French connection not working out but Glasgow Warriors move a done deal, says ex-Hawick and Edinburgh prop Rory Sutherland

That move’s yet to be confirmed by the United Rugby Championship side but Sutherland this week told a French sport podcast it’s a done deal.

The 31-year-old has been at French Top 14 Oyonnax on a one-season contract since October but has only been handed three starts, ruling him out of contention for a Scotland call-up for this year’s Six Nations.

Sutherland, at Warriors’ rivals Edinburgh from 2014 to 2021, says he hopes returning to Scotland and playing more regularly will boost his chances of adding to the 29 caps he’s picked up since making his international debut in 2016, most recently at last year’s Rugby World Cup in France.

“Moving back home and moving to Glasgow is not only the right thing for my career, it's the right thing for my family as well,” he told le French Rugby Podcast.

“We won’t have to move from our family home back in the Borders – I’ll just commute – so it gives the kids a bit of stablity and I think that will do me a lot of good as well, for my rugby.

“That will be a big thing for me, knowing they are okay and they are happy. That will do a lot for my rugby.

“I would love to start playing again, and playing well, back in the Scotland squad. It would be amazing to do another tour. It is a goal of mine.

“I’m a bit weird that way, where if a coach says you’re not good enough or you’re not going to play, it really fuels me. It’s put the firework up my ass that I need for next season.

“I’m probably not going to play a lot the rest of this season going from what has gone on so far.

“I do aspire to play for Scotland again. I want to do that.”

His move to France after a short-term deal at Ulster following the collapse of former club Worcester Warriors in 2022 hasn’t worked out the way he’d hoped it would for him, wife Tammy and their sons Mason and Hamish, so he’s looking forward to returning to his homeland at the end of this season, he says.

“It hasn't worked out for me or Tammy and the kids,” said the former Hawick High School pupil.

“We did all want to come together and experience it together but we’ve struggled to find a house.

“We're not going to upset the boys and take them out of school and change their schooling for the sake of four months.

“Now that the Glasgow thing is done as well, I’m pretty happy just to battle on for the next three or four months.”

Watching his former team-mates beating Wales but losing to France at this year’s Six Nations, with a visit from England to follow this coming Saturday, has been hard, he said, but he hopes more game-time will lead to further caps and he’ll be back on the other side of the television screen before too long.

“There's no point throwing the toys out of the pram,” he said. “It’s frustrating but I just have to get my head down and try and get as many minutes as I can in the tank and hope that the coaches think that’s enough to get back in.

“I’m not very good at watching. The bit I hate the most is the anthem because I really enjoy that part of playing for Scotland, singing the anthem with the lads.

“It’s a very emotional part of the game, so I find it difficult watching the boys singing that when I’m not there. I often leave the room. I go off with my beer in the huff in the kitchen while the boys sing the anthem.”