Gregor Townsend to climb Japanese Alps in tribute to former team-mate hailed 'one of the best to play for Scotland'

Scotland coach Gregor Townsend is to climb the Japanese Alps to raise funds for a colon cancer charity and pay tribute to Tom Smith.

Smith, who played alongside Townsend for Northampton, Brive, Scotland and the British and Irish Lions, died in April 2022 from colon cancer. He was only 50.

Later this month, Townsend, joined by his wife, Claire, Tom’s widow Zoe, and 11 other amateur trekkers, will set out to scale four peaks in four days on the Ginza Ridge in the northern Japanese Alps.

Gregor Townsend and Zoe Smith, widow of former Scotland international Tom Smith.

The challenge is the idea of colon cancer charity 40tude, of which Tom was patron and aims to raise £100,000 to establish the “Tom Smith Screening Fund”, which will pay for colon cancer screening for younger people. By 2030, it is expected that colon cancer will be the leading cause of cancer-related death in men and women under 50 globally.

Townsend said: “Tom was one of the best players to ever play for Scotland. To play in the professional era and be so consistent both at club level but, in particular, when he got to play for Scotland and the Lions, made him special.

“He was often one of the best players, if not the best player, on the field.

“He was unusual for a prop in that he had the strength to cope and thrive in the scrums, but also was one of the most skilful players. Any player who played six Tests in a row at Lions level has to be special.”

Townsend and his wife have been walking in the Eildon Hills near their Borders home as preparation for the trip and he has also done a charity climb in the Atlas mountains in Morrocco in the recent past.

“This will be tougher,” he said. “It will certainly challenge the fitness and it’s a day more and a higher range than in the Atlas mountains. When you get to such a high altitude, you get extremes of hot and cold, but we’ll just have to embrace it.”

Setting out at 4am each day from September 30 to October 3, the group will climb Mount Tsubakuro (2,763 metres), Mount Otensho (2,922m) Mount Jonen (2,857m) and Mount Chogatake – 2,677m)

To support the climb in Japan, go to: https://www.justgiving.com/page/gregor-townsend-1724406162792