Jack Webster on 300 appearances for Berwick and support for Scotland

Some in Berwick will be cheering on Scotland on Saturday while others will be looking for Steve Borthwick’s England to win the much-anticipated Guinness Men’s Six Nations clash at Murrayfield.

A divided support then, but last weekend everyone at Berwick Rugby Club was united in supporting one team and one man in particular: Jack Webster.

The first XV were hosting Gordonians in a crucial National Two match at Scremerston and stand-off Webster was playing his 300th match for the team.

Berwick went on to win the game 29-24 with a bonus point and a good recent run now sees them just about - though not mathematically - safe from relegation with a couple of games to go.

“The way we fought hard to get the victory last Saturday probably shows the spirit we have here at Berwick and why I have loved playing for the club for so long,” Webster, now 33, said.

“We don’t have a big catchment area or lots of players coming in from elsewhere to play for us, we never have, so we have to rely on local players and players that live nearby and I think that brings us all together and makes us play for each other.

“There are no stars at this club, it is always about the collective and while there have been a number of ups and downs over the last 15 years or so while I have been involved, the highs far outweigh the lows and we have had some great times.

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“Due to our geography, every away game pretty much for us involves a long bus trip and guys have to make a lot of sacrifices when it comes to jobs and families to be away for hours on end every second Saturday.

“That makes any away win we get all that bit sweeter while at home we always have a great support down watching us and that is not lost on the players.

“This club means a lot to us, the coaches, the volunteers, everyone involved and the local community and we are proud to represent Berwick - and I am proud to have played 300 games for the first team with great support from my family and others.”

Having played football in his youth growing up in Ayton in the Scottish Borders, Webster took up rugby when he went to study at Longridge Towers School.

“I was playing football for one of the Eyemouth junior football teams as I went into senior school at Longridge, but they folded and, having been introduced to rugby at school, age 13 myself and a couple of pals decided to head along to rugby training at Berwick,” Webster, who now works for Frontier Agriculure, recounts.

“The first few sessions were great and I started playing for the youth teams at the club soon after.

“I played right the way up through the age-grades to the under-18s and I made a lot of friends then who I am still close with now.

“When I was in my final year of school in 2008/09 and aged 18 I was still playing for the colts, but I was called up to the senior first XV and that was a bit of a shock to the system!

“I was due to be on the bench, but s late re-jig meant that I started on the wing against Langholm in January 2009. I don’t remember too many specifics about the game, but I do remember I smashed my nose pretty badly and thought ‘welcome to senior rugby!’.”

In his first year after school, Webster was living in Berwick and taking a college course in journalism in Edinburgh and he built on his first few first team games from the season before.

He soon took a temporary job locally which became permanent and, a few years later, he relocated to Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire for work.

“When I made that move I thought that my time playing for Berwick might have been on hold, but the club were really good and helped me out with travel costs which meant I could head back up the road at weekends and play,” Webster said.

“I would drive the three or four hours up and the same distance back for two-and-a-half years between 2014 and 2017. At times the weekends were long, but the club had shown faith in me and were supporting me and I wanted to pay them back.

“As I say I started for the club on the wing and played there for a few years, but I am not sure I was cut out for that because - and it still gets talked about now - in my first full season I had played regularly there and didn’t score one try!

“It was about 2012 when I first got my chance at stand-off up at Dunbar after Gareth Hill had gone down ill in the warm-up. I have been in and around 10 ever since and have really enjoyed it."

He was at 10 for Berwick’s most famous recent day - April 27, 2019 - but was on the sidelines watching through his fingers as the team mounted an amazing comeback to win the National Shield final versus Greenock Wanderers.

“I had been subbed when we were struggling which I wasn’t delighted with at first, but then as I was watching the boys fightback my smile soon came back,” Webster says of the say they turned around a 35-11 deficit with less than 20 minutes to play to win after extra-time 57-35.

“Andrew Skeen [the former Scotland Sevens cap] really drove things on that day and it really is a bit of a blur, it was such a special feeling to win for Berwick at Murrayfield.

“Silverware is always special, but for me over the last 300 games it has been the camaraderie that has kept me coming back for more.

“Jim Turner, who is now in his 90s, still does the announcing at our home games and he and many others are the heartbeat of the club, as players we just try to do our bit.”

And who will Webster be supporting in the Calcutta Cup match at the weekend?

“My accent may say differently, but I was born in Stirling and am 100 percent Scottish, so Scotland all the way,” he concludes with a smile.