All at CURUFC were saddened to hear that Ken Scotland, one of the all-time CURUFC greats, died last week aged 86. Scotland, the former Scotland and British & Irish Lions full back had already won four caps by the time he headed to Cambridge. Yet, however much the Scottish selectors admired his qualities, it took him time to break into the Light Blues team after his arrival at Trinity College in 1957 after doing his National Service with the Royal Signals at Catterick.
Speaking to The Scotsman newspaper in 2017, 60 years on from his debut for Scotland, he recalled how going to Cambridge was a close-run thing.
“I hadn’t taken Latin at school, and I needed a Latin qualification to get into Cambridge. A sergeant in the Army Education Corps tutored me and, just a week before the deadline, I passed my exam and could go to Cambridge,” he recalled.
“In the freshers trial at Cambridge, I played simply the worst match of my career. I still got into my college team, but I had gone from first-choice full-back for Scotland to third-choice for Cambridge and, had it not been for London Scottish offering me games, I would not have played much”.
It was a pretty special vintage that year and the depth and quality of rugby at CURUFC was very strong. He had to content himself with a place in the LX club team while the South African David Millard held down the full back berth for the big game against the touring Wallabies. He also had two Welshmen, Haydn Davies and Allan Prosser-Harries, temporarily ahead of him in the pecking order. And that was despite helping Francis Walker’s LX Club team to beat their senior Light Blue counterparts before going on to beat the Greyhounds at Iffley Road.
There was a funny side to his predicament. Scotland was named in the London Scottish team to face Cambridge University, but two of the Light Blue full-backs ahead of him both got injured and, although he was listed at full-back for Scottish in the match programme, he actually played for Cambridge.
His loss of form after his arrival at Grange Road not only cost him a ‘Blue’ in 1957, but also his place in the Scottish side at the start of the 1958 Five Nations. An injury to Robin Chisholm at Lansdowne Road against Ireland earned him a recall for the Calcutta Cup match at Murrayfield and he never looked back after that.
Scotland would go on to win Blues in 1958 and 1959 and was captain in 1960. He toured with the British & Irish Lions in 1959, playing in five of the six Tests against Australia and New Zealand. The New Zealand Rugby Almanac rated him the Lion “most likely to win a match for his side” and named him as one of its five players of the year.
This is how he described his arrival at Cambridge in his recent autobiography, ‘Ken Scotland’:
“During October in my first term, I played three games for Trinity and had one call-up for the LX Club. London Scottish came to my rescue and invited me to travel and play for them on Saturdays. I played for them against Bedford at Richmond and the following week I was picked to play against . . . Cambridge University! It was not to be, however because of injuries I was claimed by the University and I ended up in the unusual position of appearing in the programme for one side but actually playing for the opposition.
“For the rest of the term, because of injuries, I played regularly for the LX Club and had one further game for the Blues. Not that these games affected my overall position in the full-back pecking order because I was not selected for either of the sides to play Oxford. Then, however, an injury intervened again.
“David Millard pulled out of the game at Twickenham which allowed Allan Prosser-Harries to get his Blue. I played for the LX Club at Oxford against the Greyhounds. Back home at Christmas I played at full-back for the senior side in the first Scottish trial.
“Back at Cambridge in January (1958), it was like the start of a new season. With both Millard and Prosser-Harris leaving in June, I was now in pole position. I found the new captain, Geoff Windsor-Lewis, very supportive and I was able to secure a regular place in the team.
“During October and November, concentration on rugby, and the game against Oxford in particular, was all-consuming. The weekly pattern was to train on a Monday, have tea together on the Tuesday, play a match on the Wednesday, train on the Thursday, tea on the Friday and play a match on Saturday. Sunday was a day of rest.
“The preparation for, and the build-up to, the game against Oxford was much more intense than anything I had previously experienced. I was fitter that I had ever been and was now surrounded by players who knew exactly what was expected of them and who had confidence in each other.
“The 1958 game, played in front of a capacity crowd at Twickenham, was a very convincing win for Cambridge. Our forwards were outstanding and the backs scored four tries. While everyone played to their limits, the leadership of our captain, Geoff Windsor-Lewis, both during the game and, more importantly, through the long build-up, could not be over-estimated"
While Scotland didn’t make it into either the team to play the Wallabies or Oxford, another international in the LX Club side that embarrassed Downey’s team was the Irish back row forward, David MacSweeney. He won his only Irish cap against Scotland in 1955 and arrived at Cambridge to study psychology at the age of 27. He eventually won three Blues, but not before he too had earned his spurs in the LX Club side.
Cambridge 3-6 LX Club - Grange Road - 30 October, 1957
Cambridge: A Prosser-Harries; P.R Mills, G Windsor-Lewis, A.B.W Thomas, R.J.N Leonard; J.P Horrocks-Taylor, S.R Smith; W.J Downey (captain), J.R Hockey, R.M James, B.R Loveday, M Horwood, R.P Thompson, K Bearne, R.R.F Scott
LX Club: K.J.F Scotland; H Eden, P.J Watson, M.E Wates, P.E Copus; M.P Arscott, B.H Mead; J Sowels, R.M Wilson, J.J Rainforth, C.R Potter, D.R.J Bird, D.A MacSweeney, F.H.D Walker (captain), D McKay
The early 60s created a degree of pressure for the teams who followed. Cambridge won four matches in succession between 1960-3 and were looking for a record-breaking fifth in 1964, only to stumble to their worst defeat in 13 years.
When Scotland captained the Light Blues at Twickenham, in ended up as a thumping. By modern standards, 13-0 isn’t much of a scoreline, but in the sixties a 13-point difference represented a considerable defeat.
They fielded a side, captained by Scotland, of whom 10 were present or future internationals. It says something about the national selectors of the time that only three of them, Scotland, Waddell and Brian Thomas, made it into double figures for international caps.
There was also an early title in 1960 when a Cambridge team composed mainly of Scots won the Melrose sevens on a rare excursion for the university. Scotland enjoyed the unusual experience of playing against his younger brother, Ronnie, when his side met Heriot's FP in the final. Thee start of the 1960-61 season also brought more serious business as Cambridge played the touring South Africans a month before the Varsity Match. They threw the ball around willingly before the weight and experience of the Springboks told with two tries in each half in a 12-0 win against a home side boasting nine players from Christ’s.
CAMBRIDGE 0-12 SOUTH AFRICA – Grange Road, 8 November, 1960
Cambridge: K.J.F Scotland (captain); R.J.B Hoare, M.R Wade, A Godson, W.M Bussey; G.H Waddell, T.C Wintle; A.C.W Boyle, M.T Wetson, F.D.B Wrench, V.S.J Harding, B.E Thomas, R.B Collier, R.C Michaelson, J. C. Brash
South Africa: G.J Wentzel; M. J.G Antelme, J.L Gainsford, D.A Stewart, H.J van Zyl; K Oxlee, P de W Uys; J.L Myburg, G.F Malan, P. S du Toit, A.S Malan (captain), H.S van der Merwe, J.P.F Botha. A.P Baard, H.J.M Pelser
Scorers: Tries: H.J Pelser, A.S Malan, J.L Myburg, H.J van Zyl
Referee: Dr N.M Parkes (London Society)
Scotland spent a large part of his working life with the National Trust of Scotland, looking after grand dwellings and majestic properties. As a consequence, he played for more than 30 different teams across Britain, from Heriot’s FP to Cambridge University and Ballymena to Lurgan and Leicester, as well as Aberdeenshire. As well as being one of the most innovative rugby players of his era - he was inducted into the Scottish Rugby Hall of Fame - Scotland also played cricket for his country.
Our thoughts and condolences are with Ken's widow Doreen, all his family, friends and teammates.