Ross Thompson

Cakes. In addition to their interview in which they discussed how they’d pivoted their business to deliver letterbox cakes and online tutorials in baking, icing and sculpting, they also ran a bakealong session earlier in the year for our community. 2012 leaver Cameron Gibson may be a familiar name to those who live in Edinburgh as he has been a magician at all sorts of events in the area, including our own May Fantoosh ball a couple of years ago. Cameron embarked on a new initiative which saw him moving to Toronto in the middle of the pandemic to be the Lead Magician at James Allan’s Illusionarium, an experimental magic exhibit featuring Penn and Teller amongst others. And finally, lockdown 2 has seen the return of our popular coffee mornings, children’s quizzes and photo competition. We now run our family/ community quiz fortnightly on a Friday evening and have been receiving over 50 teams entering each time.

We are looking forward to our March Inspire Lecture which will feature young Scottish Science and Technology writer Gemma Milne talking about experimental science and how it will apply to our future, including lab grown meat, genomic therapies for cancer and fusion energy, amongst other innovations. This will take place on 22 March from 19.30pm – all are welcome to attend! If you would like to talk to the Development Office, perhaps you want to share a memory or you have an idea of something you think may work well for our community, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can contact Suzi on development@esms. org.uk or on 0131 311 1131.

I recently caught up with Ross Thompson, who’s now playing professionally for Glasgow Warriors.

Since school, he’s been studying at Glasgow Uni, and was playing in the Super 6 prior to a call-up to the Warriors playing squad. We spoke about what comes next, his adjustment to professional rugby, and the journey up to this point. Thanks to Ross for giving up the time, and congratulations also go to fellow FP Jamie Hodgson (who we spoke to last year), who signed another contract with Edinburgh in January.

FM: Congratulations on the contract. Does it feel any different?

RT: Thanks – no it doesn’t really. I don’t feel like things have changed that much, but I suppose there’s maybe now some more expectation going forward?

What has the journey to this point looked like since school?

Well after school I went to Glasgow for university and played with the (Glasgow) Hawks for two years, then moved to the Ayrshire Bulls for the 2019-20 season. During lockdown, playing obviously stopped – so getting that first gametime for Glasgow was the first live rugby I’d played for about ten months.

And the Super 6 was good…

It was great in a way – it meant getting proper gametime, but the standard wasn’t similar to pro rugby. It’s not an equivalent to domestic professional leagues elsewhere, but it’s a great start and a really promising development for Scottish Rugby. I think I was also getting frustrated being close to playing for the Warriors but not getting gametime.

Were you at all close to walking away?

There were times throughout last year where I remember speaking to people and saying I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do rugby next year, and just training with no opportunities was obviously not what any player wants. I remember speaking to a few people though, including Mr Edwards (from SMC), who encouraged me just to go for it – I know I’d have regretted not trying and seeing what comes of it.

But it came eventually – were there nerves?

It did! There were a few, but it was mainly just exciting to be able to get playing again after so much time. It was also good to start alongside a couple of other younger guys like Rufus (Maclean), because at the team line-up announcement it meant there were a few of us coming on together.

And then the match was postponed for a frozen pitch.

That was actually quite lucky – it was annoying for it to be called off so close, but it definitely helped with everything. I knew exactly what it felt like to be starting, which helped when it came around for real – it was like a good rehearsal.

It must be weird to play with guys who have been internationals for a decade.

I really remember looking around a couple of years ago, the first time I was in the Glasgow practice squad and thinking it was mental. There were a whole bunch of guys who had been playing for Scotland for years. It’s still weird now to think about, but it feels pretty normal. The speed of the game was immediately noticeable – it was so much quicker than rugby I’d played before. The other thing I noticed was just how good the international guys are at the basics. They’re just so consistent, it’s a been a good environment to learn in.

So even if it’s harder to get gametime, you able to learn a lot?

Yeh exactly – I’ve had Adam Hastings and Pete Horne around, and I’ve been picking their brains and learning. We signed Ian Keatley as well, who’s played for Ireland, and he’s been great. So it definitely goes both ways, there’s more competition, but the experience at the club is pretty impressive.

And what’s plan from this point?

For the next year or two, I think it’s just about getting as much time playing as possible – I’m enjoying getting out and learning. There’s a bunch of younger guys coming through, and everyone just wants to play.

It must be funny seeing other Stew Mel guys at Edinburgh.

Yeh it’s pretty funny – obviously I played with Hodgy in the 1st XV during his last year and we toured together, and I played with Jack (Blain) and Connor (Boyle) at school It was actually pretty weird seeing them on a different team, but it’s great they’re getting to play. George Turner is also at Glasgow as well, so there’s a lot of Stew Mel across the two clubs at the moment.

And what about the degree?

Glasgow have actually been quite decent about it – I went to doing it part-time during the last couple of years, and have a year to go, which I’ll just do along with rugby for a year. It might be something to use after rugby.