'Non-selection was the hardest...He just said, 'You're in a competitive position''
Alex Dunbar doesn’t enjoy looking back – not after the year he’s had, not after the hardship he’s endured. Nor does he dare gaze too far ahead, knowing how quickly those at the top can be walloped off their perch in the savage world of professional rugby.
His last of 10 seasons at Glasgow Warriors was brutal. Out of the team, dogged by injuries, contract expiring. The beefy specimen who had once been among Scotland’s premier backs had become a seldom-seen squad player as a host of burgeoning centres elbowed him aside.
Light years away from the Test scene as the World Cup loomed, Dunbar went on loan to Newcastle Falcons, where he injured a groin and briefly feared he might have to pack it in altogether. In those grim days, he would torture himself with doubt, dread running into rugby fans on the long country walks that became his escape route.
“The hardest thing was that everyone kept asking me the same questions over and over,” Dunbar says. “When you’re away from rugby, if you take the dog away wandering, the last thing you want to talk about is more rugby.
“You’re over-thinking, everything runs through your head – what am I doing wrong? Is there anything that’s me? What do I need to change? You start doubting yourself.
“If you’re in for one game, you sometimes feel like you need to overplay. You were making silly mistakes because you felt like you needed to get into the game more. You were running around looking for opportunities to get into the game.”
On Glasgow duty last season, eight appearances and 314 minutes were Dunbar’s lot. He’d be starting one week, jettisoned the next. He was involved in three autumn Tests but as his appeal to Dave Rennie, the Warriors coach, waned, so his international prospects plummeted.
“I sat there on the phone crying"@rtagive 's road to @GlasgowWarriors was uniquely troubled, as @JLyall93 found out. A truly remarkable origin story: https://t.co/05fnjO2dq2
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 21, 2019
“The non-selection thing was the hardest to take because when I did play, I didn’t think I played badly,” he says. “Every time we [Rennie and Dunbar] had conversations, I said I needed more game time. Two or three games, you start to get that sharpness again.
“If I could string two or three games together, I felt I’d be where I wanted to be. You get a chance, you’re back out, you get a chance, you’re back out, so I never really got going.
“He just said, ‘You’re in a competitive position’, but the whole squad is competitive. You’d just get a bit disheartened sometimes when you feel you’d played well and you deserved a crack the next week and obviously as things go on you’ve not got much left on your contract.”
This lame exit was all the harder to take because of what Dunbar had given to Glasgow. He was part of a young, talented and ravenous Scottish core that grew with the club and helped drive it to the lofty status it now enjoys, winning the Pro12 title, its first major silverware, along the way four years ago.
Finn Russell, Stuart Hogg, Duncan Weir, Mark Bennett, Ryan Wilson, Pete Horne, Chris Fusaro, Jonny Gray and a heap more besides were part of the crop that took Warriors to next level. It is hard to dispute Glasgow’s decision to move on a high-earning player who their coach clearly did not fancy, but to leave as Dunbar did stung.
“Coming up through age-grades and playing for the best part of nine-and-a-half years, it was quite disappointing,” he says.
“I don’t know if it left a bit of a sour taste the way it worked out – it’s just the way it is. It’s done now. There’s no point in dwelling on the last six months-a year. I’d rather remember the good times, playing regularly, some great wins with some great people.”
There is anxiety among Glasgow fans that Dunbar was allowed to depart, that Rennie was too quick to do without him and that the same fate might befall Huw Jones, another wonderfully talented centre who has endured a similarly chastening year.
Although a brilliant player, Jones has barely raised a gallop in two seasons at Glasgow and has scarcely been seen this term in a backline that, on recent form, is sorely lacking in sparkle. The word is that Jones is keen to get out on loan, but that Glasgow want to keep hold of him.
“He’s a good player, and I suppose similar to myself he’s struggled to get regular, consistent game time,” Dunbar says.
“The couple of games I’ve watched this season when he’s played, he’s played well. But he never really gets the chance to back it up. It’s tough for him because if you’re not playing, confidence, everything… he’s a good player and I fully expect him to get back up to that level where he should be.”
In June, with his future uncertain, Brive offered Dunbar a lifeline, a one-year deal and a much-needed change of scene.
He is only 29 and playing regularly for the Top 14’s promoted side. For the first time in an age, he feels settled and content. There’s still a gnawing, though, an itch to get back to where he was, back in Gregor Townsend’s Scotland team.
After the awful Six Nations and even more heinous World Cup, there is a mountain of pressure on the coach this season. For all that he can call upon a dazzling array of centres, few are as effective as Dunbar at smashing through shoulders and not even Duncan Taylor is as formidable when wedged limpet-like over ball on the jackal.
“We’ve got some very good players, strong ball-carriers,” Dunbar says. “I certainly offer a different dimension with the way I play. A lot of my game’s based on physicality, defensive work, getting over the ball at the breakdown. It’s something I pride myself on. Not a lot of Scottish centres do that.
“It’s the good thing about the squad depth – if we want to play a certain way, we’ve got players that can do that, but we’ve also got players who can play a different way.
“Like I say, I think I can still contribute well and if I get the chance, I’d love to do it.”
WATCH: The Season 5 – Episode 4
A must-win fixture against neighbouring Tauranga Boys High School puts the team’s success in the firing line.
Comments on RugbyPass
It couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
25 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
13 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
25 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
13 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
77 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
13 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
13 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
13 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
13 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
13 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
44 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to comments