'One of the best defensive 13s in the world game just now': The transformation of Chris Harris from Scotland nobody to potential Lions starter
Chris Harris is surely a contender for the standout coming of age story in the Scotland ranks in recent times. For quite a long period his face didn’t fit with Gregor Townsend. First capped in November 2017, the initial 27 months of his Test career were dominated by fleeting cameos from the bench, eleven runs as a replacement in his initial 16 caps.
Now all has utterly changed. Since getting handed the No13 shirt for the February 2020 Guinness Six Nations win over Italy, the 30-year-old has been an ever-present at outside centre. That’s nine straight appearances in a row, with a tenth set to happen this Sunday against Ireland.
Only Ali Price and Scott Cummings, who are both set for their twelfth consecutive starts, boast a greater selection consistency in the XV to take on the Irish.
What gives? There was a time when the juggle between international and Gallagher Premiership rugby was too much of a challenge, the over and back across the border from Scotland to England taking a toll on his performances.
He told RugbyPass as much back in February 2019, a month that started with him scoring a Six Nations try off the bench in round one only to find himself not capped again until round five.
Scotland's golden oldie ?#SixNations #SCOvIRE https://t.co/cgcQEhvdIh
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 12, 2021
“If you asked me last year I would have said I was more under pressure, but I have adapted to it now,” he said about the on-off relationship he was having with Scotland while playing club rugby in England. “It’s just part of the rugby career. If you’re part of international duty that is just the way it is. I have developed a lot since this time last year. I’m pretty comfortable in dealing with the situation.
“It was just the change of environment, the disappointment of not being selected for Scotland – which is still the case – but it’s just dealing with it better now. If you come back into the club and you’re still a bit down not being involved with Scotland, you have got to go and in a performance. It’s just a matter of how you deal with it.”
Harris has since had a switch in clubs, moving to Gloucester after five years at Newcastle, and his impact this past year has been such that not only is he now a constant on Townsend’s Scotland team sheet but he is being touted as a potential Lions Test series starter later this year. That’s quite a transformation for someone who for quite a while was only a bit-part contributor at international level, essentially a nobody to Scottish fans and media.
Now though? “He is very consistent,” enthused Townsend when asked why Harris has become such a familiar face in the Scotland set-up. “You know you are going to get a lot of work rate out of Chris. He is an outstanding defender, one of the best defensive 13s in the world game just now.
“And he has worked hard on his attacking game. His running lines have improved a lot but also he has got more confidence in taking on the opposition with the ball in hand. We saw that in the last game against Wales when he had a couple of breaks out wide, so he is building an all-round game.
“He is one of our leaders defensively and he is a really good influence on those around him. It’s great he is available again this week. He played for his clubs last week. I thought he had a fantastic performance in their win against Wasps and it’s great he was fully fit for training this week.
“It has been a while since he was left out. He came off the bench at the start of the World Cup and the way he trained meant it was going to be difficult for us to leave him out. Since then he has worked hard to make sure that he doesn’t lose that opportunity and has played consistently well for us.
“I must say as well Huw Jones’ form this year has been excellent, so we feel with those two guys pushing really hard at 13 we have got a very good depth and different types of players as well.”
Scotland apparently never wanted to kick the French when they were down by demanding a Six Nations walk-over #SixNations #FRAvSCO
https://t.co/1Vqu07pGNt— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 12, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
I’m looking forward to attending the Twickenham match, I don’t think it will have a bearing on the outcome of the grand prize itself but it will tell us more about each teams’ preparation and game plan. It’s hard to look past one of the big four (I’m including Canada) lifting the trophy in 2025 but sport is a curious thing, there will still be twists and turns in road ahead.
2 Go to commentsThe better side seems to be the losing side a lot these days. As far as narrative goes. Must be the big emergent culture of “participation awards” that have emerged in nanny states. ”It looked like New Zealand would take the game from there but lapses in execution let South Africa get back into the game. New Zealand’s goal kickers left five points out there, including a very make-able penalty on the stroke of half”. Sounds like a chronic problem… I wonder how the better team has lapses in concentration and execution? Or are those not important factors in the grand scheme of total performances? In 2023, the ABs at least didn’t give up a lead to lose. They just couldn’t execute to get the points and take the lead. This Baby AB result points to a choke - letting the game slip through your fingers. In the words of the great Ricky Bobby’s dad - “If you’re not 1st you’re last!” Loosely translated - if you didn’t win, you’re a loser.
9 Go to commentsWith Stuart Lancaster at the helm, Racing 92 looks more and more a mercenaries club like Toulon some years ago and they are not even performing despite all the money on offer.
4 Go to commentsCouple of things BS missed: wind was behind the Baby Blacks in the first half. Baby Boks got points from a scrum penalty in the final quarter against this ‘dominant pack’, and left three points on the park after a missed penalty.
9 Go to commentsSensible thoughts on this, Brett. Also worth considering we’ve sold 60k tickets for a game between the Rebels and the Lions next year. Got to be roughly $10m in ticket and game day revenue there.
5 Go to commentsUnsuccessful bitter ex Ulster player taking a pop shot at a side that isn't including his consistently poor mates up north
4 Go to commentsHis decision to play in France isn’t a petulant decision as this article suggests. I reckon that France is the perfect place to demonstrate that he can mix it in those battles Rassie references. It’s a good decision to try get into the squad. My personal opinion is that he wins more battles than he loses. I don’t have Rassie’s stats machine behind me, but Daymian’s is so strong moving through traffic and in the rip.
4 Go to commentsWow! Argie forward dominance is something I have not read in years….
1 Go to commentsIs the ‘snub’ really why he is leaving? He hasn’t said that has he? You don’t have to stay in SA to play for the Boks, so it’s not that he’s giving up on trying to get into the squad as the case would be in, say, England or New Zealand. Rassie made it clear that the early camps won’t feature all the players to play for the Boks this year so I can’t imagine Dayimani was too offended by being overlooked this time. It just seems like a sensationalist angle to take for a story without really knowing the player’s intentions.
4 Go to commentsWell, it is easily one of the best Irish sides, it’s just that their historical standard is very low.
4 Go to commentsThe Irish side is good. They have lost 2 games in the last 23 tests. In the last 12 months they have have a 60% win rate against the top 5 sides in the world. Over the same period south africa have a 67% win rate against the top 5 teams, and New Zealand are at 40%.
4 Go to commentsOnly 1247 days until RWC 2027 starts Bin Smuth🤣Can’t wait to see how unhinged you’re still gonna get between now & then
200 Go to commentsany chance either team will improve on their u20 world cup performances this time around? I assume both sides will be deeply disappointed with how things went.
6 Go to commentsAnother poor articles by a poor journo, nothing new from Ben, at least you are consistently bad lol, geez I will try and watch the match later, clearly Benny was only looking to one end of the pitch, hard to tell whom the Baby Blacks were playing if it wasn’t in the header 😄😄
9 Go to commentsNz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
9 Go to commentsProbably the worst article on a rugby match I have ever read
200 Go to commentsWho hurt this man.. LoL 😭
200 Go to commentsIt unfortunate for the Jaguares that they became formidable just as super rugby as we knew came to an end. However, the idea of bringing them back is nonsensical. While I enjoyed the Jaguares and the South African flavour of the comp, a selling point of this incarnation of super rugby is that all games are on a decent time for an Aussie audience.
5 Go to commentslol that’s your opinion Ben, All Blacks benefited from a forward pass try, SA played 77 min without a recognised hooker, missed a no try conversion and a penalty could have would have but didn’t
200 Go to commentsBrett, from my distant perspective, I hope you get to keep the Rebels. Any ideas of teams from Japan or Argentina are just crazy. Won’t happen. If you look at logistics, it is much easier to get to LA from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney than to Buenos Aires. All with direct non-stop daily flights. You may even get some “gringos” to watch the games, with some younger players compared to Giteau and Nonu who still “play” in the area. I think it is virtually impossible to get a competitive Argie team for SR. All Pumas are in Europe, almost all second tier players are also in Europe. Fringe players are in South American pro rugby tournament (and many still in the MLR!) but these players who might be most interested in joining a new Jaguares do not have the skills to compete. As I have been saying since the Jaguares joined, they should have had TWO teams to make logistics for visiting teams better and Argie player development improved as well. Jaguares/Pumas was not ideal. But this is where Pichot and his cronies did not think long enough. Further the country with he new president “No hay Plata” Milei is in a very difficult situation. Galperin, the richest man in Argentina owns the Miami franchise of MLR. I don’t think you can get him to invest in Argentina. Actually, he played rugby himself. He was a fly half. He is worth around $6 billion!
5 Go to comments