Andy Nicol

Andy Nicol played for Dundee High Rugby for much of his career, and was capped for Scotland 23 times. A son of the city of Dundee, he has a rugby DNA running through his veins that goes all the way back in time to one of our first ever Hall of Fame inductees, George Ritchie, Andy’s grandfather.

Andy was born in March 1971 and was e d u c a t e d at the High School of Dundee and then Abertay University. He played for Dundee High Rugby for a number of years, including captaining the Club in season 1993/4. In season 1992/3, just after Andy won his first cap, the team were promoted to Division One for the first time ever in their history. This team went on to win the Alloa Cup in 1993 against Edinburgh Accies at Meggetland, Scotland’s then unofficial National Cup competition. (The 2 coaches that day were David Leslie and Sandy Hutchison, 2 of our other Hall of Fame inductees.)

Andy made his debut for Scotland in 1992 versus England and over a period of ten years, won 23 Scotland caps, being denied many more by a host of injuries. Highlights include a Calcutta Cup win, captaining his country to victory over England by 19-13 at Murrayfield in 2000, the year when our very own Harvey Wright was SRU President, and appearing in a World XV that defeated the mighty All Blacks. His final match for Scotland was also against the All Blacks.

Andy with the Calcutta Cup, 2000. Then club president Harvey Wright is on his right.

Andy was a late replacement on the 1993 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand appearing in one game. In 2001, having been enthusiastically undertaking hospitality work down under on the Lions tour of Australia, he was also called up as a very very late replacement for Rob Howley for the huge ‘Winner Takes All’ deciding third and final Test match in Sydney, sitting on the bench but not being called on to play, to his everlasting relief! On the club side of things, Andy lifted the Heineken Cup in 1998 as captain of Bath, with a thrilling win over Brive in France. One year later he moved on to Glasgow Warriors, where he saw out his playing career, retiring from playing at the end of the 2002–2003 season.

Andy with the Heineken Cup, 2000, after the win against Brive.

Andy is part of a rugby family hugely connected with Dundee Rugby. His father Dave, a life member, both played for the club and was Club President for 2 spells. His brother Ally was club captain in the 1980s. Andy’s grandfather was George Ritchie, a Scotland international, and also a club captain and President. His cousin Neil played for the Club at the same time as Andy, as now does his nephew, Callum.

Andy was awarded an Honorary Degree by his former University, Abertay in 2013, and is currently, amongst other pursuits, a commentator for BBC Sport both on television and on radio, as well as being a regular on the after dinner speaking circuit. Andy was MC at our first Hall of Fame Dinner back in 2019, and we were delighted to welcome him back to the Club in 2022 to be inducted into the Dundee Rugby Hall of Fame.

International Rugby Union Caps

Danie van Niekerk

Morgan Rugby Club have been lucky enough to have had a number of outstanding rugby players over the years who have also excelled in other sports. Danie van Niekirk, originally from South Africa, certainly fits that bill. Whilst always keen on rugby at school, getting final trials at schoolboy Provincial level, it was at athletics he really shone, coming 2nd overall in South Africa in their junior version of the decathlon, a pentathlon which includes 200m, 1,500m, Long Jump, Javelin and Discus.

Focusing primarily on rugby after leaving school, Danie initially played for the famous Stellenbosch University’s under 20 first XV for 2 years and then moved on to Boland, one of the 14 rugby provinces in South Africa, playing there at under 21 level and then in their B side.

Returning to Western Province, Danny joined Parow, then the second best team in the Province behind Stellenbosch, and made it into Western Province’s reserve team. Competition in Western Province was tough, to say the least - the rst team had both Corne Krige (the then South Africa Captain) and Bobby Skinstad playing in Danie’s No. 8 position! (Indeed, Danie recalls with some pride that Corne Krige was the rst person to punch a young 16 year old Danie on a rugby field, when Corne was the SA Schools captain. As Danie says, he must have been doing something right!) Danie locked horns with a number of other famous SA rugby nternationalists over those years, including Marius Joubert, Stefan Terblanche and the player Danie rates the best of all, Neil de Kock, the Western Province and Saracens scrum half – who Danie says was almost undefendably quick from the base of the scrum.

Morgan Bowl winning team photo, Danny in front row, middle, wearing headband

There’s no doubt Danie could have gone on to further things in rugby in South Africa, but he opted instead to travel, eventually as he put it, “Ending up in Dundee and playing for Morgan from the second Saturday in 2001 (my first game was against Hillfoots) to 2011.” After that, Danie still played on “socially” into his late 30’s, and saw out his Morgan career by playing in the last 2 games of the season at the age of 41. He still remembers scoring 2 tries against Panmure in that last game! Remarkably in this day and age, Danie only missed 1 game through injury from 1996 to 2011!

And what a decade it was when Danie played at Alloway Place, to which his own contribution was immense. He captained Morgan “unofficially” in season 2001/02 and then officially from 2002 to 2009. During that spell, Morgan were promoted an extraordinary 5 years in a row, and also lifted the SRU’s National Bowl 2 years running at Murrayfield. Danie also played for the Dundee Select team in Dundee and Alexandria, Virginia. Danie’s skill, passion, determination and commitment acted as a magnet to many many rugby players in and around Dundee over that golden decade, drawing them to Alloway Place, whilst on the pitch those same qualities helped turn round Morgan’s playing fortunes to a remarkable degree, with the Club reaching National League 3 level. We were delighted to welcome Danie into the Dundee Rugby Hall of Fame.

Sandy Hutchison

Alexander Hugh Hutchison (always Sandy or Hutch to everyone, except his pupils – “Mr Hutchison”) learnt his rugby under his mentor, Dally Allardice, having been a DHS pupil from P1 to F6. He spent the last two years in the 1st XV as a wing forward, and represented Midland Schools, gaining a reputation as fearsome tackler and forager despite his modest size. Sport was always Hutch’s “thing”, and he proceeded to Jordanhill College to train as a PE teacher, getting the occasional game for their 1st XV at a time when they won the last unofficial championship before the introduction of leagues for Scottish rugby, playing alongside Ian “Mighty Mouse” McLauchlan and coached by Bill Dickinson, the first official coach of Scotland.

He returned to Dundee, teaching first at Linlathen High School before joining the DHS PE staff in 1972 when his friend Ricky Brickley moved on. He had a very happy 13 years working with Dally until the latter announced his retiral in 1984, and Sandy rose to be Head of PE until he took early retirement in 1999. He was one of those lucky individuals who found themselves in a career that he was entirely suited for; he was a natural teacher and an inspiration to generations of youngsters, several of whom went on to great things on the rugby pitch, and many remember his famous silent cheers and silly games. He has remained good friends with many of his team captains and players from over the years.

His skills extended beyond the gym, and he could sometimes be found reading The Hobbit to a class of 5 year olds, embellishing the story as befits a natural storyteller. He oversaw the transition of the School’s rugby ground from windswept Monymusk to its lovely leafy setting at Mayfield, and led the inaugural school rugby trips to Canada on three occasions, inevitably managing to squeeze in some fishing on the way.

Ever since he left school, Sandy had always been closely involved with DHS FP RFC, and with his return to Dundee after College, he became a regular member of the 1st XV. He captained the side in 1976-78. He had graciously vacated the wing forward position to allow a young D G Leslie into the side, and ended his playing career on the wing where with his chronically poor eyesight it was touch and go if he would see the ball. At the end and in extremis, he would even turn out at prop. Always a combative presence, he would never shirk a confrontation whatever the size mismatch, even on one occasion running in from the wing to lamp one of the opposition who was giving one of his younger brothers a hard time, oblivious to the proximity of the referee.

Sandy was a very good leader for the Club, both on and off the pitch. He was inspirational in encouraging pupils to join the FP Rugby Club when they left school. The Club had a rare old time both at Mayfield and on memorable trips to other clubs and internationals. There was a tremendous club spirit throughout all the four teams that turned out regularly in those days. When he finished playing, Hutch took on the role of coach and, with David Leslie, saw the Club rise through the Divisions to the very top flight, helped by a cohort of outstanding players who freely admitted their debt to Sandy’s coaching and encouragement. However, many of us have been left with a lifelong loathing of Herb **** Alpert from the Tuesday evening fitness training in the big gym at the school. Sandy was a natural and committed coach, and as his skills were increasingly recognised, he spent several years involved with various SRU age group teams, again influencing a number of future Scottish players, and he took great pride in their success.

In 1992, he was instrumental in the Club’s first rugby tour of New Zealand, helped greatly by David Leslie’s friendship with his All Black namesake, Andy Leslie. The players included several rising stars, including a young Tom Smith. This was the first tour of a British club side to New Zealand and had a lot of press coverage at the time. The Club acquitted themselves well, both on and off the pitch, and the tour was a great success, although no-one would welcome sharing a room with such a stentorian snorer. He also organised a veteran’s team to take part in a tournament in Holland, which they won.

In 2004 Sandy helped to roll out the Dundee Eagles on a Sunday morning, which saw large numbers of youngsters getting their first rugby experiences, regardless of their school. It proved very popular, and numbers steadily grew, as did the input from many parents. There is still a large number of boys and girls playing and training each Sunday morning at Mayfield, including now his own grandson.

Hutch has been at the heart of the Rugby Club for 50 years, and has selflessly devoted uncounted hours, playing, coaching, supporting and encouraging. He is such a charismatic character with a ridiculous and infectious sense of humour, and has been lucky with a wide circle of loyal friends, many lifelong and many through a shared love of rugby (and/or fishing – don’t ask which is his favourite).

I will leave the final words to two of his illustrious pupils. Andy Nicol wrote, “Quite simply, Sandy Hutch made me the rugby player I became. He was a brilliant coach, inspiring but also challenging and knew me and what made me tick. He was an amazing teacher loved by all pupils, not just the sporty ones, even those that didn’t like PE, because he made the lessons fun. One-of-a-kind!” And from Frank Hadden, “Some people are not very good at what they do, and some are OK at what they do. Hutch was just great at everything - teacher, coach, captain, teammate, storyteller, prankster and friend.”
J D Hutchison, 2022

Sandy coached the following Scottish Internationalists:

• Al Dickinson
• Andy Nicol
• Jon Petrie
• Tom Smith
• David Leslie
• Stewart Campbell
• Shaun Longstaff
• John Manson
• Rob Wainwright
• Iain Fullerton.
• 5 Scottish captains and one coach (Frank Hadden)

W Dallas Allardice (B1919, D 2003)

I first met my hero, W D Allardice on 16th April 1959 when we both joined the staff of the High School. Dallas was already a very experienced and much respected international player having won 8 Scotland caps between 1947-1949. At scrum-half he was noted for his famous dive-pass, his drop kick ability and was ever to be found where the action was most intense – (the French called him “pocket Hercules”!)(Photo by Balmain, Edinburgh)

His international career was cut short by a broken leg – (versus Heriots FPs!) – but despite this major injury Dallas was selected as reserve for the British Lions tour of Australia/New Zealand in 1950.

Of course there was much more to Dallas than an impressive international career. Just out of school in 1939, he trained with commando units for the Norway Campaign, raids of the European coastline, the naval campaign against the mighty Scharnhorst, submarine raids on the coasts of Sicily and Italy and operations behind the lines on the Long Range Desert Campaign.

Captured in the Tobruk Raid in September 1942, he was a prisoner in Italy but escaped in 1943 and spent a year hiding in the caves of the Abruzzi Mountains before he succeeded in making his way through enemy lines to re-join the British forces in Italy in the summer of 1944.

Post-war, Dallas joined the PE Department of his former school Aberdeen Grammar, then in 1959 was appointed to the staff of the High School of Dundee. His high reputation for sportsmanship, his international rugby career, his wide experience of life and selfless commitment ensured his immediate and impressive popularity and influence throughout the school – pupils and staff alike.

Few will realise that over some 25 years Dallas rose at 5.30am of a wintry Saturday in order to inspect the games fields, lest they were unplayable so that at an early hour he might advise visiting teams not to travel. Of course it was typical of the man that he assumed such irksome duties without comment or complaint, in order that our young pupils might enjoy their exercise and recreation – and while Dallas encouraged our rugby “giants” like British Lion Chris Rea and player of the season, David Leslie, he also ensured that he had time for our “gentler souls” also.

Of course Dallas was a very influential and active member of the FP Rugby Club. Could it be otherwise, as his schoolboy players, year upon year, moved on to join DHSFPRFC which benefitted steadily for this fusion of talent. The school and club worked together closely to their mutual advantage - and these were busy times of improvement and expansion of recreational facilities at our games fields at Dalnacraig, Monymusk and then wonderful Mayfield.

Certainly all who came into contact with W D Allardice were exposed to a powerful influence for good. Generations of schoolboys have reason to be grateful to him for lessons learned from the greater game of life – giving and taking, winning and losing – with grace. Chris Rea got it right when he said of Dallas (1919-2003)

“What Dally represented and what we learned from him
transcended sport and physical recreation. These were
the priceless values of commitment and discipline,
respect and comradeship – and a wonderful zest for life.”
G C Stewart, 2022

International Rugby Union Caps