Scott Lawson never stopped hoping for an international recall and retirement has “never entered my head” as he stands only a year from being Scotland’s oldest capped international.
It’s a stretch even to describe the 36-year-old from Biggar as “rejuvenated” as it’s consistency for his club Newcastle over a period of years that has kept the eye of the selectors and led to him being called up with Fraser Brown and Ross Ford both absent, probably from the entire Six Nations campaign.
It means he’s only a year out from equalling the legendary Ian McLauchlan as the oldest player in Scottish international history, but he hasn’t considered that either.
“Just to be mentioned in the same breath is ridiculous, crazy,” he said. “It is one of those strange things that if you sat in a goal-setting meeting it would not be a thing you would bring up, it would not spring to mind, but why not?
“He (McLauchlan) was president when I came into the national side and he was brilliant, he was totally involved and held ultimate respect from all the players because of what he had achieved in the game.
“His big thing was ‘play as long as you can, enjoy it, you never, never go out of it, you are a long time retired’. I think I will keep going like that.”.
Lawson certainly has one eye on his career after playing, as he’s been involved in specialist coaching with the Scottish Academies and is head coach of a local club in the Newcastle area. But he doesn’t feel his age or has any inclination to stop.
“There will come a time when I don’t have a professional contract and will not be able to train and that will either be my decision or the coaches’ decision at whatever club you are at, and the family will also play a part in that.
“But that has not even entered my head at the moment. As far as my official International retirement goes, it is something that would probably never happen. I learned that from Scotty [Murray], he used to say “why would you (retire)?”
And as a professional, he’s looked after himself avidly.
“I play for Newcastle every week and I still aspire to be an international rugby player,” he continued. “I have looked after my performance at the club, kept my standards high, looked after my fitness and my diet.
“I genuinely don’t find it any harder. At Newcastle we had a real shift in the last while in our conditioning, our approach to the game and I’m feeling as good as I ever have done.
“The biggest thing for me is that I still enjoy it. You see some guys at 30 and they’re mentally done, they don’t enjoy the strains of it, the pressures. Some people are built to do it and some aren’t.
“You have to have mental strength to keep doing the same thing over and over again, strive to improve and always try to get better, and for me personally I thrive on that.
“I would say to take all that knowledge I’ve got – I must have played 250 games since my first cap – allied to feeling good physically, I’m really looking forward to the challenge that an intense Six Nations Championship brings.”
And as a proud Scotsman, to be involved in a resurgent national team is all he could have hoped for.
“I was involved briefly with Vern, he moved the team forward and Gregor and the new coaching team have taken that to a different level, you saw that in the Autumn,” he added.
“Watching what the team did in the Autumn, and now to have an opportunity to be fully involved? That is just brilliant.”
