Milestone man Ruaridh Jackson passing on wisdom to Glasgow youngsters

Glasgow full-back Ruaridh Jackson is offering some guidance to his younger team-mates. Picture: SNS

Ruaridh Jackson was a budding stand-off with a baby-face and the world seemingly at his feet that glorious afternoon at The Rec, when he scored an interception try to pull his team back into the contest and then launched a breath-taking counter-attack from his own line in injury time, which almost secured a sensational away win for the Scots before he was bundled into touch by a desperate cover tackle.

These days, he is a veteran full-back with a bushy beard and the experience of 33 Scotland caps and three seasons playing for Wasps then Harlequins in the English Premiership to draw upon. His rugby career perhaps never quite hit the heights that his sensational arrival on the scene suggested might be possible, but neither is it to be sniffed at. And, since returning to Warriors at the start of last season, he has been a key member of the squad – especially during those crucial spells of the season when the superstars are away on international duty.

“There’s a lot of the young guys coming in and getting their first opportunities, and I’ve enjoyed trying to impart some sort of wisdom on them to help them through this period,” he says. “But I’m not putting it down to me, the fact that the squad as a whole have done well traditionally in these periods shows there’s a good culture here which helps create a seamless transition with no drop-off in performance.

“All these guys are talented players and it’s just experiences within games when maybe things aren’t going well, when the opposition are on top, that I think I can help,” he adds. “I’ve been through a fair few of these moments myself and I can hopefully try to guide some of these guys through.”

The team certainly needed to exhibit some staying power last Friday night when they held on for a bonus point win over Cardiff Blues, which pulled the Scotstoun outfit back to just one point behind Munster in the race to finish the season top of Guinness Pro14 Conference A.

“It looked like we were coasting it [against Cardiff] and then there was pressure on and we thankfully managed to guide it out in that last minute smartly and coolly, whereas against Munster [at the start of the November Test schedule] we probably shot ourselves in the foot because when we should have seen it out we lost it,” he explained, “It’s good to see guys have been making shifts even in three to four months.”

Jackson added that the team will have to register another mature performance this coming weekend, against a Zebre side who are currently bottom of Conference A but have shown on occasion this season that they can be a handful, especially at home where they have beaten the Southern Kings, Cardiff Blues and  Edinburgh.