YOU do not really expect burly, bruising front-row forwards to be the souls of patience, but George Turner, for one, has a lot of experience in practising the virtue. On the pitch the Glasgow hooker may get stuck in with as much dynamism as any of his team-mates, but off it he has had to learn to bide his time, first during four frustrating years when he could hardly get a game for Edinburgh, and then more recently as he awaited his chance to play for Scotland in the Six Nations.
Now, though, that time has come, and the 28-year-old seems certain to start for his country against England on Saturday. He has a dozen caps to date, having won his first against Samoa months after moving from Edinburgh to the Warriors in 2017. He has so far been kept out of Championship match-day squads by Fraser Brown and Edinburgh’s Stuart McInally, but with both of them out injured, can expect to be wearing the No 2 jersey at Twickenham.
Having waited so long to take part in the tournament, Turner obviously hopes to make up for lost time, and believes that if Scotland do themselves justice they can win at the London ground for the first time since 1983. “It would obviously create waves if Scotland beat England at Twickenham,” he said. “We came close a couple of years ago (when the teams drew 38-38). We feel we have the firepower to do it, but obviously have to apply it on the day.
“In the Autumn Nations Cup we maybe didn’t do as well as we’d hoped, but we built on every game. We had some great performances. Maybe cut a couple of errors, a couple of silly penalties, and we were right in those other games.
“I think on any day Scotland has a chance to beat any team. It would be amazing, and a statement of intent, to win down at Twickenham. It would be really good.”
It would also be an achievement which Turner cannot even have allowed himself to dream about during those four frustrating years on the fringes of the Edinburgh squad. Although he made his debut for Alan Solomons’ side as far back as 2014, he hardly got a look-in after that. The then head coach may have been unconvinced by Turner’s abilities, but everyone else who had seen him play thought he had the qualities to go far if he ever got the chance to prove himself.
That chance came when he joined Glasgow, initially on loan, and his early promise with his new team was recognised when he was called up by Gregor Townsend for that international debut. Another appearance off the bench against New Zealand followed before 2017 was out, then the following year came the highlight of his Scotland career so far - a hat-trick off the bench against Canada.
He played in the subsequent games on that 2018 tour as well, the loss to the United States and the win over Argentina, then appeared in the 2019 World Cup. Last calendar year there were three appearances, all in the Autumn Nations Cup: the win over Italy and the losses to France and Ireland.
In short, Turner has enough experience at this level to be ready for anything the Six Nations is likely to throw at him, and if he is part of a winning team against England at the weekend it will represent another significant step upwards in a career which has gone from strength to strength in recent years. He is clearly relishing being part of the squad as they prepare for the Championship, the only downside being the fact that he is being kept apart from his family for around a month as the squad are staying together in a bio bubble as a Covid precaution.
It is a particularly difficult situation for Turner at present as his daughter Lily was only born last month, although he admitted there is an upside to this period of isolation as well. “It can be tough when you have a young family, and I had a baby three weeks ago. There are plenty of Zoom calls as I try to help out, but at least I’m getting sleep in the hotel - and maybe feeling a bit guilty.”
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