Obituary: George Drummond Stevenson, Scotland international rugby player For some sportsmen and women who reach the highest level and represent their country, the limelight is something that simply has to be accepted rather than embraced. George "Stevie" Stevenson was one such character for whom the love of playing rugby would carry him into his own world, one which enveloped him as a child growing up in Hawick and would sustain him through a career in which he enjoyed success with the "Green Machine" and Scotland. But, invariably, attempts to interview him in recent years would end in failure. Och, son, you don't want to hear from me. There's nothing I can tell you about the game now. Or: "The last thing Scotsman readers want is to hear an old man talking about games a long time ago. Go and phone Hughie; he'll help you out. He was never impolite, but Stevenson was never given to sharing his thoughts in a newspaper either. Of course, when I called Hughie, his great friend and former Hawick and Scotland teammate Hugh McLeod, the first answer was always: "Och, son, you don't want to hear from me. Go and call Stevie. He never gets interviewed and he was a real Scotland star. These two were real Scotland stars. They were players who came from an age when work ethic was what marked out the dreamers from the internationalists. McLeod speaks about Stevenson as being like a car, in that he always had extra gears he seemed to be able to rise to when he needed, but left McLeod often with the feeling that he was idling along in games because he did not need to exert himself further. "He was reluctant but not always quiet, to be honest," said McLeod. He just had his own way of doing things. Stevenson and his sister Jean was brought up in Weensland Road by two aunts. He served his time as an engineer with Turnbull and Aitken after leaving school, and then spent two years in national service, where he also served with McLeod in Salisbury, Stevenson keeping the big trucks moving and prop McLeod sorting the tanks. He returned to Hawick to work with Bibby's food and farm supplies and was married to Jessie Hegarty in Hawick in 1959. They would go on to have two children, Fiona and Mark, and the family moved to Currie after Stevenson took up a job with Ballantine's Whisky in Glasgow, which became his home until his death this week. Ironically, both he and McLeod were teetotal, which was in keeping with their desire to make the most of their ability on the rugby field, and, according to McLeod, a simple dislike of the "taste of alcohol." But McLeod enjoyed many a laugh at the thought of his friend touring the country extolling the virtues of Ballantine's while hating the stuff himself. But it was his rugby that Stevenson will be remembered most widely for. A product of Hawick PSA and Linden, he was a regular with Hawick for nearly 17 seasons, from 1951 to 1967. He scored a try on his debut for Scotland against England at Murrayfield in 1956 and was on the scoresheet again in victories against France and Australia in his third and fifth Test appearances. Another highlight was a thrilling solo try for the Scottish Districts when they defeated South Africa 16-8 at his beloved Mansfield Park in the 1960s, and a famous remark from that day was that everyone in Hawick knew that "Stevie" would employ a sidestep in attack except the poor Springbok defender who was left flummoxed and grasping at thin air. Stevenson won 24 caps for Scotland in an international career that spanned nine years in all and he retained a keen interest in Hawick and the Scotland team's fortunes. But, according to McLeod, there has never been another player like him. "And there won't be another George Stevenson," he said. He was unpredictable, a player that you really couldn't tell what to do because he would do his own thing anyway. He used to pick the ball up and carry it in one hand and I used to tell him off for it, and say it would cost us one of these days, but it never did. There have been a lot of great players to come out of Mansfield Park, but there will never be another Stevie. He was a one-off. I played and toured with a lot of threequarters with Hawick, Scotland and the Lions, and there were never any better than George. I don't understand why he didn't become a Lion, because he was certainly good enough. Hawick will hold a minute's silence before their RBS National League game against Stewart's-Melville FP at Mansfield Park on Saturday to mark his death and his funeral at Mortonhall on Thursday at 1pm and afterwards at Braid Hills Hotel. Stevenson is survived by Jessie and children Fiona and Mark.