Beattie eager for Cup outing

Scotland number eight ready for Murrayfield encounter

By Rachel Griffiths   Last updated: 11th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Beattie eager for Cup outing

Beattie: Ready for England clash

It's a massive buzz to be given this opportunity now; I'm just going to go out and grasp it.

Johnnie Beattie
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Scotland international Johnnie Beattie will be fulfilling a long-term dream by appearing in Saturday's Calcutta Cup clash against England at Murrayfield.

The Glasgow number eight, set to make his career first appearance against England in the RBS Six Nations showdown, is the son of former Scotland star John Beattie, who featured in the last Scotland team to win at Twickenham in 1983.

Beattie junior was not even born when his father helped the Scots to that victory, but has attended many Calcutta Cup matches since, singling out Scotland's 2006 triumph as his inspiration to appear in the famous fixture.

Victory

"We got a great victory here with Parksy (Dan Parks) knocking over drop-goals and a massive defensive effort," said Beattie.

"That was my first real taste seeing team-mates out there, being a young Glasgow pro, hoping one day that I could be part of something like that.

"It's a massive buzz to be given this opportunity now; I'm just going to go out and grasp it."

The 24-year-old forward, who is set to earn his 11th cap at Murrayfield, insists Saturday's match will be the most important he has ever played, but revealed it will be as much about correcting the errors of his three previous appearances as seeing off the English.

"It's the most I've looked forward to a game in my career," he added.

"Things haven't gone the way we've wanted so far in this championship. If there's any way we can go about rectifying the way things have gone so far, it'll be to win this game."

Beattie, who joined Glasgow in 2004, signed a new two-year contract with the Warriors on Thursday, 24 hours after colleagues Dougie Hall and Calum Forrester extended their deals.

Development

"I'm really happy with the way things are going and I just want to continue my development and keep pushing my way to start for Glasgow," said Beattie.

"I think we have a group of players now that are on the cusp of something.

"Although we're only halfway through the season, things are looking positive and hopefully it will continue."

Glasgow head coach Sean Lineen added: "Johnnie is a quality player. I've been working with him for a few years now and you can see the talent he's got."