Professional sport tends to be a cut-throat old business. Jamie Bhatti knows all about that. He did work in a slaughterhouse, after all. Cutting his ties with the Glasgow Warriors, meanwhile, was a hard one to stomach, even for a man who was used to ply his trade on the abattoir floor and probably has a gut that’s as sturdy as a cast iron rivet.
And end of season flourish, which saw the burly loosehead prop help the Warriors into the Guinness PRO14 Final and play in the showpiece occasion at Celtic Park, has had Bhatti pondering what might have been. By that time, of course, the 25-year-old had already put pen to paper on a move to the other end of the M8 and a fresh start with Edinburgh. It’s time to move on. Quite literally.
“I got the keys to my new flat so there’s been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing over the last month,” said Bhatti. “It’s bittersweet, though, with the way I ended the season with Glasgow, having started the semi and the final. I would love to have stayed on and played [there] but this is the way rugby is at times. I was looking for a contract around the Six Nations time, and there were negotiations and stuff but, ach, they didn’t want to sign me, they didn’t want me at that point. They’d signed Oli [Kebble] and Alex [Allan] so then Edinburgh came in and I went and met with Richard [Cockerill, the Edinburgh coach] and had a coffee and really liked what he had to say.
“At the time I asked Dave Rennie (the Glasgow Warriors coach) if he wanted to keep me and I couldn’t get an answer, so Edinburgh came in and that was it. Given the end of the season I’d had I wasn’t going to wait for an offer from Glasgow and hang on because, touch wood, I could have got got injured in training or in a game and then, well, you’re injured.”
The fluctuating fortunes of Bhatti’s campaign certainly toyed with the emotions. The fact he finished the season with purpose spoke volumes for his resolve and sense of duty. “It was just a tough time, being at Glasgow and not playing much and the going into the Six Nations,” he reflected. “But I was coming back from the Scotland camp and I wasn’t getting picked for my club. It wasn’t a low but you were wondering ‘what else can I do?’.
“When I got back from Six Nations I spoke to Dave and said ‘look, where my head is at the moment, can I get a bit of time away from rugby, a week or something? I know you know I have signed for Edinburgh but I’m not wanting that to affect me. I’m still a Warriors player and if you want to play me, I’ll give it my all until the end of the season’. He said ‘No (to the week off), you’ll be involved against the Cheetahs this week’. I was given a shot and I took it.
“Selection is nothing personal. It’s just opinions and that makes it a bit easier when you realise that. You just have to keep working hard. When you get a chance you take it and I managed to do that at the end of the season.
“I’m now confident coming in to this World Cup squad given the last few weeks of the season. And whether I go to Japan or don’t go to Japan, it’s just good to know I’ve got a good club to go back to.”
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