Pountney not too 'Keane' on SRU

Budge Pountney will go down in history as the ‘Roy Keane’ of Scottish rugby.

The parallels with the Ireland football captain’s stormy exit from the national team’s camp ahead of last year’s World Cup are there for all to see.

Like Keane, Pountney – who had consistently put his body on the line for the sport he loved, resulting in the horrific loss of a testicle just a few days ago - had become frustrated at the way the team was being run.

The former Scotland captain quit international rugby with a parting shot at the Scottish Rugby Union set-up, branding it as shambolic and unprofessional.

“Every week before an international is like a fight – a fight to get simple things like water after training, food, kit, studs, whatever.”

Those words might have been uttered by Keane in South Korea; in fact they were Pountney’s assessment of the Scotland rugby set-up.

It seems there was no one single incident which made him do so; more an accumulation of grievances that, added to his injuries, eventually added to a shock walk out.

Like Keane, he chose to make his stand just before a major tournament as Scotland’s Six Nations championship preparations are embroiled in controversy just three weeks before the first ball is kicked.

And like Keane, he has been no stranger to the agony of sporting injury.

The traumatic loss of a testicle, which had been damaged in a club game for Northampton against London Irish, appears also to be a major factor in his decision to quit.

Ironically, the flanker, who was born Anthony Charles Pountney in November 1973, has few ties to Scotland other than his exploits with the national team.

He was born in Southampton and only qualified for Scotland because he had a grandmother who was born in the Channel Islands.

That meant he could play for any of the home nations and chose Scotland because the England set-up, who had capped him at Under-21 level, had deemed him too small at 6ft.

But once he had pulled on a blue jersey, his commitment was never questioned.

Pountney went on to captain his adopted country five times, of which four ended in victory.

However, that reign turned out to be a short one, with behind-the-scenes disagreements with the SRU hierarchy, in light of recent events, most likely a determining factor.

Pountney also missed games through injury, undergoing knee surgery in April 2001 and being forced out of the autumn tests with a shoulder problem.

In February last year he missed the game with Italy in Rome because of abdominal problems and a hip injury and returned to the national squad sporting half a dozen stitches over his eye.

In June, he was forced out of the North American tour because of a sternum joint injury.

Pountney was also a try scorer and his fifth touchdown was the most memorable, coming in the historic 21-6 win against South Africa in November last year, having also scored in the victory against Romania the previous week.

He marked his first appearance as Scotland captain with a try – his second in Test match rugby – as the United States were dispatched 53-6 in November 2000.

He also captained Scotland in the autumn Tests against Australia and Samoa, while in 2001 he led Scotland for the first time in the Six Nations Championship when Italy were eclipsed 23-19 at Murrayfield.

Pountney enjoyed his fifth game as Scotland skipper – the 32-10 victory against Ireland in September 2001- where he notched his third try and was named man of the match.

In 2000, Pountney was Scotland’s pack leader as they won the Calcutta Cup for the first time in 10 years.

He had won his first cap against South Africa in the autumn of 1998, when he also played against New Zealand Maori and Portugal.

He savoured Five Nations Championship rugby for the first time when he was introduced against Wales in February 1999.

Pountney went on to play in all of Scotland’s championship matches that season, twice as a replacement, but starting in the final game against France.

His first Test try was in the World Cup quarter-final against New Zealand in October 1999.

He also appeared in all four of Scotland’s matches on the 1999 tour to South Africa, scoring a try in the final game against Golden Lions.

Budge Pountney

Born – November 13 1973 in Southampton

Club: Northampton Saints and Scotland

Position: Flanker

Weight: 14st 7lb

Height: 6ft

International record: 31 caps

1998 – South Africa

1999 – Wales (rep), England (rep), Italy (rep), Ireland (rep), France, Argentina. World Cup (South Africa, Uruguay, Samoa, New Zealand)

2000 – It, Ire, Fra, Wal, Eng, USA, Australia, Samoa.

2001 – Fra, Wal, Eng, Ita, Ire

2002 – Eng, Ire, Fra, Wal, Romania, SA, Fiji

Points: 25 (5 tries)