Nicol reveals World Cup woe

Glasgow Rugby scrum-half Andy Nicol revealed how agonisingly close he came to making his World Cup dream come true.

The former Scotland number nine, who announced he is to retire from the game at the end of the season, never quite made it into a World Cup squad.

The closest he came was in 1995 but yet another injury ruled him out and the ex-Bath player admitted that it still rankles.

Nicol said: “Not playing in the World Cup was the one disappointment in my career.

“I wouldn’t say it was a regret because that’s too strong a word. In 1995 I battled all year to get back from a cruciate injury and then I broke down again three games into my comeback and the story behind that was bizarre.

“Dougie Morgan and Duncan Paterson were down at Bath to watch me play for the second team and at half-time they made the decision that I was fit enough and ready to go to the World Cup.

“But 10 minutes into the second half, I injured my medial ligament and that put me out. So that was a tough one to take.

“The World Cup is the highlight of rugby these days and it’s the stage I’ve never been on but it’s one of those things.

“I was also close to being chosen in 1991 but missed out. At the time, most people thought I would get to go to the next two or three but here I am, about to retire and I’ve never been to any.”

Despite missing out on a World Cup appearance, Nicol has had an outstanding career and the veteran revealed that leading Scotland to their last Calcutta Cup win over England rated alongside Bath’s European Cup win in 1998 as his most memorable moments.

He said, “The highlight of my career was the game against England in 2000 just because of the circumstances.

“We hadn’t beaten them for a long time and no one gave us a chance so that was an incredible high.

“But the greatest achievement was winning the European Cup with Bath. To go to France and beat the reigning European champions in their own country was a great achievement and one I’m proud of.

“The day we won in Bordeaux is never to be forgotten.”

Nicol claimed the timing of his retirement was the correct decision for him at this stage of his career and said: “I always wanted to go out this way.

“I wanted people to ask, ‘why is he retiring?’ rather than, ‘why doesn’t he retire?’. It’s a subtle difference and I’m happy going out on my terms.”