Gregor Townsend

Gregor Townsend

Full name	Gregor Peter John Townsend
Date of birth	26 April 1973 (1973-04-26)
Place of birth	Galashiels, Scotland
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight	93 kg (14 st 9 lb)
School	Galashiels Academy
University	University of Edinburgh
Rugby union career
Current status
Position(s)	Retired
Playing career
Position	Fly-half, centre or fullback
Amateur clubs
Years	Club / team
1985-1995 1992, 1995	Gala RFC Warringah
correct as of 7 August 2006.
Professional / senior clubs
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2005-2007 2004-2005 2004 2002-2004 2000-2002 1998-2000 1995-1998	Border Reivers Montpellier Natal Sharks Borders Castres Brive Northampton Saints
correct as of 15 November 2006.
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1993-2003 1997	Scotland British and Irish Lions	82 2	(164) (0)
correct as of 7 August 2006.

Gregor Peter John Townsend MBE (born 26 April 1973 in Galashiels) is a former Scottish rugby union player who played at fly-half, full back and latterly centre. He represented both Scotland and the British and Irish Lions winning 82 caps for Scotland (twice as captain) and two for the Lions.

He is currently the Scotland attack coach alongside Andy Robinson having joined in 2009 under Frank Hadden and coaching previously at the defunct Borders club.

Playing career

Townsend was first with Gala RFC, coming through from their ranks from the mini section. He won his first full cap for Scotland in March 1993, as substitute for Craig Chalmers in the Five Nations match against England at Twickenham.

In 1995 Gregor joined Northampton Saints and joined the winning 1997 British Lions tour to South Africa. He left Northampton Saints in 1998 for the French club Brive.

When Rob Wainwright was injured in 1996, Townsend became captain of Scotland.

In 2000 he moved to Castres and then returned to Scotland to play with The Borders.

Townsend represented Scotland at the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup, but afterwards was most controversially deemed surplus to requirements by Scotland coach Matt Williams at just thirty years old. (The new Scottish coach Frank Hadden has decided to return Townsend to the national squad.)

In 2004, free to travel the world after being relieved of Scotland duties, he represented the Natal Sharks in the then Super 12 and played the 2004-05 season with Montpellier in France. He returned to the Borders for the 2005-06 season as a player and coach and during that time represented the Scottish based sevens side, Bone Steelers at the 2005 Dubai Sevens.

In 2009 Townsend represented the Bone Steelers again at the Dubai Sevens as part of their Veterans Tens squad that reached the semi-finals.

Gregor scored a try in every game in the last ever Five Nations Championship in 1999.

Richard Bath writes of him that:

"The contrast between Northampton fly-half Gregor Townsend and his great rival, Melrose's Craig Chalmers, could not be greater. When the youthful prodigy Townsend was first drafted into a Scotland side dominated by the boot of Chalmers since 1989, his brief was to instil a running game more suited to the mobile rucking style the Scots were determined to pursue under coaching guru Jim Telfer. Although a true flair merchant, Townsend certainly struggled to fulfil that brief, most notably in 1993 at Twickenham when England's Stuart Barnes exposed the full extent of his defensive frailties. Yet class will out, and Townsend's ability to find a gap and use his extraordinary pace off the mark to glide through were always likely to see him through. Indeed, it was Townsend's ability to read a game and the remarkable sleight of hand which produced his inside pass to Gavin Hastings for the try that saw Scotland win for the first and only time at the Parc des Princes in 1995."

Toonie flip

This is the name of the magical reverse pass which Gregor gave to Gavin Hastings for Scotland to register a dramatic and famous last-minute 23-21 victory against France in Paris in 1995.

Views

Townsend strongly supported the existence of The Borders rugby team, despite financial problems. As he told The Scotsman newspaper: "In my mind, a third team in Scotland is absolutely priceless because we need as many players exposed to professional rugby week in, week out as we can get." (From a report dated January 3, 2005)

See also

• Chris Paterson, also a former pupil of Galashiels Academy

References

• Bath, Richard (ed.) The Complete Book of Rugby (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ISBN 1 86200 013 3)
• Townsend, Gregor Talk of the Toony: The Autobiography of Gregor Townsend (HarperSport, 2007 ISBN 978-0007251131)

External links

• Townsend sets date for retirement, BBC, June 2, 2006
• Townsend launches kids' summer camps, The Scotsman, June 28, 2006
• Gregor Townsend in the Scotsman newspaper
• Gregor Townsend's Sporting Heroes Profile)
• Townsend admits Test career is over, The Scotsman, May 2, 2006
• Townsend part Gregor groan, part Merlin (Telegraph, March 9, 2003)