Rugby World Cup: Javan Sebastian grasps Scotland chance after 'dark days' as butcher as big win demanded against Romania

It took a miserable spell working as a butcher to convince Javan Sebastian to give professional rugby another crack and try to maximise the potential he had shown as a young player in Wales.

The tighthead prop described his short stint in the striped apron chopping meat as “dark days” and made him appreciate all the more the sportsman’s life. It spurred him on to turn his career around to the extent that Scotland came calling and he will make his bow at the Rugby World Cup in Lille on Saturday night when he lines up against Romania.

Carmarthen-born Sebastian, 29, played age grade rugby for Wales, but qualifies for Scotland through his father who was born and raised in Edinburgh. He made his international debut off the bench in the win over Japan in 2021 and has gone on to make a further five appearances as a replacement but the match with Romania marks his first start for Gregor Townsend’s side and he is still coming to terms with it.

“I was a bit overwhelmed when Gregor told me I was going to be starting tighthead,” said Sebastian ahead of the Pool B match at the 50,000-capacity Stade Pierre Mauroy. “We’ve all trained really hard and put our hands up for selection since the start of the camp. I’m chuffed. I was quite surprised to even be selected in the World Cup squad. It’s a massive achievement to be selected in any squad, so to get a starting place is pretty surreal.”

Javan Sebastian will start Scotland's World Cup Cup clash with Romania on Saturday evening.

Sebastian, who Townsend said this week was Scotland's most improved player, describes his career path as “a rollercoaster” and there can’t be too many former butchers at this World Cup, although fellow Scotland prop Jamie Bhatti previously worked in an abattoir. They aren’t jobs for the faint-hearted and Sebastian doesn’t sugarcoat his short stint in the butchery which he combined with part-time rugby for Carmarthen Quins after a move to Glasgow Warriors didn’t work out.

“That was a dark time,” he said. “It was after I left Glasgow, having been there for a year. I went back home [to Wales] to have my firstborn. I took a year out of rugby and didn’t really end up having a job so I applied to be a butcher and play semi-pro.

“I was there for about two months. I couldn’t hack it any longer than that. It was dark, not a nice place. It was the end of 2016. I thought my professional rugby career was pretty much over, so I took a year out to reflect and get back to normal life. I discovered normal life wasn’t for me, so I thought I would try to play rugby again! It made me open my eyes to what I could potentially do. Being a butcher or in any other normal job is quite tough. I’m not saying that being a rugby player isn’t tough, but the real world is scary.”

Providing for his family helped drive him on and Sebastian got a second chance with the Scarlets where he relaunched his pro rugby career. “I’ve got four kids, so I wanted to push for places just for them and my partner to make them proud,” he said. “Playing semi-pro in Wales is pretty dark. You go to places like Neath, Cross Keys away, when it’s raining and it’s seven o’clock at night. The pitches are deep in mud. It’s not a nice place. The coaches at the time [at Carmarthen] were Craig Evans and Richard Kelly. They really pushed me on to try and go for more than what I was doing at that time.”

Sebastian played for Scarlets last season and is now contracted to Edinburgh.

The next stage on Sebastian’s journey is Edinburgh, who he will play for next season, but before that he is readying himself for Romania who have struggled at the tournament but still pride themselves on their pack strength. “Like any scrum in the World Cup, they’re going to be quite heavy and quite aggressive,” said Sebastian. “We’re going to focus more on ourselves, try to impose our game on them, and try not to get into a dogfight.”

The feeling within the Scottish camp is that they were profligate in the 45-17 victory against the Tongans last weekend and there is a determination to be more clinical in Lille. “Romania have always been a team that are really tough up front,” said Pieter de Villiers, the Scotland scrum coach. “They are very physical and they like the wrestling part of the game. We know we need to be strong there and not have any softer moments.”

Scotland must win and win well against opponents who lost their first two Pool B matches 82-8 to Ireland and 76-0 to South Africa. Romania are ranked 19th in the world, 14 places below Scotland who they have met three times previously at the Rugby World Cup. The Scots beat them 55-28 at the inaugural tournament in New Zealand in 1987, John Jeffrey bagging a try hat-trick. Twenty years later, Allister Hogg scored a treble in a 42-0 win at Murrayfield. Things were a lot closer in the last meeting of the sides at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand and it required two late tries from Simon Danielli to stave off an embarrassing defeat at Invercargill.

The Romanians, now coached by ex-international Eugen Apjok, have former Scotland coach Vern Cotter on board as a consultant and there is also a role for Paul Larter, the former Edinburgh and Scotland analyst. Their familiarity with Townsend's squad will help but anything other than a convincing win for the Scots would be seen as one of this tournament's biggest upsets.