It was 2017. Jack Dempsey was early 20s and going places. Nobody could foretell that the place he was going to, eventually, was Glasgow.
Had you said back then that the forward who played at the last World Cup for Australia would be playing at the 2023 tournament for Scotland, you’d have been met with befuddlement.
“A long and weird road,” says Dempsey, on the day he was named in Gregor Townsend’s World Cup squad. It’s almost two years to the day since he swapped Sydney for Scotstoun and a new life in Scotland. Two eventful years.
He’s not Scottish and he does not pretend to be, which is part of what makes him compelling company, never more so than when he is talking about identity and motivation.
“I was actually thinking about that the other week,” he says. “When Flower of Scotland comes on it’s not something that I can relate to personally. A kid growing up in Scotland, I never experienced that. I have guys on my left and right tearing up because of the patriotism that comes with it, whereas I was like that singing the Australian anthem four years ago.
“As a, quote-unquote, ‘foreigner’ coming in – and I can speak for the other foreigners as well – it’s about not letting those boys down who are born and bred Scottish, it’s about not letting down all the fans at home, about doing the kids proud and doing the jersey proud. That’s what it’s all about.
“I grew up wanting to wear the green and gold, wanting to wear the sky blue of New South Wales and I got to do that and I’m thankful for it. I’ll take it with me to the grave, but the moment you realise you’re in a place where you’re not happy and not enjoying what you’re doing then you have to seek out something and I’m proud of myself for finding it.”
‘I’m there to have the ball in my hands’
Dempsey was once the coming man of Australian rugby, a tyro whose first start in the green and gold was a draw against the Springboks in the harsh terrain of Bloemfontein, whose second was a win against Argentina in the tough landscape of Mendoza and whose third was a sensational performance in victory against the All Blacks in Brisbane.
He arrived in Scotland as a frustrated back-row forward, out of favour with his country after playing 14 times for the Wallabies and beaten down as a former Waratah who had just lost every game with his club the previous season. “Zero from 13,” he says, more than once, self-mockingly during a conversation in South Queensferry.
Dempsey, of course, is among Townsend’s chosen ones, thanks, in part, to his Scottish grandfather, and, in other part, to the World Rugby rule that allowed him to switch allegiance having not been selected by the Wallabies for three years.
He’s a player in form, a number eight with a relentless nature, a high skillset and a serious work-rate. He’s never happier than when carrying ball to the heart of the opposition. “I’m not the first one on the team sheet for defence,” he says. “I’m there to have the ball in my hands.” Opponents will not be fooled. There’s not a whole lot wrong with his defence. It’s true that attack is where he comes into his own, though.
The leaving of Australia has hardened him. Things started to go wrong for him when Dave Rennie took over from Dempsey’s mentor, Michael Cheika, as coach after the World Cup in 2019. It coincided with a nightmarish run with the Waratahs. Being injured did not help his international prospects – or his mindfulness. Being a part of a team that became serial losers was not exactly a calling card for inclusion at Test level. He became fed up and moved. In Glasgow, he found hope and enjoyment again.
“You can’t really cry and blame people when you’re not picked,” he says. “As players, we all have egos and you can sometimes get a bit delusional. Every now and then you need a slap in the face. The reality is that I wasn’t playing well and got fazed out.”
If all of this still feels a bit surreal to him then he’s happy to revel in the weirdness. He loves Townsend’s philosophy of the game, loves the ambition and the risk and the freedom to play. The first instinct in Townsend’s team is to attack and that’s manna from heaven for Dempsey.
He says the great thing about Test rugby, which is also the hardest thing, is the demands placed on players at this level. With a smile, he tells the story of the France game at Murrayfield a fortnight ago.
“We were slow out of the gates,” he recalls. “For 40 minutes, dreadful. But we come back and win the game. Coming from a guy who had a zero from 13 season, we won! Can we chill? We go into meetings on Monday and we are getting shredded, absolutely shredded. By Gregor and everyone else. That’s the great thing about Test rugby. It’s relentless. No excuses, especially in a World Cup. You don’t let your foot off the brake.”
Saturday in Saint-Etienne brought defeat but, in many ways, it was a better performance than the victory that went before. It was against a stronger France away from home, for a start. “From minute one, we were on, locked in, and if we can bring that every week we back ourselves against anyone,” he adds. “It doesn’t matter what anyone says on the peripherals, we know how good we can be if we are on it from beginning to end.”
The time to show it is inching ever closer.
