SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY REPORTS

Hawick's Renwick a pawky centre of attention in many touching tales
IAIN MORRISON
JOHN Beattie senior tells a good story about his former rival and colleague, Jim Renwick. Beattie was in his first season of senior rugby, a callow youth with Glasgow Accies when he found himself playing against Hawick. Warming up ahead of kick-off, Beattie was approached by the legendary Renwick, who held out an arm and said: "Touch us Beattie, go on touch us!"

The young breakaway stared in bewilderment at the opposition centre, unsure about how he should respond, and Renwick persisted: "Touch us Beattie ... cos ye'll no touch us during the game!"

The story captures nicely the ready mix of cheek and charm that makes up the man considered by many to be Scotland's best back of the post-war years. While this particular story does not appear in Renwick's biography Centre of Excellence, plenty others are on offer to keep readers amused.

Without going into too much detail, the story of the 'Gallic Aunts' is a rib- tickler, unless you happen to live in Gala, and the way in which Renwick saw in the new millennium with his family is touching, and probably more illuminating, than any of the numerous rugby anecdotes.

That the book works much better than the usual bland and banal sporting biographies is largely thanks to two things. Firstly, Renwick owes nothing to anyone, and as a result he is free to say it as he sees it; and this from a man who has never been short of opinions. Secondly, writer David Barnes, a popular member of the Scottish rugby press corps, simply sets the scenes and allows various talking heads to speak for themselves.

As well as Renwick, we hear from Derrick Grant, Terence Froud, Andy Irvine and a host of others. Rather than seeing Renwick through the prism of his biographer, the reader can detect the authentic character of the man at the centre of all the attention.

In truth, the book is as much social history as it is sporting achievement, because the era when a man could be born and bred in one place and play only for the town's team seems like several centuries ago rather than just 30 years. The book is as much about the club and town as it is about Renwick, but that is natural given that Hawick runs through the man like "Blackpool" extends through a stick of rock.

From the club's work ethic to their insistence that even the biggest names kept their feet firmly grounded, the Hawick philosophy moulded Renwick's views on the game. When he was dropped by Scotland, the centre found solace with his club side, who appear to have been the true object of his affections.

Renwick recalls the day on which six Hawick players started one international match for Scotland and another man born in the town, but playing his rugby in Edinburgh, Greco Hogg, came on as a replacement. Seven Hawick players in the same side offered each other mutual congratulations, until Hogg made a crucial error and was immediately demoted to the role of "Boroughmuir %$*&*"@~#".

This book is a reminder of an era when the Greens swept all before them, when second place in the championship was deemed a disaster. A little more on the current plight of Hawick would have been interesting, not least since Renwick chooses to commute to help to coach Edinburgh Accies rather than make the ten-minute walk to Mansfield Park.

Other details stick in the mind. Kickers regularly converted no more than two from seven or three from nine attempts at goal, the sort of percentages that would see them substituted now before the ball had hit the turf; and the infamous statistic that Renwick took until his 47th Scotland cap before he won a test match away from home, though since the occasion was the thrilling five-tries-to-one victory in Cardiff in 1982, it was probably worth waiting for.

The current SRU president, Andy Irvine, relates a good tale. When the players were at the height of their success, Irvine was asked by a small boy to sign 10 autographs. Asked why he needed so many, the lad explained: "My mate has Jim Renwick's autograph, and he said he'd swap it for 10 of yours."

This article was posted on 24-Dec-2006, 15:07 by Hugh Barrow.