Towering at more than two metres tall it’s impossible to believe that Alastair Kellock used to take a box to stand on when he went to BT Murrayfield to watch Scotland as a boy.
And yet when he was first falling in love with rugby, particularly of the navy blue and thistle variety, Kellock needed a little help to see what was going on.
He recalls: “I used to go to the games with my parents and my uncle. We’d meet at a local hotel with all the family coming from different areas and I’d hang onto my dad’s coattails as we walked from there over the bridge, where it was jam-packed, to the ground.
“I used to take a box with me to stand on so that I could see what was going on, on the pitch. I would stand near one of the barricades. I grew up from pretty young going to see every game, they were brilliant memories. I don’t need the box anymore!” THE FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP It was not long until Kellock had outgrown that box and was making a name for himself in the second row, firstly at Edinburgh and later Glasgow Warriors.
At Edinburgh he first played with Scott Murray, and following a Scotland debut in 2004, he made his Championship bow in 2006 alongside Murray in the second row.
It was a memorable campaign for the Scots, beating France for the first time in seven years and also getting the better of England – and for Kellock it was a year in which learned a great deal.
He said: “In my first Championship we beat England and France at home.
“Sean Lamont got a try from a driving maul against France. We’d driven it from about 25 metres out and he came in and nicked it off somebody. We still give him a hard time for that, I don’t know why he was even in there, but he knew how to sniff out a try. I don’t think it was even his wing, he came from the other side!
“Then the England game was unbelievable. The whole hype before it, that’s when you realised how big a game it was and how much was going on in and around. So that was great to be a part of.
“That year, in 2006, was the year that Scott Murray got sent off against Wales, so Nathan Hines came back from semi-retirement.
“Scott MacLeod and I played against England in the second row with Nathan on the bench, and then the next week against Ireland both Scott and I lost our place. Nathan and Scott Murray started. I learned an awful lot of lessons in 2006, from the highs of beating France and England to the lows of losing my jersey.”
Kellock even recalls the moment he found out he had been dropped to the bench, getting the bad news with fellow newbie Ally Hogg.
“The way it used to work was that Frank Hadden, the coach, would phone your hotel room if you were going to be dropped,” he added.
“The phone would go at half seven. I was rooming with Ally Hogg and the phone went at half seven and we were both looking at each other thinking ‘it must be for you’. It was for me!
“So I didn’t play against Ireland, I sat on the bench for 80 minutes. I got sent down with about 15 minutes to go and as a sub you make yourself as big as possible just in case they’ve forgotten about you but it didn’t work.”
FROM MENTEE TO MENTOR While Murray kept him out of that Ireland clash, he was a valuable mentor for Kellock – a role the future skipper went on to play with the Gray brothers a number of years later.
He said: “I mentored Richie and Jonny. Richie first, and he took my Scotland jersey, and then Jonny who took my Glasgow jersey.
“I like to think it was because I was a good mentor, not just because they were a lot better than me! I really enjoyed that part of it, those two in particular were guys who I enjoyed working with.
“Richie undoubtedly made me a better player because what he was really good at were things I could work on. The gym work we did before the 2011 World Cup helped me get as strong as I’d been. I tried to help him with some elements in the game and the lineout.
“A lot of it when you become a senior player, there’s a reluctance at first and then you realise that it’s what you should be doing because it’s what guys have done for you, guys like Scott Murray for me.”
BREAKING HIS TRY DUCK Kellock won 56 caps in all, captaining his country on ten occasions – and the first of those in the Championship coincided with his sole Test try, away to France in Paris.
He remembers it fondly: “The only try was from the halfway line, with a couple of sidesteps and a chip.
“Sadly, it was actually from under a metre in the first game I’d led on in the Championship! It wasn’t a try to write home about but it was my only international try so I need to embellish it.
“It was a nice game to get it in though because it way my first game as captain in the Championship.” POST-RUGBY ROLE Now part of the commercial arm of Scottish Rugby, Kellock’s matchday role is busier and longer than it was in his playing days as he hosts events and runs the Scotland Business Club.
At BT Murrayfield long before play gets underway, and still working several hours after the final whistle, it keeps the self-confessed ‘terrible spectator’ busy.
That means he still has plenty of interaction with the players and he’s always available to give any advice, particularly when it comes to the importance of every cap.
He added: “You treasure the ones towards the end more than the ones at the beginning because you know there’s an end point coming. I thought I’d lost my jersey and didn’t think I’d play again in 2008 and 2009.
“I’d had a couple of injuries and not been involved for a while and my wee girl was six weeks old when I was recalled (in 2009). I told my wife to bring her along because I thought it might be the last one I played.
“I was lucky it wasn’t and I went on to get a good few more but when you realise it won’t go on forever, you treasure them a little more. That’s a key message I try to give to some of the young guys.”
If November was anything to go by, the 2018 NatWest 6 Nations could certainly be one to treasure for Scotland’s current side. Kellock will be able to watch on knowing he played a role in helping bring through a talented generation.
