WHEN Jim Hamilton took the decision to swap lilywhite for navy blue he did not realise it would spell the end of his career with English club Leicester and uncover a feeling that his new country was "a lesser nation."
Hamilton, born in Swindon to an English mother and Scottish father, was schooled at a popular Leicester nursery and grew up a loyal and enthusiastic part of the Welford Road family. But when Scotland came calling, much to his father's delight, he did
not take long to decide his road to international rugby lay north of the border.
His star was on the rise both with club and country, as he joined Leicester's senior ranks alongside Martin Johnson, the England and British and Irish Lions captain, and then, on Johnson's retirement, competed with Ben Kay and Louis Deacon for the second row starting berths. From the moment he made his Scotland debut in November, 2006, however, that began to change.
It ended with the paradox of him starting for his country in the 2007 Rugby World Cup, and almost reaching the semi-finals, to returning home and becoming an unwanted extra in Leicester's league and cup campaigns.
The 6ft 8ins lock is glad now to have ended a demoralising chapter and started a new one with Edinburgh, even if it did bring the strange situation yesterday of posing for pictures with team-mate Hugo Southwell in a bed outside a Novotel Edinburgh Park hotel, to publicise a new six-figure, three-year sponsorship deal with the SRU that will have Scotland squads staying at Novotels in the capital and around the world.
"These pics are a bit embarrassing," he laughed, "but it's a good deal for us with the Novotel because it's a good hotel and the one thing I need is a good sleep before a Test match. But I'm just glad to be here settling in a wonderful city.
"It was difficult for me (at Leicester], mentally and physically, after the World Cup – it was the first time I'd had to deal with something like that.
"I just enjoyed playing rugby and when I went back to Leicester after the World Cup I was on a high – the fittest and best I've ever been. I won a Man of the Match award in my first game back, against Worcester, and then I didn't get selected for the next six weeks.
"Then I went into the Six Nations not match fit and then I got injured against Ireland. But I took that break to re-assess where my career was going and now I can't wait to get playing again with Edinburgh and move on."
He continued: "The Scotland thing shot me in the foot. In the past when Martin Johnson, Ben Kay and Louis Deacon were playing for England I'd step up during the Six Nations and play well and stay in the team, but in the last two years, the argument was that I'd been away with Scotland, who they felt was a lesser nation – I'm quite open about that – that other guys had been playing well, and it just deteriorated from there really.
"That was coming from Richard Cockerill (forwards coach and former England hooker], not Marcelo Loffreda (recently-sacked coach], who had nothing to do with me leaving. I had seven years there, but I wasn't seen in the same light anymore. They thought that one day I'd go through the ranks and break into the England team and were shocked when I chose Scotland, but it's been the best decision I've ever made from a rugby perspective. I have a lot of very good friends at Leicester still, guys who I've been friends with for ten years, and they agree this was a good move for me.
"They see me playing in the World Cup and know I'm not playing for a small nation, but one that expects to win games; we were expected to make that (World Cup] semi-final, so it's not a step-down.
"Edinburgh also beat Leicester and knocked them out of the Heineken Cup, so people who know me understand me coming up here to be in the Scotland set-up, and to play for Edinburgh week-in, week-out to get continuity and consistency in my game."
Hamilton is now returning to full fitness after a dislocated ankle suffered against Ireland in the RBS Six Nations and a worsening shoulder injury that required an operation on 1 May.
Fitting for the son of a former soldier, he is a hard, determined individual with leadership skills belying his 25 years and handful of Test caps.
He could prove the most shrewd of Andy Robinson's acquisitions in the capital. Robinson, pictured below, was the most persuasive factor in Hamilton's move north – despite having urged him not to leave the England system for Scotland two years ago, when he was England head coach.
He added: "He probably won't be happy at me for saying that, but he is a world-class coach, no two ways about it; and he was so excited when I spoke to him about the opportunities here; so excited about Scottish rugby.
"So am I. People here have seen a guy who hasn't really come through the ranks; a guy who hasn't done his trade early on here, but has come from Leicester and gone straight into the Scotland set-up.
"So, I want to graft hard, work in the pre-season games and play well for Edinburgh, and then earn my right to be in the Scotland team.
"I want people in Scotland to see that, and I want to be part of a team that is capable of winning something."
The full article contains 964 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
