As Scotland prepare to take on Japan at Murrayfield this afternoon, Al Kellock, the Glasgow Warriors captain, has said he wants to get the most out of what remains of his long and distinguished career.
Kellock, 32, will win his 56th cap as he partners clubmate Tim Swinson in the Scotland second row, and he has admitted that the knowledge that his days as a Test player are numbered is now a factor that drives him on. He is expected to assume more of a coaching and mentoring role after the 2015 Rugby World Cup, but he stressed that he is still targeting what he can achieve on the pitch before he brings his playing days to an end.
"I want to extract the maximum from the next couple of years, but that's the same in any game I play," said Kellock. "Whether that's an age thing or an experience thing I don't know. But even if you're Chris Paterson you don't get the chance to play at Murrayfield that often. You've got to grab every opportunity.
"It's not necessarily just because of the age I'm getting to. It is just the realisation that it is a short career. The same is true at the club. You have special times and if you can push on and do something special then you will remember it forever." Kellock was controversially left out of Scotland's World Cup squad in France in 2007, but came back to lead the side in New Zealand four years later. To be chosen for the 2015 tournament would be a considerable achievement, but he acknowledged the competition for places is getting more intense, with Swinson and Jonny Gray now in the reckoning.
"I would say the competition has always been tough," he said. "When I started out you had players like Stuart Grimes, Nathan Hines and Jason White on the scene.
"Myself and Jim [Hamilton] have had a fairly decent rivalry over the years, both on and off the park. Now we're looking back and there are these young guys coming up and they are doing really well.
"I know how good they are. But you've got to use that to put yourself forward, not just in the way you play but in the work you do in the gym and training. I enjoy the fact they are pushing me and I enjoy working with them as well.
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