IT took Dave Cherry 12 years in senior rugby to reach the top of the mountain, and when he finally got there, he was delighted to find that the view was everything he had hoped it would be.
Admittedly, being part of the Scotland team which secured a first win at Twickenham since 1983 was a particularly glorious day for his first cap, but the following weekend’s frustrating loss at home to Wales didn’t dampen his overall exhilaration – and as he looked ahead to Sunday’s crucial Six Nations clash against Ireland at Murrayfield, the 30-year-old hooker reflected that his journey should reassure any aspiring young player that dreams can come true, as long as you continue to believe in yourself.
“It shows the benefit of sticking at it,” he smiled. “If you’re a little boy who dares to dream then you never know what could happen. That was me and here I am today.”
It has been a remarkable journey. Having failed to pick up a pro contract in Scotland during his first couple of years of leaving school in the late 2000s, Cherry packed his bags and spent the best part of a decade grinding out a living in the second tier of English rugby and the fourth tier of French rugby, before finally getting his big break with hometown club Edinburgh during the summer of 2018.
That gave him the platform to demonstrate his work ethic, his technical ability at set-piece and breakdown, and his overarching desire to become the best player he possibly can be. It was an opportunity he grasped with both hands. Injuries to Fraser Brown and Stuart McInally may have opened the door during this Six Nations, but Cherry made absolutely sure that he – ahead of Grant Stewart at Glasgow Warriors – was first in line to walk through.
“The time I thought it had passed me by was when I was a lot younger and playing in the Championship,” he recalled. “It's a notoriously hard place to get out of, and there were times there when I wondered if I was ever going to kick on or not, because time was marching on. “Then I then went to France which was a bit of a sideways step to go forward, but I’m here now, because I always believed in myself. Sometimes you need a bit of luck but that’s life. I’ve created my own luck by working hard and I’ve been given my opportunity. I’ve taken it with both hands and I’m relishing every moment that I’m in camp or on the field “It’s all panned out for me now thanks mainly to my own resilience. I have the mantra of never giving up and I guess that’s paid dividends for me.
“To have my first cap at Twickenham and win the Calcutta Cup, you couldn’t write that, especially with the journey I’ve been on in my career.”
As much as Cherry will always – understandably – cherish that moment, he is old enough and wise enough to recognise that at this moment he needs to keep his focus on the next challenge coming over the horizon as he seeks to make sure that he is not a one-season-wonder.
“I think you have to settle in as quickly as you can – that whole first cap experience has been and gone – so now you’ve got to concentrate on the next game,” he said. “They keep coming. Yes, it was a great experience, I loved it and I’ll never ever forget it, but it’s on to the next game and continuing to learn, continuing to try to get better.
You never know if it is going to be your last game or not, so that’s how I’ve always treated every game, and I’ll continue to do that for however long my career goes.
“I’ve learned a lot during the short time I’ve been here, and it is now just about getting things right for the weekend, so I’m working as hard as I can to do that. “For me, it comes down to small moments which can make a massive difference. Speed of thought is everything, and it’s just that little bit more intense [in international rugby].
“We’ve spoken a lot about the physicality because Ireland are a really physical team, and hot at the breakdown as well,” he continued. “So, it’s all about winning the race to the breakdown which is something we did really well against England. We have to carry that into the Ireland game and hopefully dominate that.”
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