EVENING TIMES REPORTS


Stand-off Weir called time on football to pursue rugby and has won move from Hawks to Warriors
Bert Mitchell


Glasgow Warriors new boy Duncan Weir has revealed how he turned his back on a football career with Celtic to pursue his pro-rugby dream.

Weir was signed by the late Tommy Burns on an S-Form four years ago, but after a year in Paradise decided he wanted to chase his rugby dream and turned his back on the Bhoys.

Now after one full season at Glasgow Hawks in Premiership One under the shrewd tutelage of Peter Wright, the 18-year-old has been signed by Warriors and made his debut as a sub in last Friday’s victory over Leinster.

But the hottest young property in Scottish rugby admitted the day he called time on Celts was a massive wrench.

Weir said: “When I took the decision to leave the Celtic youth set-up it was probably the toughest thing I have had to do.

“Tommy Burns had signed me as a 14-year-old from Kilmarnock Boys Club and that will always be one of the best days of my life.

“We had a great side at Killie and Jamie Ness, who is at Rangers, was also in the team. We had turned over Celtic a couple of times when I knew they were interested in me.

“But to have someone of Tommy Burns’ stature come to meet me personally and then for him to know so much about me was awesome.

“I was a centre-half and Tommy seemed to know everything about my game in terms of my weaknesses and strengths.

He added: “I didn’t have to think twice about signing the S-Form for Celtic. But after a year it was time to take the next step up and we would have been going in with the full-time boys and there wasn’t going to be much game time there.

“Plus I had kept playing rugby for my secondary school so I decided that maybe it was time for me to go for it with rugby, but it was definitely the toughest decision I have had to make in my life so far.”

However, the young stand-off’s decision to give rugby a chance has been endorsed by a meteoric rise. After impressing with his local team Cambuslang and with Scotland at under-17 and under-19 level, Duncan was asked to join Hawks on a pre-season tour of France despite nursing a cruciate-ligament injury last summer.

Shrewd Hawks boss Peter Wright quickly took the decision to snap up Weir and then installed him as his first-choice stand-off for season 2009/10.

And a grateful Weir said: “After busting my knee it was great to get away with Hawks.

“Peter Wright was superb with me despite the fact I couldn’t do any contact work. For him then to put his faith in me and play-me at stand-off with Hawks in Prem One was tremendous.”

After coming on for the final 10 minutes of last Friday’s Magners League game in front of a Firhill crowd of almost 5000, the youngster will now face a summer battle for supremacy at No.10 with Ruaridh Jackson.

Weir added: “The Leinster game was tremendous and I had a tingle going down my spine when I came on. With Dan Parks away in the summer, I know it is going to come down to me and Ruaridh for the 10 jersey.

“I am still pinching myself about that and I have no doubt I made the right move to go with rugby.”

This article was posted on 28-Apr-2010, 12:57 by Hugh Barrow.