PEOPLE: Gavin Hastings, ready for battle.

IT will be among the highlights of the Scottish rugby calendar. But when Scotland take on the All Blacks in the maelstrom of a packed Murrayfield stadium on Sunday, there will be more than points at stake.

Scottish pride, the thrill of the touchdown and a gritty mouthful of turf: no-one knows any of it better than the towering frame of the casually dressed figure relaxing in the boardroom of his New Town Office.

For when it comes to Scottish rugby legends, instantly recognisable faces and the kind of calm demeanour required to score a record-breaking 227 points in a Rugby World Cup career - plus 39 conversions or 36 penalty goals notched up during his three World Cup tournaments - Gavin Hastings is in a league of his own.

Now 45, these days the hair is little greyer yet the former Scotland full-back looks as fit, strong and able as he did back in 1995 when he finally hung up his prized international shirt after a sterling career that saw him appear for his country 61 times, captain Scotland and the British Lions, achieve a Grand Slam win and grasp the Calcutta Cup after a memorable roasting of an over-confident English side in 1990.

Surely being a spectator at the greatest rugby show on earth can't really compare with all of that?

Yet as he leans forward across the oval desk in his company's Melville Street boardroom, showing that familiar lop-sided grin, he insists he is more than happy to be a spectator these days.

"For a year or so when I finished I might still have harboured the belief that I could still have been out there competing, but when you've been finished for 12 years, those sorts of thoughts no longer enter my head," he smiles.

"The game has changed out of all recognition. The professional structure came in after I retired, the game has changed quicker than any other major sport. With it being full time, the boys' body shapes have changed. It has become much more physical."

Still, he believes that if he was 20 years younger, he would be out there, competing at that top level in a Scotland strip: "I'm a great believer that if you were good enough in one generation, you'd be good enough in the next one. You can only compare yourself with the guys that we played against. I have no doubts that I would be training differently today but I think that I would have enjoyed being a professional player."

These days "Big Gav" is still never far from the rugby pitch. Whether it's commentating on matches for the BBC, working with sports and event management company Platinum-One or watching his ten-year-old son Adam thundering by in his dad's footsteps, playing in a George Watson's rugger shirt.

He is also the face of next September's Golden Oldies rugby tournament, when more than 4000 rugby veterans from around the world will descend on Edinburgh for an eight-day festival.

And, of course, there's his recent appointment as chairman of Edinburgh - the city's professional rugby squad which is emerging and refocussing after a turbulent summer which saw a run-in between former owner Bob Carruthers and the Scottish Rugby Union.

It's a role at the coal face of the game that Gavin is clearly relishing - even though he is more ambassador than hands-on in the day-to-day running of the club.

"The game has been professional for 12 years but in terms of the crowds that Edinburgh play in front of, they are no bigger now than the average crowds that I and many others were playing in front of 15 years ago. We have to attract more supporters," he says.

The club's current Murrayfield base may not be the solution, but a new, smaller stadium might be.

"At the moment we're playing in a 67,500-seat stadium, so demand for a ticket isn't really there. We can't create a demand for tickets so that people want to buy their tickets early. If we know that in five years' time we are going to get a new stadium part-funded by Edinburgh City council, that's terrific, let's work towards that."

Edinburgh-born, Gavin still lives in the city, as do his parents and his brother, fellow rugby star Scott. Gavin is passionate about the idea that a Capital side can compete at the highest level in the sport.

"I'm a great fan of Edinburgh, we have got one of the great capital cities in Europe. I think it's very important for Edinburgh as a city to have a sporting team - male, female or mixed - that represents Edinburgh at the highest level of competition in Europe," he explains.

"We don't have a single Edinburgh team in soccer, but we do have an Edinburgh team in rugby. So we have to grow the brand so in five or ten years time we are going to be up there, challenging and competing with the best."

He certainly has plenty of clout and an arsenal of sporting contacts to draw on. Indeed, the company he chairs and his brother Scott works for is Platinum One - instigators of Spanish football giants Barcelona's hugely-successful pre-season trip to these shores.

"The senior directors of Barcelona were very keen to come over to Scotland and stay in St Andrews and play golf," he says. "They wanted to train away from the heat of the Spanish summer. It worked out for everyone."

So well, in fact, that he is optimistic that the exercise can be repeated. "I'm sure at some stage they will come back," he nods. "In fact, we are hoping to bring more high profile names to Scotland for pre-season training."

Platinum One also represents a number of football players, organises sports hospitality events and was key in helping Scotland successfully bid to host the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles in 2014. And it's clear that between his rugby commitments, work schedules and personal fitness regime, Gavin is clearly in as much demand these days as he may have been as an international star.

There is also, however, time for his wife Diane, 42, son Adam and eight-year-old Holly, who are both pupils at Watson's, his former school.

And could there be good news for Scotland fans, for Adam appears to have inherited his father's sports genes with a passion for rugby and football.

But which will the Hastings' lad opt to follow? "I'd never dream of steering him away from football to rugby," grins Gavin. "He loves both and he loves competitive sports. And I enjoy supporting him very much."

He'd love to see rugby emerge from the shadow of football and be adopted by more state schools - just as he laments the state of the nation's health and wishes more public cash could be steered into encouraging all sports at school level.

He firmly believes the day will come when more Scots develop an interest in the game beyond the Six Nations, emotionally-charged Scotland-England clashes and, of course, the Rugby World Cup.

"Rugby is a second cousin sport in Scotland," he says. "It's a challenge to change that, but that will come.

"There's an underlying support and depth of feeling for the game across a wide section of the community. It just needs our professional team to be successful."

Sunday will have a particular poignancy for Gavin: his final appearance was in June 1995, when Scotland lost 48-30 to the All Blacks in a World Cup quarter-final in Pretoria.

No doubt the memories will come flooding back, but, as he says: "I can't think that there will ever be a time when I'm not involved with rugby."

"I like the people, I like the sport. I have a lot of friends in it and it has been good to me over the years.

"I just hope I can be in a position to give something back."


Edinburgh Evening News September 21 2007