January 20, 2005

Cammy retires from Scotland duty

Posted by Editor on January 20, 2005 11:03 PM | 3 comments | Print | E-mail author

Cammy Mather has retired from international duty, but wants to help young players like John Beattie develop
Cammy Mather has decided to retire from Scotland duty in order to "prolong his club playing career".

After re-establishing himself in the Scotland side during the World Cup, Cammy sustained a series of ankle injuries during last seasons Six Nations and the tour to Australia. He's faced a continuous battle for fitness and now that he is back to full health, Cammy aims to dedicate the rest of the season to winning a new professional contract.

He tells Lewis Stuart in The Times: "I was driving through to Edinburgh for the squad session last week in the wind and sleeting rain and realised that I was not looking forward to it.

"I had never felt like that before and that was the point when I realised that it was time to go," he said. "It was the first time I felt as though I had nothing to play for and all I was doing was occupying a place in the squad that should be going to a younger player."

Cammy also told The Scotsman: "At 32, I feel my time is better used bringing through some of the exceptional young talent at Glasgow, and utilising what spare time I have working on a new property business venture. There are so many good young guys coming through now - guys like John Beattie and Andrew Wilson at Glasgow for instance - that if I pushed myself in there I'd feel I was holding back a young player who should be getting his chances now to push for the World Cup."

Cammy is determined he'll eventually return to club rugby to give something back to Watsonians, the club that gave him his chance in the first place. "At the moment I am determined to do whatever I can to bring on the young promising back-row talent in Glasgow, and later I will do the same at Watsonians, whether it is in a playing or coaching capacity or both," he promised.

Cammy's Glasgow coach, Hugh Campbell admitted: "It will be a great bonus to have Cammy involved with us right through the rest of the season, although I think he will leave a hole in the Scotland set-up.

"Cammy's the kind of player who can always be counted on - his level of performance doesn't vary, it's always 100 per cent - and that was why we made him captain. He has been very unlucky with injuries since the World Cup but he always had the ability and commitment to play for Scotland and had circumstances been different he could have had a mass of caps."

You can read Lewis Stuart's article here and David Ferguson's Scotsman article here

Comments
Posted by Envy on January 21, 2005 02:55 AM | Reply to this comment

What can you say? Great servant to the national side of late and deserved every cap he got. Also, he has shown that by not wanting to occupy the blindside anymore becuase of the realisation of younger talent coming through that he is nothing short of a gentleman.

Very impressed by his commitment to Glasgow Rugby and his belief in our younger players. Hopefully his desire to see the likes of Beattie et al develop will be fulfilled.

Posted by A True Warrior on January 21, 2005 05:11 PM | Reply to this comment

Would like to echo the comments above.

Would also like to hope that he gets the new contract he wishes, I remember Snowy saying something very similar about this time last year.

Posted by Jinty on January 21, 2005 11:02 PM | Reply to this comment

Cammy has been great for us - a true professional and a great leader. I hope he gets his contract - he really deserves it and Glasgow needs him.

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