Roderick Robert Grant is a Scottish

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

coach and former player. He played as a flanker for Border Reivers,

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

and

Scotland sevens The Scotland Sevens was a rugby sevens tournament that was part of the Sevens World Series. In the 2014-15 season it was the penultimate event of the Sevens World Series circuit. It was first held in 2007 but has been removed from the series ...

between 2006 and 2015, and has coached at the Scottish Rugby Academy and Edinburgh. Since 2019, he has been forwards coach for

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

Early life

Grant was born in

Jwaneng Jwaneng is a town located in the Southern District of Botswana, but it is not part of this, being a separate district, with its own Town Council. History The town was formed around the Jwaneng diamond mine, considered the richest in the world ...

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...

to Scottish parents and soon after moved to

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. He attended Western Province Prep School where he started playing rugby at the age of 11. From there he moved on to Bishops where he continued his sporting career. It was here that Grant was selected to play for the South African under-15 and under-16 waterpolo sides. Halfway through his high school career he moved out of the Western Cape to the Midlands of Natal to attend Hilton College. It was here that his rugby career really started to take shape moving from the centres to the back row. Grant played for the school's first XV as well as the Natal Schools side. Upon completing high school, Grant moved to Scotland where he began his professional career. Rugby runs in Roddy's family: his grandfather (Bob) and great-uncle (George) were international referees, the latter was also Scotland full back in 1950 and 1951 and manager of the 1977 Lions in New Zealand, and Grant's father played for British Universities.

Career

He joined Border Reivers in summer 2006 as an apprentice, and the following January he made his debut for the professional team as a substitute in the Magners League match against Newport Gwent Dragons at Rodney Parade. He was awarded the 2008 John Macphail Scholarship, allowing him to have a summer playing for

Auckland University , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

club in New Zealand. Grant started as open-side flanker in all five of Scotland's matches in the

2006 Under 19 Rugby World Championship The 2006 Under 19 Rugby World Championship took place in United Arab Emirates between 4 April and 21 April 2006. Australia won the final over New Zealand 17–13. Pool/standings The IRB setting for this tournament was that the matches were to be ...

in Dubai in April 2006. Later that year he made his international sevens debut for Scotland in the Dubai tournament which opened the IRB's 2006–07 series. He played in six of the tournaments in that series. That season, too, he had his Scotland Under-20 debut in the February 2007 match against England in Bath, and he continued in that team for the game against France in Bourg-en-Bresse. In November 2008 he was the Scottish Thistles’ joint-top scorer with 45 points (nine tries) in the Singapore international sevens, and he went on to play in the Scotland squad in the 2008–09 IRB tournaments in Wellington (New Zealand), San Diego (USA), Hong Kong, Adelaide, Twickenham and Murrayfield as well as the RWC Sevens in Dubai, where he scored four tries in helping Scotland to win the Plate competition. Over the 2008–09 sevens season he scored 23 tries, and his points tally of 115 was second only to Colin Gregor’s 171. Grant also played two games for Scotland A in the

IRB Nations Cup The Nations Cup is a rugby union competition that was first held in 2006 at Estádio Universitário in Lisbon with Argentina A, Italy A, Portugal and Russia taking part. The tournament is part of the International Rugby Board's US $50 million St ...

success in Bucharest in June 2009. His debut was as a replacement in the win against Russia, and his first start followed four days later in the victory against Uruguay. That same month he signed a professional contract with Edinburgh, and his Scotland A career continued with a replacement appearance in the 38–7 win against Tonga at Netherdale,

Galashiels Galashiels (; sco, Gallae, gd, An Geal Àth) is a town in the Scottish Borders with a population of around 12,600. Its name is often colloquially shortened to "Gala". The town is a major commercial centre for the Borders region with extensive ...

, in November 2009. Grant was subsequently nominated for Young Player of the Season in the

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organisation, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places part ...

for season 2009–10. Grant trained with the senior Scotland squad during the 2010 Six Nations Championship. On 26 December 2013, Grant made his 100th appearance for

, leading the team out onto the Murrayfield pitch for the Boxing Day

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

derby clash with

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

. In March 2015, Grant signed a new contract with

until 2016. In August 2015, he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

of tries against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

's Rugby World Cup side. Edinburgh won the match 31–16. In December 2015 he was forced to retire following an injury.

Coaching career

After retiring as a player, Grant joined the Scottish Rugby Academy and in May 2017 was promoted to Edinburgh forwards' coach. Since 2019 he has been forwards' coach for

References

External links

Profile
scotlandrugbyteam.org
Profile
edinburghrugby.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Roddy 1987 births Living people Border Reivers players Edinburgh Rugby players Male rugby sevens players Rugby union flankers Scotland 'A' international rugby union players Scotland international rugby sevens players Scottish rugby union players South African people of Scottish descent Alumni of Hilton College (South Africa) Ulster Rugby non-playing staff