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'I thought, oh ****, nah, surely they're not going to play me in this game'

By Jamie Lyall
Thomas Gordon (Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images)

At the end of his fourth-ever game of professional rugby, Thomas Gordon wandered to the Scotstoun touchline exhausted, jubilant and dizzied by the fervour erupting all around him, a fervour he had gone a long way to creating.

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This kid from a dairy farm in the meadows of New Zealand had taken on Edinburgh’s gargantuan pack and battered them. He had made 17 tackles and missed none in a rampant Glasgow performance. He had outplayed one of Europe’s premier breakaways, the magnificent Hamish Watson, on the open-side flank, and been named man of the match in front of 10,000 people, by a distance the biggest crowd ever to watch him play.

When a camera loomed before him, light illuminated his gaze and Premier Sport’s Emma Dodds began asking questions, his head started to swim.

What followed was a giddy discussion during which Gordon didn’t seem to know who Glasgow could meet in their Pro14 semi-final, or exactly how they’d romped so comprehensively to a long-awaited win over their great foes from the east.
“I was like, woah, I have to do this interview on TV, all these questions. When I get put on the spot, I’m not very good,” Gordon laughs.

“I just answered honestly, I guess. I didn’t know, so I said I didn’t know. I’m not going to beat around the bush.

“She said something about Connacht or Ulster, but it just felt like everything was going on around me. In my head I was like, where do these teams come into play here? So I just said, ‘Nah, I have no idea what’s happening after this’.”

Predictably, Gordon’s television debut was merrily lampooned by his team-mates at Glasgow and Currie, the Edinburgh club where he has played since moving to Scotland five years ago. But in many ways the giggling exchange was refreshing, an antidote to the blandness and the clichés and the desperation of sportspeople to say the right things when microphones are thrust in their faces. Instead, here was a happy young man careering blissfully along on this bonkers ride called rugby.

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“Some people were like, ‘Oh, you need a bit of media training’, but most found it funny,” he says. “It’s better to be funny than just boring.”

Gordon’s route to Glasgow and the semi-finals is anything but dull. From his parents’ farm south of Rotorua, he went to boarding school in Hamilton, and played provincial age-grade rugby into his late teens. His grandparents are Scottish, but he didn’t know that made him eligible to wear the thistle until he was nearly 18. There was no grand career plan in those days – there still isn’t one now – but he knew adventure and rugby would be part of whatever he did next.

“In my last year of school, I didn’t really know what to do with myself. I wanted to go on a gap year and I have a bit of family over here [in Scotland],” Gordon says.

“My mum’s first cousin was president at Currie five or six years ago, so I knew about the club, I knew it was quite a good club. Basically I just asked him if I could come over and play, have six months maybe, work a bit, play a bit of rugby, travel a bit, and then go back home.

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“I was just about 18 when I came over. I left literally a week after I finished school, I didn’t even have Christmas at home.

“When I came over, I definitely wanted to play rugby, but I didn’t really have any intention of trying to make it here. I was playing because I like playing.”

A thunderous carrier of ball, Gordon’s impact at Currie was considerable. He was inducted into Scottish Rugby’s academy, played for the national under-18s and under-20s, and eventually earned a contract at Dave Rennie’s Warriors. At 22, he is a full-time, professional rugby player, and he is almost certain to play some part in this whopper of a contest against Ulster on Friday.

“The pace of the game is so much higher. It took me a while [to adjust]. I remember playing Cardiff Blues down there, I was dying, oh my god. The first stoppage, I’m wheezing, I look up at the clock…two minutes! Jesus. It’s definitely a big step up.

“You’ve got to be more focused, you can almost, at club level, switch off, which is bad, but you can get away with it sometimes. Here, constantly, you’ve got to be eyes-up, focused.

Glasgow Warriors Head Coach Dave Rennie looks on during the Champions Cup match between Glasgow Warriors and Cardiff Blues at Scotstoun. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

“When I first came to Glasgow as an academy player during the Six Nations last year, I wanted to put on a bit of weight. I was probably 96kg, which is a bit light. I wanted to get to 100kg, I’ve been that all season. I don’t want to be much heavier.

“But all the training here, I’ve definitely gotten faster and fitter. I’ve had to do a bit to be able to cope with professional rugby.”

When it came to playing Edinburgh, Rennie was typically deadpan. Callum Gibbins, Glasgow’s co-captain and first-choice open-side, had failed a stage of his concussion return-to-play protocols. Chris Fusaro and Matt Smith, their other sevens, are out for the season.

“I thought, oh s**t, nah, surely they’re not going to play me in this type of game, no way,” Gordon says.
“I get to training, shook Rens’ hand. He didn’t say anything, so I guess I’m not playing. Did the meeting, went to go with the non-23 players and they’re like, ‘Nah, you’re over there’. Oh, s**t.

“Rens didn’t give me much of an explanation, he just said, ‘We thought about starting Ryan Wilson, but you’re starting’.

“I was a bit nervous about going up against all the big dogs, their whole pack is internationals apart from Pierre Schoeman. I had to brush up on all the roles, which I did pretty quickly, and when it came to the game, I just felt ready. I remember sitting in the changing room and looking up at the clock and it was 1815, and I was like, oh, I wish I could play now.”

Then came the roaring performance that could be Gordon’s coming-of-age moment as a fledgling professional, and the glorious interview that will live just as long in the memory.

The Pro14 final is here in Glasgow, here amid the cavernous emerald of Celtic Park, and how the Warriors would love to be crowned champions in their own city, in front of a clamouring crowd of boisterous locals.

Friday’s showdown is a repeat of the semi-final of 2015, when DTH van der Merwe’s last-gasp try and Finn Russell’s veering touchline conversion snatched an intoxicating duel. That year, Glasgow went all the way, winning the only silverware a Scottish pro-team has ever lifted.

Glasgow players will be hoping to be celebrating a PRO14 title victory before Jonathan Humphreys leaves (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

“By a big-ass country mile, the semi-final would be the biggest game I’ve ever played in,” Gordon says. “It’d be awesome to be part of a team that could potentially go and make history, especially in my first season. That’d be unreal.”

This much, he knows for sure. But just when did he get his head around that puzzling Pro14 format?

“Someone said after the Edinburgh game [that Glasgow would play Ulster or Connacht in the semi-final] and I thought, oh, that makes sense. I just play rugby.”

On the paddock, a snarling tyro. Off it, a carefree bloke savouring every moment of this exhilarating journey. Sport is all the richer for characters like Thomas Gordon.

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Jon 4 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

30 Go to comments
A
Adrian 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

30 Go to comments
T
Trevor 11 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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