing for the ‘A’ team [against England Saxons last night] and hopefully he’ll come through that well, and push his case,” says Renwick.

“He needs opportunities. This thing that if you get in too quick it sickens you is rubbish. If they don’t understand the game, as I didn’t at 19, then that’s just about experience. These boys now study it professionally, day after day, but too many spend too much time on their backsides, watching games, rather than learning from playing.

“Forwards might be different and need rests with the pounding their bodies take these days, but backs learn from playing, from making mistakes and trying things under match pressure. I think it was easier when I played. You couldn’t get hooked if you made a few mistakes because there were no subs unless you were injured, so you were allowed to play for 80 minutes and learn.

“Stuart has plenty time, but I’d love to see him get a run with Scotland this year. The coaches are working with him and they know what’s best, and maybe throwing him in for a debut in the Calcutta Cup wasn’t the best option. But the boy has natural talent. His pace and his vision is good and he can play at full-back, centre or stand-off because he’s a good passer, kicker and can beat a man.

“I like the look of the centre Matt Scott as well at Edinburgh; he is a good player. That’s what’s encouraging for me and as these boys get their chances our attack will open up again.”

Andy Robinson, the Scotland coach, is similarly excited and is hoping Denton and Jones step up to the mark as the latest of the new generation of promise. However, one suspects he carries heavily the memory of English starlet Mathew Tait, who he handed a debut just days before his 19th birthday in 2005. Gavin Henson flattened him, Robinson was ridiculed and Tait had to dig deep to get his career back on track.

“The coaches know best,” says Renwick, working hard to convince. “Sticking with Dan Parks and Sean Lamont it’s obvious where the attack is going to come. I’m not being negative.

“Parks is a super kicker, world-class, and he will take the game to England there, and use Lamont on the dunt, and if that gets us into the game they will keep going.

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“But if it doesn’t will they bring on [Greig] Laidlaw and [Mike] Blair? I’d like to think they might. I have watched Laidlaw at Edinburgh, and I think I would have picked him to start, and if it wasn’t going right I’d have brought Parks off the bench.

“I just feel that Greig gives you more options than Parks, but now I’ve said that Dan will probably score three tries and kick the match-winning drop-goal. I hope he does!” And then he pulls a face, and there is a feeling that he is trying to convince himself.

“I’m just an old man now; no-one wants to hear an old man going on about things. I’m from a different age.”

I nod, say nothing, and he continues.

“Mind, it is funny how we’re talking about the attack eh, and 40 years ago we were saying the same thing.”

The thing about Renwick is that he is not an old man, not in mind nor body – although the Hearts and Heroes’ Challenge over 29 miles put that to the test last year. If 50 is the new 40, then 60 must be the new 50. Renwick’s mind is as sharp and incisive on modern rugby as were his feet on the pitch, which is why we are here, seeking his views.

“Alright, what I think is that we need to be looking for players who can do different things in attack.

“I watched Edinburgh-Glasgow games and I’ve been impressed by some of what I’ve seen, but at other times I’m asking myself ‘are we really attacking each other or just recycling the ball?’ You need boys who really attack.

“Harry Whitaker [Hawick and Workington rugby league legend] used to say to me some guys would get the ball and hit the gain-line, and they are the boys you support, while the ones that go to the deck you don’t.

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“Lamont is a big player for us and he has to use his brain, not tuck the ball under the arm every time, but when he does go boys have to support him.

“Look at Wales. When they attack they really go. It’s a bit like gambling; some boys will gamble, some boys will never gamble.

“When you think you have an advantage, maybe see a prop, have a go; trust yourself. It’s not as big a gamble if everyone in the team knows you’re going to do it.

“Playing with [Andy] Irvine you knew he would go and so you’re supporting him; it’s automatic.

“If Lamont is going, then read that and get to the off-load to keep the attack going, and finish.”

Warming to the theme, Renwick continues: “With Edinburgh and Glasgow, they are improving, and trying to play a bit more.

“Big Denton carries ball differently, and so does Richie Gray, but we need [Allan] Jacobsen, [Jim] Hamilton and [Alasdair] Strokosch to keep it alive when they break with the ball too.

“Some ball-carriers can pass out of the tackle and use it better than others, but to get our game going forward all of them have to be looking to do that.”

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Renwick possesses a rare record for a Scot in the Calcutta Cup of four wins, two draws and three defeats, but he will not be at Murrayfield tonight, having agreed to speak at a rugby lunch at Goldenacre, the home club of his fellow daring attacker and long-time friend, Irvine. But he is heading to Cardiff next week and has his tickets for the French game at the end of the month.

“Sometimes it’s easier to see on the telly,” he said, laughing. “My eyes are fine, but you’re a long way back in that West Stand.

“But it’s what the boys see on the field that I’m interested in this weekend. I’m hoping they’re seeing gaps.”

He concluded: “This is the best chance we’ve had of beating England for a long time, and, first game in, maybe that’s why the coaches have gone for experience and what they know, against an inexperienced English side.

“But this is a good game to start with because one thing we’ll do is get stuck in and, just like every era in Scottish rugby, I’m sure Andy [Robinson] and the boys will take any kind of win against England.”