Alastair_McHarg
Alastair McHarg
Scotland international rugby union player
Alastair McHarg (born 17 June 1944) is a former Scotland international rugby union player. He played at Lock for the national side between 1968 and 1979.[1]
| Birth name | Alastair Ferguson McHarg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | (1944-06-17) 17 June 1944 (age 79) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Irvine, Scotland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 15 st (210 lb; 95 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Irvine Royal Academy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notable relative(s) | John McHarg (brother) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Christine McHarg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | Five | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Director of Rugby, Reading (since 2005) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amateur career
Like Ian McLauchlan and Gordon Brown who were his contemporaries, McHarg was an Ayrshire man.[2]
McHarg played for Irvine since his local club's formation in 1962, before going on to play for West of Scotland and London Scottish.[1][2]
He trained and very occasionally played for Sidmouth RFC when not in use by Scottish.[3]
Provincial career
McHarg played for Anglo-Scots and captained the side.[4]
International career
McHarg won 44 caps for Scotland[1] and also frequently partnered Gordon Brown in the Scottish second row.[1]
Richard Bath writes of him that:
- "At just over 15 stone and just 6ft. 4in., Alastair McHarg was hardly the identikit second row forward, even in the days when they didn't exactly breed 'em huge... A tough and notoriously abrasive Glaswegian, McHarg once joked that his entire playing career was shrouded 'in red mist'. McHarg though, fails to do himself justice with that remark... His speed around the park was perfectly suited to the mobile rucking game played by the Scots, whilst his timing and nous made him a safe bet at the line-out and one of the best number two jumpers of his generation."[1]
Allan Massie says,
- "He was probably the best line-out player Scotland have had. He timed his jump beautifully and could out-leap most of his contemporaries." – but was never selected for Lions.[6]
Massie also valued his entertainment value as much as his skill.
- "[o]f the famous Scottish front five of the early Seventies, Alastair McHarg was the card, the character, the most unorthodox, the greatest fun to watch. He was tall and rangy, a buoyant athlete, a little on the light side for a modern lock... His value in the broken play was incalculable."[6]
Despite his skills, there were those who thought that McHarg would have been better as a Number 8.[6]
Administrative career
McHarg has been the Director of Rugby at Reading since 2005.[7]
Coaching career
He coached at Sidmouth RFC.[3]
Alastair still helps run his family business, Anglo Agriparts, selling Massey Ferguson, Ford New Holland, John Deere, David Brown, Fiat and Case IH classic tractor parts online.[8]
- Bath, p147
- Massie, p182
- "MEMORIES FROM SIXTY YEARS IN RUGBY ARTICLES | ALASTAIR McHARG & Co". sidmouthrfc.co.uk.
- "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
- Tomlin, Steve (15 September 2019). At Least We Turn Up: The Biography of John Pullin. Amberley Publishing Limited. ISBN 9781445680767 – via Google Books.
- Massie, p180
- "Reading RFC". Archived from the original on 6 March 2005. Retrieved 2 January 2005.
- "Meet The Anglo Team". www.anglo-agriparts.com.
- Sources
- Bath, Richard (ed.) The Complete Book of Rugby (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ISBN 1-86200-013-1)
- Massie, Allan A Portrait of Scottish Rugby (Polygon, Edinburgh; ISBN 0-904919-84-6)
- Alastair McHarg – tribute by the Scotsman newspaper
- Ferguson, David (13 January 2005). "McHarg: Mackay should've been fired 'two months ago'". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
- Sporting Heroes profile