When B.C.’s Tyler Hotson made the move from Plymouth Albion,
where he spent the first three years of his overseas career, to London
Scottish, he hoped it would be a fresh beginning. For years at Plymouth,
Hotson battled, sometimes through injury, to maintain a starting place in an
Albion pack that was always fiercely competitive. In fine weather, the Albion
coaches would often move Captain Sean-Michael Stephen into the second-row,
further limiting opportunity for the ambitious locks on the club.
When long-time Albion Coach Graham Dawe was sacked mid-way
through the 2011-12 season, and the club ran into financial troubles, Hotson
decided on making the move to London; it has clearly been a good decision.
The Pro Report was fortunate enough to be live at Richmond
Stadium, the club’s home ground, where London Scottish were hosting the Cornish
Pirates last weekend; Hotson, as usual, featuring in the second-row.
The match didn’t begin well for the Scottish, who
immediately lost a back-row player to a yellow-card. It was also clear
that the massive Pirates scrum had a clear advantage in the opening stages.
What was interesting was to see the degree to which Hotson took charge, during
such troubling moments for his team. Whether is was heaping encouragement
on his front-row at scrum-time, or shouting instructions during close-quarters
forward attacks, it was clear that the World Cup veteran was being asked to
supply the needed leadership, where the club’s forward play was concerned.
London Scottish Director of Rugby, Simor Amor, later
explained: “Tyler is just so knowledgeable in those areas, he is a real
leader on the team and has been great for us so far. He is experienced
and a great role model for so many of our other players, here at the club.
We have many talented players on our team, but often they need to
leadership in specific situations and that’s a very important part of what he
brings.
We were fortunate enough to have Adam Kleeberger here last season,
so we certainly know how brightly top-level Canadian talent shines in the
R.F.U. Championship. Hopefully this league offers them a shop-window to
move on to higher levels of rugby, but whilst they’re with us, we certainly
appreciate all they offer our clubs."
As if to hammer home Coach Amor’s point, Hotson helped lead
a forward drive deep in Pirates territory, which saw him directing traffic over
a three minute period, leading to the team’s first try of Saturday’s match.
Despite that effort, the Pirates raced out to a 24 – 10 lead
by the 50-minute mark and looked to have the match well under control.
But the game would soon turn on its head. The Pirates looked to
catch-and-drive off of a penalty deep in the Scottish half, but Hotson, who had
been reading his opponent’s lineout well all night, stole the throw at the back
of the line and the Scottish went on the attack.
A try off a broken tackle and another off a forward drive
saw the team to within two points of the lead. It took a long penalty kick,
deep in extra time, for the London club to finally pull of the upset; with
Hotson leading the celebration of an enormous upset victory.
Speaking to Tyler Hotson after the match, he had these
comments on his time at London Scottish and his evolving role with the team.
"I’ve been fortunate that this club as asked me to be
in-charge of the team’s line-outs, so I obviously have a role to play there.
Also, I try and be as vocal as I can around the scrums in order keep the guys
fired-up and keep them ready for a big hit. I’ve played in big games
before, so I just try to be a leader when I can be."
Hotson has a personal target of increasing his level of
physicality; something that didn’t appear to be lacking in his game last
weekend. We spoke about his continuing development and the demands of playing
in English rugby’s second-tier.
“I’ve been working on that aspect a lot in training.
Getting my footwork right, my positioning right and then just winning the
collisions. The rest comes down to just attitude really and having the right
head-space switched on. If you can win the collisions against your
opposite number, then you will be ok.
This league continues to improve and it can be so physical;
even more than Premiership games, depending on the day. Rotherham Titans
beat Bristol today and we beat the Cornish Pirates, just to show how
competitive things are this year."
Having played for two different Championship clubs, the
Canadian international is now more convinced then ever that the R.F.U.
Championship and the other overseas leagues frequented by Canadians, represent
important development steps for this country’s elite rugby talent.
“It's a massive opportunity to play over here. I was really
excited to see Andrew Tiedemann given a chance to play at Auch, with Jason
Marshall, Brett Buekeboom, Jebb Sinclair and Jamie Cudmore all overseas, the
Canadian tight five players are really being given a change to develop their
game.
As far as the RFU Championship is concerned, I can
completely attest to it. It's so important to get guys over here and out
of their comfort zones, and obviously it’s worked out really well for me in a
positive way. The more guys we can get over here playing somewhere, the
better."
Tyler Hotosn will continue to help drive his club forward to
bigger things in the South of England, but while he does so, he may very well
be picking up the leadership skills Canada will need in its players, if the
country is to take the next step when the National Team visits London
themselves, for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
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Jeff Hull is a freelance contributor to Rugby Canada. His
Rugby Canada Pro Report can be found regularly on this website, as well as on
Facebook, Twitter and in the Blogosphere.
To contact the author, write to: jhull@rugbycanada.ca
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