The thrill of Hampden

As Glasgow Warriors prepare for their 1872 Cup derby with Edinburgh Rugby at Hampden on Sunday 22 December, we look back at the rugby memories from the national football stadium, in years gone by.

This week, glasgowwarriors.org speaks to Warrior #100, Chris Cusiter.

Chris’s rugby journey took him to Hampden when he started at scrum-half for Scotland, alongside Donnie MacFadyen who we spoke to a fortnight ago, against Australia on Saturday 20 November 2004. This was the fourth time Scotland had played the 2003 World Cup finalists in as many months that year.

Though at the time Cusiter was playing for the Border Reivers, he had won his first professional cap for Glasgow Warriors a year earlier against Swansea, on Friday 10 May 2002. The year after the Hampden match he was named in the British & Irish Lions squad to tour New Zealand. He then returned to Glasgow Warriors in 2009

Cusiter carries on the story: “I had only been to Hampden once before in my life – my best pal and I had driven down to Glasgow from Aberdeen to watch the league cup final between Celtic and Aberdeen. That was in 2000, so we must have just passed our driving tests.

“Sadly the Glaswegian team got the upper hand that day but I’ll be hoping for the same when the Warriors take on Edinburgh at the iconic stadium next month.

Glasgow get the upper hand

“It was a thrill to play for Scotland against Australia at Hampden. We had already played them twice that year on the summer tour down under. I had grown up watching George Gregan play. Then I had my first experience of playing against him and a few other legendary Australian players. The likes of Stephen Larkham, Joe Roff, big Wendell Sailor [pictured below]! But most importantly, we were quite familiar with their team by the time they came to Glasgow.

“I think we had our moments during the game but didn’t have the nouse to beat them. [Cusiter had a particularly good write up from the match]

Hampden was a thrill

“Playing in new stadiums was always a thrill and Hampden was no different.

“A Glasgow crowd is always loud and passionate and I remember feeling it that day.

“With what the Warriors have accomplished last season, this should be an incredible opportunity to showcase their quality in front of a big crowd. I’ll be there in spirit and cheering the boys on.”

Stats Profile

From Top of the Moon

Chris Cusiter debuted against Swansea in the Welsh-Scottish League on 10 May 2002 at Hughenden. Then wasn’t spotted again in a Glasgow jersey until 2009!

In fact, there was a gap of 7 years, 3 months and 25 days between Chris’s first and second games for Glasgow.

That was the longest ever break between matches for the club until Richie Gray started his second spell. It was 8 years, 3 months and 11 days after finishing up the first time round.

Chris was the 31st player to captain the Warriors in the professional era. He is one of seven scrum halves to do so – Andy Nicol, Graeme Beveridge, Colin Gregor, Mark McMillan, Henry Pyrgos and Ali Price being the others.

He started 81% of his games for Glasgow. This is the highest percentage of starts for any Warriors’ scrum half with 50 or more appearances for the club.

He is one of four Lions’ scrum halves to play for Glasgow during the pro era – Andy Nicol (Lion #659); Chris Cusiter (#729); Mike Blair (#751); and Ali Price (#843).

He had more try assists than any other player in his final season with the club in 2013/14, as he helped steer Glasgow and Finn Russell in some of his earliest appearances at stand off to their first ever final.