Just weeks after calling time on his professional career, former Scotland scrum-half Scott Steele is back in rugby having signed for Glasgow Hawks.
The 31-year-old retired after a serious hip injury, which meant he spent the past 12 months on the sidelines and prevented him from making a single appearance for Edinburgh after signing last summer.
Steele, who won four caps for Scotland in 2021, underwent a hip resurfacing operation in February, but has been pleased with his body’s response to training part-time with the Balgray club.
Steele explained how the move came about.
"I’d been down training at Heriot’s with my brother just to find out how my body would be, first and foremost.
“I didn’t want to commit to anything at that stage and they are pretty well-stacked at scrum-half. I didn’t want to come in and play just for the fact I’ve played pro and stop their progression
“When the guys at Hawks got in touch and said they’ve got a young bunch of scrum-halves who could learn from me, and I can sit as a player/coach,
"As a team in general, they are on a bit of a journey, so it is a bit more of a challenge and I’ll be able to pass on my knowledge.
"And being from Dumfries, I played for the Glasgow [age-grade] sides growing up, so that was another link.”
The call came from former Scotland back-row Adam Ashe, who is now on the Hawks’ coaching staff.
“I’ve known Adam since we played Scotland under-16s together, and we’ve just always kept in touch,” Steele revealed.
With four of the clubs that had Super Series franchises now part of the new-look Premiership, Steele knows everyone at Balgray will have a point to prove. Glasgow Hawks missed out on Super6 when the semi-professional league was introduced, with Ayr the only team in the west.
“They want to fly the flag for Glasgow,” the scrum-half said of his new club.
“They want to prove they deserve to be there and work their way back up towards where they have been in the past.
“They also know it is going to be a massive challenge. These Super Series teams, a lot of them have kept their players, but that is part of the challenge.”
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Steele has trained fully with his new team-mates for the past three weeks but will sit out the season opener against Musselburgh tomorrow.
He hopes to get through another week’s training and earn selection for next weekend’s trip to Selkirk.
“It’s more about my lungs than anything else,” he joked.
“I’m hoping to be available next weekend. My first game of senior rugby was away at Selkirk, so now for my first game after coming out of pro rugby to be back there would be a full circle moment.”
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