Road to Scotstoun | Josh McKay

• 15 Feb 2024
• Road to Scotstoun

From the grassroots to Glasgow - let Josh McKay take you down his Road to Scotstoun...

“I grew up in a proper rugby family, really.

“My old man played over 200 games for my local club, Kaiapoi, which is literally across the road from the house my mum and dad still live in to this day. My grandfather used to be the president of the club, too, so pretty much from day dot I had no say in the matter – I was always going to be playing rugby!

“My dad coached my team from under-fives to under-11s, too, so I’d say my family definitely had a massive influence on me getting into rugby and I’m super grateful to them for that.

“I’m obviously biased, but Kaiapoi is just a good, classic rugby club. You run around with your mates, then head in for the post-match feed and a yarn or two with the club stalwarts.

“The guys from my dad’s generation would always come down and support us, as is the case in rugby clubs no matter where you’re from, and it just gave a really good club atmosphere.”

“Christchurch Boys High School, my old high school, is a massive feeder school for teams in New Zealand. I think they’re up there with the schools that have produced the most All Blacks across all-time, and it was through them that I got into the Crusaders academy and New Zealand U20.

“I’ve got to give a huge shout-out to Aaron Webb here, he does an unbelievable job – I think he had something like a 90% success rate of converting schoolboy players he worked with in the Crusaders academy went on to be professional rugby players. It’s definitely the best pathway in New Zealand and I’m very grateful to everyone there.”

“Playing Mitre10 Cup was awesome. It was the first time I felt like I was a professional rugby player – my debut for Canterbury was against Tasman, who are big rivals, and we won 39-0 or something. Brayds [Brayden Ennor] and I were the young bucks on the wing, which was pretty cool. It definitely felt like the start of living out my dream.”

“My last season in Super Rugby was also memorable because it was the season that I finally managed to make my debut for the Kaiapoi senior team.

“That was a massive, massive moment for me, I was so proud to finally make my debut for them. It was always in the back of my mind that I’d never managed to play a game for the seniors, and every time I walked into the clubhouse I’d see my dad’s name up on the list of club centurions, so I knew I had to do it at some point!

“That was pretty special – to finally don the yellow jumper was awesome.”

“Finally landing in Glasgow was exciting, because it had been a long time since signing for the club before I finally got here. I made my debut against the Dragons at the start of December, and it was freezing! That was definitely a reality check!

“I’ve got absolutely no regrets about moving over here though. This club is amazing. We’ve got so much young talent coming through and such a fantastic support, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

“We love playing at Scotstoun. We know that we don’t just represent our friends and family for this club, we represent the full city. It’s a brilliant community to be a part of, and we want to keep on building. We’ve got something special here and we want to give the supporters reasons to cheer every time we get on the field.”