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Nice little piece of Sydney straw clutching...
Out of this sad defeat there is a little comfort to be found - Sydney club rugby helped Scots win
November 24, 2009
In all the madness greeting Scotland's win over Australia at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, one face shone as broadly as his fast receding forehead, just as when he proved one of the finest five-eighths to play in Sydney club rugby for Warringah.
Gregor Townsend is 36 now, an ex-Scotland captain and veteran of 82 internationals, a British Lion with pride, so esteemed in the game that he received the MBE in the Queen's Birthday honours of 1999.
He was just another wandering foreigner - have boots, will travel - a good, young five-eighth with a sense of adventure when he came to Sydney. But Warringah's scouts knew their stuff.
Townsend soon established himself as one of the classiest, most creative pivots behind the Green Rats' man-eating pack at the old, welcoming tip site, a pivot who attacked the line, could pass short or play the wide-passing game or when the "black nor-easters" blew, kick it a country mile. He was a real pro. He was brave and he tackled.
They wanted him to stay, but after a season, he was gone, returning home to become the long-term goal-kicking five-eighth for Scotland. So well did he perform that in 1998-99 he scored a try - a la Mark Ella - in each international of Scotland's then Five Nations championship.
These days, Townsend is Scotland's coaching assistant to former England workaholic open-side breakaway Andy Robinson.
One wonders how much further Townsend might have gone and how much more he would have achieved had he had Scotland's present captain and long-serving halfback, Chris Cusiter, or his injury replacement, Rory Lawson, at the scrumbase.
They kept the Wallabies waiting impatiently in the dark on Murrayfield while Scotland stayed warm in the tunnel and the fireworks exploded all around, eventually appearing through the smoke to provide the best defensive performance the Australians are likely to encounter on this tour or any other.
Scotland began as if Townsend were back at the helm at Rat Park, exchanging backline moves with the Wallabies. All too soon, Robinson's English conservative ways won over and they returned to keeping things tight, their new tight-head Moray Low digging in deep to secure their scrum, especially when Benn Robinson came off. They won lineouts and tangled up the Wallabies at the breakdown, slowing the ball supply, and, most important of all, their tackling never faltered.
In this regard, Graham Steadman, the former Great Britain rugby league international, played a critical role.
It was a Test of too many stoppages, too many kicks, to be memorable in the Edinburgh dew, and the Australians were at times their own worst enemies.
But as Scotland snatched the lead after almost an hour and the pressure mounted and then the desperation, it was compelling viewing as the local darling, Chris Paterson, dropped a goal for 9-3.
"So long! So long!" they chanted from the stands and one of the many Australians screamed: "Give it to James!" after replacement Force inside-centre James O'Connor wove a wonderful path.
Eventually, after relentless Australian attacks, outside-centre Ryan Cross crossed for the 80th-minute try only for Matt Giteau, in the face of thunderous booing, to fluff the match-winning goal from the left.
As the man standing at the Fosters beer trough, where all astute judges assemble after the game, told his mate: "Amazin'! It restored faith in the country."
They would have awoken to the bleak news on the Peninsula, of course, all the good rugby men of Warringah such as Bill Simpson, Rod Macqueen, Ron Curry and Dilip Kumar. But all of them would have given a wave to Gregor Townsend, one of the architects of the win, in one of the great moments of his life, a player Scotland will always claim was born and bred in Galashiels. Aye, Warringah will assure them, but the lad was "Made in Australia".
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