I have participated in, watched and written about sport all my life, and I have so many memorable sporting moments that I simply could not list them all. To that treasure trove I have added the events of Saturday, July 20, 2024, and the arrival of Patrick Harrison as a full international player for Scotland.
I was not in Santiago in Chile to witness his debut, but I was in the next best place – the neat clubhouse of Linton Hotspur FC in West Linton, with friends gathered there for the 70th birthday of the estimable Neil Forsyth, something of a local hero in the village, though he would be the first to downplay that.
The quiet pride on the faces of the West Linton people, including members of the family of fellow West Lintonian Blair Kinghorn, as local lad Harrison came on to the field brought a lump to my throat, and having not told this story before, now I will reveal why I have watched Patrick’s career from the outset.
For when he was just 11, he changed our lives. I had gone to live with my partner Deb in West Linton and we were on the lookout for a small dog. The Harrison family bred Jack Russell terriers and learning that a new litter was up for sale, we went out to their farm just south of the village.
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There were two male puppies left and we couldn’t decide between them. It was Patrick who came up with the idea of having a short race between them and duly organised the two pups, one of whom showed no interest while the other shot across the carpet and won easily.
“He will do for us,” we said and soon afterwards we took him home and named him Hamish. He has been our constant companion ever since and is now ten-years-old. He hasn’t always been a saint, but really he is the third member or our family and is sitting beside me as I write. So no wonder I have followed Harrison’s career, and if you’re reading this Patrick, thanks for Hamish, and I am so glad that you’ve done so well with Peebles, Edinburgh and now Scotland.
His parents Annie and Richard and brother Jack were able to fly out to Santiago but won’t be in Montevideo when Harrison will win his second cap against Uruguay. To me, Harrison’s emergence is proof that head coach Gregor Townsend’s promise of this as a development tour has been triumphantly fulfilled.
I don’t know what lies ahead for Patrick Harrison but I suspect he will stay at Edinburgh Rugby in the meantime – he still helps out on the farm, I’m told - and vie with Ewan Ashman for game time. The coaches must devise ways of ensuring both these talented young hookers – Patrick is 22, Ewan is 24 – are brought on to the careers they deserve.
Harrison showed against Chile that he is international class, looking as if he was not out of place at all. With his pace and rugby brain, as shown when he eschewed the maul to instigate the wide move that brought Kyle Rowe his second try, reminded me of Colin Deans, and in my book there is no higher praise.
All over the pitch in the three matches so far there have been young new caps making their case for a future with the full Scotland squad. It has given Townsend the best of headaches as he figures out how to accommodate them all. Some won’t make it, but many will, so credit to Townsend for that.
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There is currently a lot of anxiety about the present state and future direction of Scottish rugby, mostly off the pitch, but I believe we are seeing the development of a conveyor belt of talent that may come to fruition over the next few years. The under-20 Trophy win was further proof of that assertion, and while our women’s under-20 side faltered in the Six Nations series, there are still young players coming through as our women continue to improve.
The announcement that Andy Murray is to retire from playing after the Olympics is a reminder that the career of a sporting professional is usually short, with jockeys and golfers the only exceptions to the rule that players do not normally carry on beyond their mid-thirties.
In physically tough sports like rugby, careers can be further shortened by injury so my biggest hope is that Patrick Harrison and this terrific new cohort of Scottish players, male and female, stay uninjured as much as they can. I hope to live long enough to count them all out and count them all back in again.
Mentioning Murray, from my brief personal professional dealings with him can I say he is a man of honour and integrity, and all I can say is that I hope he can now enjoy life without being lost to the sport he has adorned.
I consider him to be the greatest living Scot, not just the greatest Scottish sportsman of all time.
