THREE tries in two matches represents a decent return in one's first outings since recovering from a dislocated shoulder and Steve McColl, Leeds Carnegie's Scottish full-back, is relishing tomorrow's encounter with Gala in the British & Irish Cup in Yorkshire.
When McColl joined Edinburgh Rugby's academy in 2007, he was viewed as one of the hottest prospects in the country. The Dunfermline-born player had already turned out for Scotland Under-19 on numerous occasions and been part of the Scotland Sevens squad in the IRB events in Dubai and South Africa.
In 2008, he played in eight matches for Scotland Under-20 in the RBS 6 Nations and the IRB World Championships before being sent on 'loan' to Doncaster Knights to get some senior rugby under his belt.
He recounts: "I originally went to Doncaster for one year with a view to returning to Edinburgh, but I broke my ankle there and missed two months of the season.
"After the campaign I was going to head back up the road, but Lynn Howells wanted to keep me there and I was offered a three year contract. It seemed best for me at the time to be playing in a tough league week in, week out and learning as a player and a person. I loved my time with them and converted to full-back whilst there."
His form in the English second tier alerted near neighbours Leeds Carnegie to him after they were relegated from the top flight and in the summer of 2011 he moved to Headingly.
In his first pre-season match for his new club he tore a muscle in his shoulder, but it went undetected and it was not until about 10 matches later that it was diagnosed that he needed an operation.
Four months on the sidelines followed, but he came back and in 2012/13 he played 25 matches in total and was named player of the year as they reached the promotion semi-finals before losing to eventual winners Newcastle Falcons.
McColl dislocated his other shoulder at the end of last term and he said: "I was gutted, I couldn't believe I was facing another spell out. However, I worked hard and it was good to get back into action at the end of September.
A start and a try came in the 29-28 Greene King IPA English Championship win over Bedford Blues and then he scored two tries as they defeated Ealing Trailfinders 64-3 earlier this month.
He was rested as Leeds started their British & Irish Cup campaign last weekend with a loss at Bristol, but he will be involved against Gala at Clifton Park.
"The guys have been asking me what sort of game it will be on Sunday and I have said 'teams from the Borders are always tough'. Like us they lost their opener and it should be a cracking match, I am excited to play Scottish opponents," he concluded.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article