Former GHA prop Jon Welsh who was signed to the Glasgow Warriors from GHA in 2008 has realised his dream of playing for his country after winning his first cap in extraordinary circumstances in front of 76,000 people against Italy on Saturday at Rome’s famous Olympic Stadium.
Jon was with the squad as the “25th man”, required to help out in the warm up and preparation but not part of the match squad. However, Scotland’s loose head prop Alan Jacobsen rolled his ankle in the pre-match warm-up and after working with the physios to get it strapped for playing, he eventually had to pull out of the game only seconds before kick off. With no loosehead prop selected on the bench, Jon was given the number 1 shirt and in a fit of emotion at the unfolding events, the next thing he knew he was proudly standing centre stage with his team mates as Olympic Stadium rumbled with the noise of thousands of travelling Scotsman, belting out Flower of Scotland.
A proud moment for Jon and a proud moment for GHA as Jon becomes our first full cap since the amalgamation, having joined the club from Whitecraigs as a 17 year old and gone on to play 3 full seasons in the First XV – developing into one of the best young props in Scottish club rugby, despite not having made any national age grade sides.
Jon Welsh has accepted our invitation to attend the club dinner on Saturday March 31st as our guest of honour and we hope as many club members as possible are able to attend the dinner so that we can celebrate Jon’s fantastic achievement.
