'They make you feel like you're part of something, but at the end of the day, it's just a business'
Playing for Glasgow Warriors meant more to Rory Hughes than a job – it was about representing the city of his birth and the culmination of a belligerent determination to make it in rugby, despite coming from a town entrenched in one of football’s biggest rivalries.
When Hughes received word, then, that there would be no place for him at Scotstoun in the Danny Wilson era, he was gutted, and the Scotland internationalist is among a long list of professional players whose careers have been plunged into uncertainty by the Covid-19 pandemic.
While his search for a new employer continues, Hughes spoke to RugbyPass and looked back on his time at Glasgow, and his spell on loan at Leicester Tigers.
“I loved playing for Glasgow,” he said. “I spoke to Danny Wilson on several occasions and just asked him for his thoughts, because I wanted to stay at Glasgow.
“He told me that he wanted to keep the homegrown players, but that he’s got no budget for me.”
Hughes was never a regular in the Glasgow side under Dave Rennie, and straight-talking Hughes singled Rennie out for some scathing criticism.
“They make you feel like you’re part of something, but at the end of the day, it’s just a business.
“I believe that once you’re in the circle, you believe in everything they’re telling you and you mold yourself on and off the pitch for this culture and the ‘Once a Warrior, Always a Warrior’ attitude.
“If you’re out of the circle, you’re just left on your own.
“Another problem for me was keeping fit. I came through, got in the team and won Scotland caps, then got injured so I had to start again and find my feet there.
“Dave Rennie and I definitely butted heads at times. I’d go and ask him questions, and he’d say one thing but do another and I’d go and pull him up about it, and he’d just talk shite to my face.
“It was a kick in the balls – you get so angry that you think ‘what’s the point in being here’ when you’re getting treated like that.”
By the time Hughes went on loan to Leicester Tigers in January, his relationship with the new Wallabies boss had totally broken down.
“I didn’t really care what he had to say and I didn’t respect his opinion, and probably vice-versa.”
While Hughes admits he’d have jumped at the chance to sign for Danny Wilson’s Glasgow Warriors, he was stuck when asked if he’d have played for Rennie again.
“I’d go back to Glasgow because that was my city and my club, but would I go back if Dave was still there? I don’t know the answer to that.”
A loan spell at Welford Road followed, but Hughes only made four appearances before that was cut short due to the suspension of the season. That wasn’t without its frustrations for the four-cap wing, whose last international appearance came in Scotland’s 2017 win over Australia in Sydney.
“You could see why they were struggling,” he added. “The training was pretty poor and, being around all the coaches I’ve worked with, we’ve always done a lot of skills work, and when I went down there, there were some boys who were just battering rams.
“I thought it was all quite biased to the starting team, so you don’t get too much training out of it unless you’re in that team.”
Hughes also made headlines during his spell at Welford Road for a profanity-laden Instagram video, for which he has since apologised.
“If people come and have a chat with me, they’ll know that I’m not that type of person. I think people would’ve seen that video and thought ‘what a dick’, but I’m not – the video was taken out of context and I’ve apologised for it.”
Not required by Leicester to finish the Gallagher Premiership season, and with Glasgow Warriors unable to keep him on, Hughes admits there have been some difficult days during the pandemic, but he’s trying to keep optimistic.
“It has been tough,” he continued. “Some days you are buzzing and you think ‘right, I’ll make something of this day’ but then you think ‘what’s the point? I’ve got nothing else to do’.
“Being part of that rugby bubble for so many years, and then just not being part of it anymore, sometimes you feel lost and you don’t have a purpose, so it has been tough.
“Everybody goes through it, it’s just shite sometimes.
“I try and talk to a lot of people – friends and my family – and that really helps for a bit of reassurance that things will work out, it might just be a new life.”
“If I couldn’t do rugby then what was the point in me being here… it got to the stage where my partner at the time was terrified of coming home in case I’d done anything”
– @mattsmith230 tells @JLyall93 about suicidal thoughts and why he quit rugby ???https://t.co/lhwA6FVdoE
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 28, 2020
The 27-year-old also praised the bravery of his former Glasgow colleague Matt Smith, who spoke about his own battles with mental health to RugbyPass recently.
“I knew he was having some bad days when we were training, but I had no idea it was like that.
“I felt so bad reading that, because it did hit home, and I’m so proud of him for speaking out and for getting help because he’s a cracking boy and he’s got the best personality.”
From the glamour of being a professional sportsman, Hughes is trying to keep busy while he looks for a new club, but he realises that returning to the game full-time in the short-term may not be a realistic expectation, so is looking to other ventures.
“I’m going out and helping my mate doing a bit of landscaping and roughcasting.
“There’s not a lot of contracts out there at the moment, so I’m not sure what’s going to happen. I’ll either have to get a full-time job or get back on the tools.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments