Sunday Mercurys
FACE TO FACE Craig Chalmers
(from January 11, 2004)
He may still be playing at club level, but Craig Chalmers tells Ben Mottram that the way his international career ended still rankles.
Craig Chalmers won 60 caps for Scotland, was part of the historic Grand Slam winning team of 1990 and even toured with the British Lions during his glittering career.
So the modest surroundings of Sharmans Cross Road are perhaps the last place you would expect to find the famous fly half on a Saturday afternoon.
But this season the 35-year-old is continuing his love affair with the sport in National Division One with high flying Pertemps Bees.
And Chalmers admits he has no plans to hang up his boots just yet, especially white he is still enjoying the game so much.
I want to play for as long as I can, most sportsmen will tell you that your playing days are your best days, he said
Clearly I cant play forever and I think of coaching as a career in the future, but at the moment I am still loving my rugby and still think I have something to offer.
At my age its impossible to set a date when you are going to call tome on it all, you just take it one year at a time.
But at the moment I feel good, its a new year and everyone at the club is enthusiastic.
His burning enthusiasm for rugby has clearly been fuelled by his move to the Solihull based Bees, where he not only rolls back the years on the pitch but also helps develop the next generation of players as part of the coaching set-up.
The only transition that Chalmers has found difficult is to the life of a part-time player
This is the first season in a long time when Im not full-time and it takes some getting used to, he said.
When your turn part-time youve got to cram everything into a couple of nights during the week. Its difficult thing for coaches to try and work around.
Im probably not quite as fit as I was when I was a full time player, but what has helped is that I know I have a job where I go into schools and coach young kids.
Its not just the private schools that I go to, I visit state schools in Birmingham and across the Midlands and some of the children have never even played rugby before.
The move to Bees could not have gone much better for me both on and off the pitch. There is a good coaching set up and a great atmosphere around the club.
Were never going to win a league like National One because youve got to be full-time to do that, but were realistic and if we can hold on to third spot we will be more than delighted.
Before the switch to Bees the Scottish fly half spent two seasons down the M5 at Sixways trying to get perennial Nation Division One bridesmaids Worcester into the Premiership.
He was eventually shown the door at the end of the 2002/03 season after Worcester were narrowly beaten to promotion by Rotherham a decision that came as no surprise.
I knew in my heart that I wouldnt be offered a new contract and at least the move to Birmingham has allowed me to have some input into what is happening on the pitch, said Chalmers.
At Worcester there is a clear structure and, in my opinion, the coach Andy Keast didnt really like strong personalities.
If someone like that cant accept somebody like me, with the knowledge of the game and the experience that Ive got, chirping in at certain times, then its not ideal
If he wasnt there then I wouldve loved to have stayed, but in the end the move was probably the best thing for all involved.
My time at Worcester was a bit frustrating to be perfectly honest, especially n the second season when I wasnt getting picked for the key games that we lost.
I was also disappointed with some of the decisions that were made, but as a player you just have to accept it and get on with it.
The one thing I will never forget are the supporters, who were brilliant to me. When they came up to Birmingham for the derby a few weeks ago they were still really good to me.
Worcester is a good little club and I really hope they get promoted. I still have friends there and Cecil Duckworth, the chairman, has put a lot of money into the club and deserves success for the amount of hard work put in.
Chalmers has enjoyed a wonderful career at the very highest level but admits that the way his international career ended still rankles him, He had been building himself up for a climax to his Scotland career at the 1999 World Cup when he was abruptly dropped from the team and never represented his country again.
The way it was all handled still upsets me, the way I was treated at the end after ten years of service at international rugby was very, very disappointing, said Chalmers.
I didnt get picked for the World Cup but I should have done. I told them exactly what I thought of them in no uncertain terms, there was no way I should have been left out of that squad.
Even though I came to play for Worcester I still thought I should be involved for my country and they never gave me a reason why I was dropped, they werent big enough.
I do wish it hadnt ended the way it did, my reaction and the way I felt was natural.
When you dont get an explanation it makes things worse, it was as if they wanted me out, but whats done is done and I need to keep looking forward and staying positive.
With his international career over the fly half has been left equally frustrated watching his country in recent years, especially by the Scottish performance in the recent World Cup in Australia. Watching the World Cup was upsetting and even though we got to the quarter finals to playing Australia we were very average in the group games, he said
We lost to a poor Australian team, one of the poorest Ive seen when you compare it to the team that played in the mid- 1990s when they were a quality side.
In my opinion Scotland have gone backwards in the last three years and as a Scotsman it has been really hard to watch.
I still like to think that we could get back to where we were in the early 1990s when we were challenging, competing and winning against the big sides, but it will take some work.
Scottish rugby is currently undergoing a major revamp with the introduction of the Fortress Scotland policy under the new coach Matt Williams.
Williams wants the Scotland squad for the next World Cup to consist solely of players attached to he home-based professional teams and has called on clubs to follow the national teams template by doing more to encourage home reared talent something Chalmers is delighted to see.
I can see where the new coach is coming from and the ideal scenario would be to have all the Scottish players playing in the Districts and available on his doorstep, he said
When Chalmers does secede to retire he will have plenty of great games to look back on with fond memories none more so than his debut for Scotland in 1989.
Winning your first cap for your country is always special and OI managed to drop a goal and score a try against Wales, it doesnt get much better than that, he said
But away from the international stage I have really fond memories of my time at Melrose, its the club where it all started and will always be my club no matter who else I play for.
Chalmers makes no secret of his desire to move into coaching when he does call time on his playing days an would love nothing more than to receive a call from Murryfield asking him to get involve with the Scottish Rugby Union.
I would obviously love to get back to Scotland and help the young Scottish players but the transition from playing to coaching is a hard one and Im only 35, he said.
Ive had a really food start to my coaching career here in the Midlands and Im determined to give something back to the game that has given me so much.
