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LONG READ George Turner: 'Scotland, as a core group, believe they can win it. They should do well'

George Turner: 'Scotland, as a core group, believe they can win it. They should do well'
4 weeks ago

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend named four hookers this week in his 37-man squad for the forthcoming Six Nations.

When they open their campaign against Italy in a fortnight, one of them – most likely Ewan Ashman, although Dave Cherry’s recall for the first time since his unfortunate exit from the 2023 World Cup was something of a curveball – will be the first Scottish rake other than George Turner to pull on the No.2 jersey in a Championship match since midway through the 2022 edition.

It is indicative of what Turner, a few games into a one-year contract with Kobelco Kobe Steelers, has given up, but may yet reclaim down the line.

Since 2021, he has featured in all 20 of Scotland’s Six Nations games over the last four years, starting 17 of them, including the last 12. He was also Townsend’s go-to man for the Scots’ three big pool games at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

George Turner
Turner’s try against Tonga at RWC23 was his 10th for Scotland – one shy of the record for a Scottish forward (Photo Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images)

While Liam Williams’ recent about-turn with Wales showed that a stint in Japan doesn’t always spell the end of an international career for home nations players, Turner is the first undisputed first-choice operator to take up a contract in the Land of the Rising Sun since former Wales centre Hadleigh Parkes and ex-England lock George Kruis headed east in 2020 with fond farewells to their Test days and major fillips to their finances.

If the 32-year-old was still starting for Scotland over the next two months, there is every chance he would be pushing the likes of Ireland duo Dan Sheehan and Ronan Kelleher for a place on the Lions tour of Australia this summer. Or at least be in the conversation.

He acknowledges that missing the Six Nations now makes that a remote prospect. “I would have to have a hell of a year to get my foot in the door,” he said. “I’m fairly realistic; I feel if I was going to go on a Lions tour, it would have been the last one.

“I can play my best rugby and hope I might be in with a chance. It would be incredible but there’s some really talented players back home who are going to be playing international rugby, who will be looked at more closely.”

I saw it as something I would have potentially regretted not doing if I had turned it down. I didn’t think I would get this chance again.

When you consider Turner’s own Test career only began when he was 25, how hard was it to relinquish his hard-earned status as Scotland’s number one No.2?

“There was a multitude of reasons and interesting set of circumstances that led to this happening,” he said. “I don’t plan ahead very far. Most people who know me will tell you that. I wasn’t planning to come to Japan. This came a bit out of nowhere, then suddenly became a thing and it built from there.

“I saw it as potentially giving up Scotland and Glasgow but maybe not forever. It was something I would have potentially regretted not doing – a chance to go to Japan, play a season or more and live there with my family – if I had turned it down. I didn’t think I would get this chance again. Even for my kids, I thought it might be hard for them initially but would be good for them down the line. When it came down to it, it seemed like the only option.”

George Turner
Turner started Kobe’s first three league games as he adapts to life in Japan Rugby League One (Photo JRLO)

The proposal made sense on the home front. Turner’s step-son Campbell, 12, was moving up to high school. His five-year-old son William was about to start primary school and daughter Lilly, just turned four, would have been going to nursery full-time.

The Turner clan arrived in Kobe last August and the club helped them get set up with new schools. His wife Madelaine has been integrated into the network of players’ partners. Both sets of grandparents have also visited over recent holidays.

“The kids were used to seeing grandparents every week, or every other day, so that’s been quite tough for them,” Turner said. “So getting them out here when they could come over was cool.”

While getting to grips with a new country and new language was not without its challenges, on the field the transition has been mercifully smooth.

Dave has high expectations and demands. If you work hard, it’s all good.

Steelers head coach Dave Rennie, who Turner worked with for three years at Glasgow from 2017-20, was the man principally responsible for facilitating his move to Japan.

The presence of Mike Blair, who previously coached Turner in assistant roles with Glasgow and Scotland, and Dan McFarland, another former Townsend assistant who looks after the forwards, has also helped. Another ex-Warriors staffer from Rennie’s time in Glasgow, S&C coach Phil Healey, is also there.

“I knew variations, or previous versions, of their systems and the way they coach, so it was quite easy to pick up,” Turner said. “I really enjoyed Dave’s philosophy before, around good people making good environments, so I had an idea what it might be like and it’s very similar to how I imagined. Dave has high expectations and demands. If you work hard, it’s all good.”

Dave Rennie
Dave Rennie spent three years at Glasgow, leading them to a Pro14 final in 2019 (Photo Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

With such a coaching line-up, unusually for a Japanese club most of the communication is in English, with pitch-side interpreters on hand to help with messaging to the home-grown contingent. Turner’s own Japanese is “still very limited”, he says, hence his admiration for those who can bridge the gap.

“There are a couple of players – (centre) Tim Lafaele and (back-rower) Tiennan Costley – who are really fluent in both languages. I am always in awe of the way they swap between the two. It is very impressive.”

As is the enduring excellence of All Blacks great Brodie Retallick, one of Kobe’s co-captains. “He is so impressive as an athlete and a rugby player,” Turner says of the 109-times capped lock, who vacated the Test scene after the last World Cup.

“He plays 80 minutes most weeks and has the most involvements of any player. He just keeps going…it is so impressive. There are a few others too who have good skill-sets or a slightly different view on stuff that I am trying to pick up. I can still improve my game from these guys. It’s awesome.”

They were like my therapy sessions. I would just berate and unload on him and he couldn’t get a word in! I like to think Johnny misses it

Instead of his daily hour-long commute across the M8 from his Edinburgh home to Scotstoun, in the company of his fellow hookers Johnny Matthews and the now-retired Fraser Brown, his journey to training now takes five minutes.

“It’s good for the back,” Turner said. “I enjoyed those trips though, Johnny maybe not so much. They were like my therapy sessions. I would just berate and unload on him and he couldn’t get a word in! I like to think he misses it…”

Glasgow celebrate
Turner (front left) returned from injury for the URC knockout stages and helped Glasgow to the trophy (Photo Phill Magakoe/ AFP via Getty Images)

Turner, who scored one of Glasgow’s tries in their epic URC final triumph over the Bulls in Pretoria last May, has kept up his scoring form with tries – all off the back of mauls – in his first three games for Kobe.

But the Steelers have only won one of their first four league matches, losing all three on the road. This Sunday’s home fixture against Greig Laidlaw’s Urayasu D-Rocks comes two days after the 30th anniversary of the Great Hanshin earthquake of 1995, a 7.3-magnitude tremor which saw over 6,000 people lose their lives, most of them in Kobe.

Turner and his team-mates have been involved in the commemorations and will wear a special jersey against Urayasu to mark the occasion.

“Playing for Kobe Steelers means so much to a lot of the Japanese players after what happened during the earthquake and with Kobelco Steel, how they came together and fixed things. It is a massive company and they support the rugby team really well.

“Not performing last weekend (a 34-26 loss to Mitsubishi Dynaboars), that’s tough for these guys to take. It means you have to give more the next time, to show that you are learning and working on it. There have been a few teething issues but it is still early in the season and hopefully from this weekend we can kick on and do well.”

The Scotland team, as a core group, believe in themselves, as they should do. They believe they can win it and they can beat these teams.

A catch-up with Laidlaw, a team-mate during the 2019 World Cup in Japan when the Scotland squad spent two weeks in Kobe, will continue a recent trend of bumping into former team-mates.

“We played Toyota (Verblitz) in a pre-season friendly and I bumped into Richie Gray. He kept pinching my lineout throws! I used to play club rugby with (ex-Hurricanes and Brumbies forward) Murray Douglas at Heriot’s and he was playing for the (Shizuoka) Blue Revs in our first league game. I knew he was in Japan but I hadn’t really clocked it before the game. Suddenly I was on the pitch and I was like, ‘Oh, it’s Murray…hey mate!”

Inevitably talk turns to the forthcoming Six Nations. The build-up is traditionally full of optimism in Scotland, often swiftly punctured. But this year, perhaps more than any other, their status as possible challengers and dark horses for the title seems justified.

“The Scotland team, as a core group, believe in themselves, as they should do,” says Turner, choosing his words carefully. “They believe they can win it and they can beat these teams.

“A lot of the time they don’t quite put everything together all at once on the day though. You might get 60 minutes of good stuff and then maybe a 20-minute period…”

Scotland celebrate
Scotland lifted some silverware after beating Australia in November, but can they mount a Six Nations title challenge? (Photo David Rogers/Getty Images)

Turner cites two examples of what he’s getting at. The first is the opening game of last year’s Six Nations. Scotland cruised into a 27-0 half-time lead in Cardiff, then conceded a mountain of penalties and had to withstand a stirring Welsh fightback that came up a point short as the visitors sneaked home 27-26. “We felt that was more to do with us switching off rather than Wales doing something great,” he reflected.

The second is from 2023. Having beaten England at Twickenham (again) first up and thrashed Wales at home, the Scots headed to Paris in fine fettle, only to find themselves 19-0 behind – and a man down after Grant Gilchrist’s red card – by the end of the first quarter.

“It is tough to come back from that,” Turner noted. Maddeningly, even with 14 men, Scotland did and closed to 25-21 approaching the end-game before a last-minute French try did for them and a shot at the title.

The ingredients are there… They have the ability to do really well and they almost should do well.

“Scotland are performing well,” Turner points out after an autumn where they gave the Springboks a scare and beat Australia with some comfort. “Glasgow are going well and looking strong. Edinburgh have had good performances where individuals are having good games. Finn [Russell] is pulling the strings at Bath. Blair [Kinghorn] is having a great time at Toulouse, same with (Ben) Whitey at Toulon.

“The ingredients are there. The coaching staff take on feedback and responsibility well, if there is something you can work on and do better. It is a really good environment. They have really worked on that. Everyone has a close connection, with some good hard work getting done. They have the ability to do really well and they almost should do well.”

I wonder how Turner might feel if his old team-mates do end up finally realising their undoubted potential and, god forbid, actually win the Six Nations, without him?

His reaction suggests there would be some strong emotions involved, even if his current focus is firmly on putting Kobe on an upward trajectory and taking care of his family.

George Turner
Turner’s physicality in attack and defence makes him a dangerous proposition both sides of the ball (Photo JRLO)

“I really haven’t thought much about that…I am a bit taken aback now,” he says, steadying himself. “I’ll be able to tell you better when it’s actually happening. I take things as they come, rather than looking too far ahead. I am sure I will be so happy for them.”

Scotland’s first two games will kick off at 23:15 and midnight Japanese time, so watching them live could involve some late nights. “I’m sure if I can watch them, I will find a way to get them up somehow.”

It may be Turner is back among his old muckers before long. But although the end of the Japanese regular season is only four months away, he insists he has “not got any plans yet” beyond his current one-year deal.

“Even though I have been here for a while, it still feels early in the season because I am used to long seasons. It might suddenly catch up with me but I’ve not given it too much thought at the moment. I’m just focusing on the here and now.”

I’ve known all the coaching staff there for a long time and they’re good people. We left on good terms; doors haven’t been closed going forward.

Glasgow, significantly, didn’t go out and sign a replacement when he left, despite also losing Brown to retirement, with head coach Franco Smith preferring to accelerate the progress of younger prospects Gregor Hiddleston and Angus Fraser behind Matthews.

If his time in Japan does prove to be for one season only, Turner could conceivably resume his Test career later this year.

“I was aware it could potentially be the end of my international career by coming here, even if I do go back to Scotland or whatever at the end of the season. Other players may come through, or different coaches might see things differently.

“I’ve known all the coaching staff there for a long time and they’re good people. We left on good terms; doors haven’t been closed going forward. But obviously that comes down to me performing, wherever I am, and if I am available.

“I have got to a stage where you can’t change your decisions and you can’t affect things once you’ve made a decision. What is going to happen will happen, you can’t feel bad about it. I don’t worry too much about the future – it just makes it worse.”

Carpe diem, then. Or Ima o ikiru, as they might say in Kobe.

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