Roland Reid admits he is looking forward to meeting up with his old mentor Ian McGeechan when Edinburgh take on London Wasps in our first warm-up match on Saturday 23 August, kick off 2.30pm.
It is almost seven years ago, since then Scotland coach McGeechan handed flanker-turned-winger Reid his Test debut against Tonga at Murrayfield.
South African-born Reid scored a try with his first touch and went onto feature in the starting line-up against Argentina and the 29-year-old revealed he will always be grateful to the current Wasps director of rugby for giving him his big break in the game.
Roland is in for next season and you can join him in a team that an inspirational capital can be proud of by signing up for a 2008/2009 Edinburgh Rugby Club season ticket. You will get admission to a massive 13 matches at Murrayfield (including the Wasps friendly) for just £150 (Adults). Call 0131 346 5180 to reserve your place at The Castle and make sure you don’t miss out on watching Scotland’s number one team take the next step in its development.
Reid recalled: “The first time we met was quite a long time ago. It was after I had first arrived in Scotland in November 1999 and I got selected to go on the New Zealand Tour.
“Geech initially played me on the openside. I played in all the midweek games over there and it went really well.
“A few months after that, at Glasgow we had a few injury problems in the back-line and I managed to provide some cover on the wing a few times.
“Geech noticed this, Rob Moffat pushed for this as well and I got involved with Scotland by playing on the wing; then things just happened.
“I managed to get my first cap against Tonga which was fantastic and then my first full start against Argentina. That was pretty much how things happened back then.
“But unfortunately I picked up a couple of injuries and things starting changing in terms of how the game was progressing.
“They thought it might be a good idea to move me back to the forwards to try and bring some speed to the back row. Unfortunately things didn’t pan out like I had hoped.”
Following spells down south at both Leeds and London Irish, Reid revealed he has crossed paths with McGeechan a few times since their experience together with Scotland.
He said: “I’ve bumped into him a few times since then and it is always good to meet up with Geech. He is a good man and his player rapport is very good; we get on very well. It will be good to see him again when we play Wasps.”
After featuring in the Scotland A squad that reached the Barclays Churchill Cup Final two months ago, Reid revealed he is now raring to go ahead of the big kick off after suffering a few injury set-backs last term.
He added: “I went out to Churchill Cup after having not played for four months. Unfortunately I tore my hamstring before the end of the season, but went out to the Churchill Cup to get some game-time and it went really well.
“I wasn’t as sharp as I wanted to be, but it was good to get some games. Next season I’m purely focusing on the wing and that has been going really well.
“I’ve been working with Rob Moffat on that and his input has been positive. I’m looking forward to it and hopefully I can produce by scoring some tries.”
