Everyone at Mansfield Park was deeply saddened this week, to learn of the passing of Derrick Grant, widely recognised as a very special talent both as a player and a coach, who stood shoulder to shoulder with the very best of Hawick rugby’s favourite sons.
Born on 19th April 1938, the youngest son of Tom and Vi Grant, Derrick was always destined to follow older brothers Jack and Oliver down to Mansfield Park, such was his passion for the game of rugby. However, unlike the rest of the family, Derrick’s path would be via the Hawick Trades, and not the mighty Hawick YM, something for which he would always receive a great deal of good natured stick from his brothers!
Derrick donning the light blue of the Trades came to pass due to his working with club legend Tam Reid in Braemar Knitwear, who was quick to spot Derrick’s potential and took the youngster under his wing. Derrick was keen to challenge himself at the next level and on leaving the semi-junior side the PSA to join Hawick Trades at the tender age of 15, he duly played in the first 19 of the seasons 21 games. It was during that season he was first selected to play for Hawick, against the might of London Scottish! As Derrick would recall, “I was a boy against men”!
Indeed Derrick had already had his first taste of representative rugby at 15 when selected to play for the South of Scotland Schools against their Welsh counterparts. Coincidentally, also in that South Schools side was a young Malcolm Murray a long time friend, and future Hawick RFC President. As Derrick later recalled, “I left school on the Thursday, we travelled to Wales on Friday, played on Saturday, travelled home on Sunday, and I started work in Braemar on the Monday!”
Following his 2 years National Service spent in the Army Tank corp, based firstly at Catterick and then overseas in Germany, Derrick returned home and getting his priorities right courted and married his long time girlfriend Elsie in 1961. Their two sons David and Steven duly arriving in the coming years, with both being born in the month of July, as brother Oliver would muse, outside of the rugby season, by design and not coincidence.
On his return from service, Derrick became a permanent fixture in the Hawick side, going on to play for many successful seasons together with older brother Oliver in the back row of the very powerful championship winning Hawick side of the early 60’s.
He went on to captain the Greens in season 63/64, a year in which Hawick provided 9 players, (6 of whom were in the pack), for the South of Scotland when they faced Wilson Whineray’s mighty All Blacks. On a beautiful day at Mansfield Park in front of a huge crowd, the South gave New Zealand a mighty scare, eventually going down 8-0, to an early first half try and late drop goal. This being the South’s only defeat in a run of ten matches.
Derrick an uncompromising tackler and clever ball player, was obviously starting to catch the Scottish selectors eye, and the following season he was to win his first cap when selected to play in the 16-8 defeat by France at Stade Colombes.
His second cap brought a hard fought 3-3 draw against England at Twickenham, before Derrick’s first win wearing the thistle came against the formidable Springboks at Murrayfield, when together with life long friends, and Hawick team-mates Norman Suddon and Doug Jackson, Scotland ran out deserved winners by 8-5.
Derrick also represented the Barbarians on three occasions, most notably in December ‘67 against New Zealand at Twickenham when, but for a last gasp try by the All Blacks, the Baa-Baa’s would have taken a mighty scalp.
A fine exponent of the shortened game, together with all the tournament medals he won, Derrick was part of the Hawick Sevens, which won the hearts of the Middlesex Sevens crowd in 1963, when they came within a hairs breadth of beating the all conquering London Scottish seven, having come back from three tries down in the final in a grandstand finish.
Consistent performances in the Scottish jersey won Derrick the ultimate accolade of selection for the British Lions in 1966, for their 4 month tour of Australia & New Zealand. Sadly, injury was to restrict Derrick to only 10 games on the tour (2 in Australia and a further 8 in New Zealand) which meant that he wasn’t able to break into the Test side, however the tour would ultimately have a seminal influence on Derrick’s thinking of how the game should be played and coached.
A mark of the man was that even with everything going on during this tour, playing, training and managing his injury, Derrick still found time to fulfil a promise he made to a young Berwickshire School pupil, Norman Anderson, (currently Border League & Kelso Secretary), who had written to Derrick to ask if he could possibly pick up a program from each of the tour matches for his collection!
Derrick would go on to be capped 14 times for his country between 1965/68 before being cruelly forced to heed doctors advice and retire from playing, following his picking up the last of several concussions in his last international against France. He was only 27.
Derrick’s disappointment at having to retire from the game was compounded by the fact that just prior to having to announce his retirement, he had been contacted by Ronnie Dawson the Irish coach in charge of the ‘68 British Lions tour to South Africa, to tell him that he was his first choice for the plane!
Ever the pragmatist, once Derrick got his head round not being able to play anymore, he knew exactly what he wanted to do.
Having experienced being on the receiving end of the New Zealand coaching with the Lions in ‘66, when their physicality in driving and rucking to get beyond the man with the ball, in order to deliver quality ball to their backs inspired him, he set to work.
He switched his focus to coaching, brain storming with his great friend and mentor Hugh McLeod who himself had picked up a great deal of knowledge from his two tours with the Lions in the 50’s. McLeod’s idea’s and thinking brought about the genesis of the championship winning Greens sides of the early 60’s! Whereas Derrick was now going to work on the next decades crop of Hawick players.
Following a season cutting his teeth coaching at junior level, Derrick was asked by Hawick and Scotland legend Robin Charters if he would come down to Mansfield to coach. Charters in Derrick’s words was a clever man and saw how the game was going, and he asked me to pick up the reins, at a time when very few clubs actually had coaches.
Although starting his senior coaching career in season 1971/72 with 4 defeats, the Hawick team began to understand Derrick’s vision and started to buy into his methods. As he would later say, “we worked very hard on our forward play, and of course, with the likes of Jim (Renwick), Alistair (Cranston), and Colin (Telfer), behind the scrum, they could then really start to influence the game.
The result being that in season 1972/73 Hawick won the last unofficial Club Championship, followed by the inaugural official Scottish Championship in season 1973/74 and over the next four seasons Hawick would carry all before them as they retained that title, making it ‘5 in a row’.
During that period Derrick together with Jim Telfer also moulded the South of Scotland into a tour de force in the Scottish district championship, further raising the profile Border Rugby and showcasing the quality of the players.
At one time during this period Derrick was coaching Hawick, the South of Scotland and Scotland U21’s all in the same season.
In 1983 Derrick had a spell as assistant coach to Colin Telfer for the national team, and following the Grand Slam of ‘84 which was presided over by Ian McGeechan and Jim Telfer, Scotland came calling, once again in the form of fellow Hawick man Robin Charters, who was at the time one of the ‘big 5’ Scottish selectors. “There were no interviews back then”, said Derrick, “I was just told, we want you to coach the Scotland side”.
As the successful Grand Slam winning side of ‘84 had broken up, Derrick was charged with rebuilding the Scottish team, and for the ‘86 campaign he brought in a couple of young brothers called Gavin & Scott Hastings, together with David Sole, Finlay Calder, Matt Duncan and Iwan Tukalo to name but a few. The first game of the then Five Nations that January saw Scotland prevail over France at Murrayfield by 18-17 with Gavin slotting 6 penalty goals.
The highlight of Derrick’s three year tenure in charge coming a month later with a clinical and comprehensive 33-6 win over the ‘auld enemy’ at Murrayfield.
He would take Scotland to the inaugural World Cup in New Zealand in 1987 where, but for a controversial late try by Serge Blanco, Scotland would have topped their group at the pool stages, as opposed to finishing runners-up which meant they faced the eventual winners New Zealand in the quarter-finals as opposed to Fiji.
Derrick would remain an influential part of the Scottish coaching set up, for a number of years, none more so than when part of the ‘big four’ together with Ian McGeehan, Jim Telfer and Dougie Morgan. A coaching team he himself said worked very well together to get the best out of the players. Each coach having particular strengths they would bring to the table, with Derrick being particularly renown for his work on the line out and scrum.
He would continue to be involved in various selection or management rolls at HQ until he retired from the game after the 2003 Six Nations campaign.
Derrick was a thinker, a keen analyst and a perfectionist, something he demanded not only from his charges, but equally from himself. His coaching methods were hard and uncompromising, however when the players understood what could be achieved personally and collectively, by following his lead and giving their all, the rewards came in spades.
I think the most fitting eulogy this writer can deliver, and one which says everything about Derrick and those he coached comes from a conversation witnessed at Mansfield Park last year.
In the bar following a game, Derrick was standing speaking to Jim Renwick, Sal Campbell, Sean McGaughey and Jim Hay. My wife and I were going to give Derrick a lift home and I asked him if he was ready to go?
After a moment Derrick finished his whisky, put his glass down and offered his hand to Jim Renwick, saying “You know it was all for you”
At which point there was a stunned silence, before Jim holding himself together replied, “No Derrick, ‘we’ did all for you”.
Derrick was a humble, modest family man who was extremely proud and grateful for all the representative honours which came his way, but for whom the greatest honour would always be pulling on the Green Jersey, following his brothers, and playing for his beloved Hawick. Equally he took great pride and enjoyment seeing those he coached and mentored succeed in the game, never seeking thanks or reward.
Hawick RFC and everyone associated with the club would like to pass on their sincere condolences and thoughts to Derrick’s wife Elsie, son’s David and Steven, daughter-in-law’s Susan and Ann together with their families and friends at this very sad time.
Sleep tight proud Robbie Dye…….💚🏉
MG.
