Will Hurd 'emotionally overwhelmed' by Murrayfield

Injury deprived the prop of featuring in the Six Nations earlier this year but he got his first taste of the international stage during Scotalnd’s Americas Tour in the summer. But stepping off the team bus at Murrayfield to be serenaded by supporters pre-match on Saturday left a notable impression on Hurd as he spotted his family amongst the crowd.

And the sense of pride flowing through Hurd’s veins only escalated when the national anthem reverberated around the famous stadium. 

“I was involved in the summer but it’s something special stepping out at Murrayfield,” Hurd admitted. “It's different levels in terms of that walking in at the start with the bagpipes and you see everyone around. I've obviously seen it on TV over the years and I came up here as a child when I was younger, but to do it in person was just different in terms of being emotionally overwhelming.

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“I saw my family on the way out as I got off the bus. I can't put it into words, but I mean, it's just so special for me, especially doing the anthem at the start as well. When the bagpipes cut out and everyone sort of kept going, It's just, yeah, it was... I can't put it into words but it was very special."

If Hurd was overwhelmed during the anthems then he was left in complete disbelief as he scored Scotland’s first try of nine after just four minutes. The 25-year-old is hardly renowned for his try scoring ability, which left him confused over how to celebrate, 

“It's not often I score a try,” Hurd joked. “I think that's probably my second ever professional try. So I didn't really know what to do afterwards. My family sort of walked up to me afterwards and went: 'How did you celebrate?' But I didn't know what to do, so I stood up and just sort of ran back. They said you should have celebrated and maybe I missed an opportunity but it comes with experience, I guess, so next time I’ll be prepared.

“They were just immensely proud but they don't really understand rugby as such. They're just happy to see me scoring a try, obviously. I think that's the easier thing to sort of address, not if I've done well or not. So they were just immensely proud, as always. So that was a special thing to see them after."

Hurd was born in Leicestershire but qualifies through his grandmother, who hailed from Labert near Stirling. His mum was influential in getting the prop into rugby and now, more crucially, into playing for Scotland.

"She’s been amazing and that's the connection of the Scotland stuff,” Hurd admitted. “She’s sort of always been at home and pushing me to go to the Scotland side. It's a bit of a divided route in the family, but it's special. 

“Obviously, my grandma passed away many moons ago now. But it’s special just having that sort of resemblance and being able to represent her - I think she loves that. That's probably the biggest thing for her is being able to say that your granny would be up in heaven looking down all delighted. That's the big thing for me and her, having that sort of bond at each game and saying how proud she would be."

Hurd learned the tricks of the trade from legendary English pro Dan Cole at club side Leicester but he had a unique pathway into the Scotland set-up.

"They sort of found me,” Hurd admitted. “It was a bit of a weird one, actually. I was at university at the time and Danny Wilson was the forwards coach and he was good friends with our head coach. And he came into the session our pre-season at university and he sort of got wind that I was Scottish qualified and we chatted and I said that  I'd love to play for Scotland one day, that's sort of my dream.  

"He said ‘if you keep training like this then I can sort see what I can do’. And obviously then a few weeks later, we got an email to say, do you want to come over for under-20s trials? It really got the ball rolling for me. So I ended up going to the Six Nations, then did the World Cup the following summer and now here I am with the seniors.”