BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS

Andre Agassi, Paul Gascoigne, Nick Popplewell, Gavin Hastings – sportsmen moved to tears by the emotional and physical commitment which only disappointment or success can release. Welcome to The Lachrymose Club.

“It’s adrenaline, I think,” the hardy Hastings says of his outburst under the camera lights on live BBC television last season. England had just beaten Scotland with a controversial last kick of the game. “The situation was that you sit in there and you’re fine,” he explains, “and then all of a sudden you’re asked a question and you can’t control your emotions. Adrenaline. What you’ve got to understand is that that was literally a few minutes from the end of the game and it was as though someone had just kicked you in the bollocks as hard as you’ve ever been kicked in your life before. It was a game we had won, and yet someone had stolen it from us.

“It was a terrible decision by the referee. It was. I’m the last to complain and go on about it, but when it happened it was awful. The worst moment of my career, without question. To be fair, I got so many letters after that, about five hundred from Scots, Welsh, Irish and English. I don’t regret having done it, but I wouldn’t wish that upon anybody really. That’s life, though, isn’t it?”

Any match against England, as history shows for both Scots and Irish alike, is a great motivator for mind and body. “In many respects, though, that’s a back-handed compliment to the English,” says Hastings. “The fact is, though, that they have become a very good rugby side and, yes, they bring out the best in the opposition. They certainly brought out the best in Ireland over the last couple of seasons.”

Yet, in his recently published autobiography High Balls And Happy Hours (Mainstream), Hastings himself pulls no punches when waxing lyrical about the English. “Why is it,” he asks, “that the English always accuse the opposition of being the baddies and see themselves as goodies?” before dealing later with the issue of England captain Will Carling on last summer’s Lions’ tour to New Zealand. How does he feel about it all now?

“He was playing crap rugby on the Lions’ tour, therefore he didn’t deserve to make the Test sides. Some people have picked it up wrong and think I hate the guy. I don’t hate him. But, why should I be overly nice to the England captain on a Lions’ tour just because he’s the England captain. I treat everyone the same, like any other player. If he’s worried about it, tough. It’s not going to make me lose any more sleep. I was the captain of the Lions, he wasn’t. Full stop. I went into every single selection meeting knowing the team in my head or written down and, without exception, we came out of the meeting with the team that I’d written down, so I never felt there was a problem.”

Being as Scottish as tartan and golf, does Hastings feel Scotland benefits from being part of the United Kingdom? “I don’t think we do as well as we could do,” he admits, “and I think that’s the whole essence of the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP). Just saying we could do better on our own here, guys. Personally, I don’t have huge, strong political views. I suppose I’m quite a middle-of-the-road guy. I’m very, very proud to be Scottish and I’m delighted that I live here, and I’m delighted too that I pull on the Scottish jersey and wear it with tremendous pride. I’m a proud Scotsman and always have been, and always will be.”

Hugely disappointing, then, for Scotland to be thrashed by the South African Springboks recently as a curtain-raiser for the opening of the refurbished space-age 67,500 all-seater facility that is Murrayfield Stadium.

“I thought they were a very good team,” he concedes. “I think the team that played against Scotland gave a tremendous performance. They raised their game there. They weren’t quite able to do it against the Welsh the following week and they totally misunderstood the strength of the Barbarians desire to win in Dublin. With all due respect to the Barbarians, I don’t think if South Africa had put out their test strength side that they would’ve lost that match. That said, the Barbarians played magnificently and I was delighted for them.” Was he not invited to play? “No, I wasn’t. No. But I was not overly upset by that.”

Ireland’s Simon Geoghegan performed superbly in that match, so one wonders how Hastings assesses The Blonde Bullet who will no doubt be bearing down on the six-foot-two, fourteen-and-a-half stone Scottish captain when they meet at Murrayfield on February 4th?

“He’s a competitor and a tremendous enthusiast,” says Hastings,” and he certainly typifies the Irish spirit, if you like. He’s very, very competitive and I admire that in every rugby player. He’s an exciting player. I’m sure half the time he doesn’t know where he’s going when he gets the ball, never mind his team mates and the opposition! Guys like Simon Geoghegan are good for the game of rugby and they generate a response from the crowd.”

Although some observers would view Hastings’ opinion of Geoghegan’s interplay with team mates as outdated, there is no doubt that the Irish winger has some way to go in order to match that masterful ‘free spirit’, Australia’s David Campese, who combines that sense of wild unpredictability with acute awareness and vision.

“I think Campese is probably the most talented rugby player that the world has seen this past ten years,” says Hastings emphatically. “He’s an artist on the field and has huge enthusiasm for the game. The guy’s played rugby full-time for his life and has made a full-time career out of it and is a wealthy man. He’s totally exploited the rules, laws and regulations, and good luck to him, fair enough.”

The hypocritical nature of modern rugby union, however, means that the majority of players, particularly in the Northern hemisphere, are not allowed capitalise on the increased profile and potential earnings attached to the sport in the Campese manner of disguised professionalism.

“No, they’re not,” agrees Hastings. “I mentioned in my book that all I ask for is a level playing field. In many respects the South Africans are full-time rugby players. We’re not, and have a job of work to do. The game is becoming more and more full-time for all of us, and the demands and pressures upon the top players are unbelievable.”

Are the demands such that drugs may become an issue in rugby?

“I don’t know, it’s difficult to say. All that I can say is that the drug tests are carried out regularly on all international players and, with the exception of the odd South African or whatever, it strikes me that everyone else has been passed clean. You could argue that some people do seem to have (physically) developed, primarily in the forwards as opposed to the backs, but where it is a team game you’re not running against the clock.

“There’s nothing to say that if you took a drug that you are going to play rugby any better, perhaps, than you are currently doing, because you’re so reliant on your other team mates and, therefore, I think you can always understand why individual athletes are taking drugs because they only have themselves to answer for, and against the clock. In a team game, with fifteen guys or women, it’s not so prevalent. I’m sure at some time in the future someone will be caught for taking drugs that is well-known, but until that happens we are subject to a lot of testing.”

A fascinating point Hastings raises in his book is the idea of ‘summer rugby’, running from late Spring to Autumn.

“I don’t think Scotland are ever going to be world beaters,” he explains, “it’s not possible because of the climate we play in and the battle we have against soccer. If rugby was in the summer, it could take over from soccer and I think we’d have a magnificent game to watch. It needs something radical and I’ve argued that Scotland go it alone. I mean, why do the majority of people who play rugby play the game? To have fun, I would’ve thought. To me, there’s not much fun training when it’s pissing down with rain and blowing a gale. I don’t get any fun or enjoyment out of it. I do that for a purpose. I train to play rugby at international level, that’s the reason I train. I have to sacrifice parties, sacrifice going golfing, whatever. And I’m no different from many other people at international level. I know what it takes to get to that level and I’m prepared to accept it.”

In the context of the upcoming Irish match, does he see it as a measure of desperation that Brendan Mullin has this season been welcomed back into the squad?

“I don’t think so,” he says, “because Brendan was just a wee bit fed up with things when he retired and needed to take a break. I think he’s a tremendous rugby player and a wonderful athlete. I think Ireland realise they need him in the team because he’s better than anyone else and, if he is, that’s not a slight on Brendan Mullin. That’s saying ‘Look, lads, this is what you’ve got to achieve’, and if anyone is in his position and fighting for a place they’ve got to match those targets.

“It’s the same as saying ‘ah, well, Gavin’s just in the team because there’s no-one better’. Fine, but turn it the other way round. Gavin’s the best full-back in Scotland, and be more positive. Don’t say ‘there’s no-one challenging him’. The fact is that these guys all play full-back but I’m better than them. That’s the reality of the situation. And I know I am, as well, which helps. Not in any overly arrogant way, because I don’t think I am. I know what I’ve done and what I have to sacrifice to get there, so I’m very focused in doing it.”