From stocky centre to tough as teak hooker: The rise of Patrick Harrison into the Scotland squad
Patrick Harrison will be looking to get his opportunity for Scotland over the coming weeks
©Scottish Rugby/SNS
Patrick Harrison is one of 11 uncapped players on Scotland’s summer tour of the Americas and a maiden bow for the 22-year-old over the next few weeks would be the highlight of a promising career so far.
The Scots will take on Canada this Saturday in Ottawa, USA in Washington on July 12, Chile in Santiago on July 20 and Uruguay in Montevideo on July 27.
First choice hooker on the trip is Ewan Ashman who has 17 appearances to his name while Edinburgh Rugby’s Harrison and Robbie Smith are both yet to be capped. Dylan Richardson has one cap and that was as a back-rower.
As a result, it will be interesting to see how much game time each of the players gets in the number two and 16 shirts in the coming weeks.
To date, Harrison’s career highlight was making his Edinburgh debut in the Principality Stadium off the bench against the Dragons in March 2021, but that could be usurped soon.
“Patrick is a great kid, someone who has always worked hard and he is a powerful player,” David Changleng, a PE teacher at Peebles High School where Harrison was a pupil, told TRU.
“Coming from a farming family and having three brothers, he was always used to punching above his weight and in the early years of senior school he was a strong, stocky centre usually punching holes in defences.
“We had a school rugby tour to Canada, funnily enough where he is back now, in 2017 and I remember that he really enjoyed that trip with his friends.
“As the kids progress at our school up the age-grades, they then go onto play for Peebles RFC and around those times discussions start about him potentially moving to become a hooker.
“I remember at the time the then local development officer George Blair saying to him that he could transition to that position and become a bit like Ross Ford because neither of them passed it and both loved contact!
“Seriously though, you could see that Patrick had talent and after a break away from the sport when he tried boxing, it was excellent to see him back playing for the club down at Peebles when he was around 17.
“I have followed his career closely since then and I texted him the other day before the trip and he replied to say how excited he was. A lot of people connected with Peebles High School will be excited if he can earn a Scotland cap during July.”
“To have a third name to add to the hall of fame at Peebles RFC would be special”
Njord Maciver, the Peebles RFC president, coached Harrison while he was playing youth rugby at the club.
“The club is delighted for Patrick and what he has achieved so far in his career,” Maciver said.
“If he can go on and get a Scotland cap on this tour he would become just the third player from the club to play for the men’s national side.
“In 2000. Graeme Beveridge made his debut against New Zealand in Auckland [the scrum-half earning six caps in total] and recently Steven Ferguson was awarded a retrospective cap [for playing against Fiji in Suva in 1993], so to have a third name to add to the hall of fame would be special.
“Patrick has been linked with our club since the Minis and then went to play for Peebles High School as all the local kids do before coming back to us at Under-16 level.
“Between Under-16 and under-18/senior level, he took some time out from the sport. We weren’t sure if he was going to come back down to play, but we wanted him to as it was clear that he had real talent.
“During the time he was away, I believe he had a gym-type set up at the family farm and when he came back to rugby he had put on some bulk and was looking very fit. He clearly used that time away well!
“His pals were all still at the club and that’s why he came back and, as one of the Under-18s coaches at the time, it was good to see him enjoying his rugby again.
“I knew from earlier days that he was a good player and by the time of that return he was still a centre, but he was so strong and ran good lines and just went over the top of people. He also bounced out of tackles like a pinball machine.
“My thought was that he would make a good hooker going forward and, thankfully, others at the club and in the regional set-up had the same thoughts and he was soon learning his trade in the front-row.
“In what would have been his final year of Under-18 rugby, he was moved up to the senior Peebles team and got some exposure playing in the back-row with the first XV squad because he was too young to be a hooker at 17 at that level of rugby.
“From there, things went fast for him and it has been exciting to see his development. He is often still down at the club and he and all of his brothers have played for Peebles at one time or another.”
Harrison’s journey from West Linton to the cusp of a cap
How did Harrison get into rugby in the first place?
“I started out playing Mini rugby at West Linton when I was about six or seven,” Harrison explained back in 2021.
“I then moved on to Peebles Rugby Club and I played in the Minis and then the youth section as well as also playing rugby at Peebles High School.
“When I was in S5 [Year 11 & 12] I stepped back a bit from rugby and took up boxing before returning to play rugby for Peebles Colts at the end of the 2018/19 season.
“I was used to playing at centre, but the team needed me to play hooker in one game against Hawick. Ewan Simpson, one of the Borders age-grade coaches, was watching that match and he then invited me along to play in a trial game and things went from there.
“During season 2019/20, I was part of the Scottish Rugby Academy as a Stage Two Academy player training out of Galashiels and I also got some valuable game time with Peebles first XV before lockdown came.
“After that, I earned a [full-time] Stage Three contract with Edinburgh and that was a big boost to me.”
Things have moved on apace from there and another big boost could come for Harrison in the next few weeks.
