NPR

Very sad news, passed away aged just 50. A great player for Saints, Scotland and the Lions. RIP.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/61014702

Cross posted here. This thread was first by a minute, so I’ll delete mine. RIP Tom.

No need to delete your thread, maybe ASMO can merge them.

It’s fine, nobody had replied yet.

Tom had 61 caps for Scotland and 6 for the Lions. He remained the last Scot to start a Lions Test until last summer. One of the finest props I’ve seen in Scotland colours. 50 is way too young and I feel for his young family.

Jeezus! He was my idol as a young, short-arse prop. RIP, fella.

Ah sh*t news, really sad to hear this (although expected obviously, just not so soon). As others have said, this must be terrible for his family, I think his youngest kid is barely a teenager.

A great player, I was really pleased when he was selected for the Lions. I also remember watching him play in a touch tournament one summer evening in Edinburgh. Fantastic skills, though he also managed to get himself sent off somehow, much to the hilarity of his Watsonians team mates.

RIP, too young.

Shocking news. The best of Scotland.

RIP

That’s fucking awful news. Saw him appear at a match last year and hoped he was beating the bastard.

Awful news. It's an overused term, but he was genuinely great Lion, absolutely at the core of that 97 series win.

Was shocked to learn this So young :(

One of our very very best.

Small, skillful and the heart of a Lion.

RIP Tom Smith

Brilliant prop and all-round rugby player

Crap. As an epileptic who played rugby (at a far crappier level), it was inspiring to see him not just hold his own but show his absolute class, especially in the late 90s to the turn of the century when I was having some real problems keeping it under control.

50 is no age at all, RIP.

Terrific player. RIP

Bloody hell. A great player, RIP

RIP

Awful news. Incredible player. Tough as anything but so incredibly skilled as a prop.

Very sad news for a very fine player. RIP

Was he ill?

So sorry to hear about this, he was one of my favourite players of that era of Lions.

Nag Ou Groote.

That’s a really beautiful piece Jock, thanks for posting. Sums up a lot of my thoughts. Knew he was ill and very seriously so, but it’s still a kick in the gut that he’s gone. Really sad, and will lift a glass to him over the weekend. As I’m sure most of us will.

RIP Tom a great player and a fantastic individual.

Terrible news, way too young

Hadn't realised he was unwell. Much too young.
Great lion in a great lions team.

Jock42 wrote: Thu Apr 07, 2022 4:54 am

Thanks
Great player
RIP Tom Smith

Really very sad about this.

He was a big part of my rugby life growing up down south - a Scotsman respected by everyone and playing for the Lions was a rare treat. Met him once and everything that has been said about him certainly seemed true to me.

Arghh life is a bitch sometimes.

RIP, Tom

From Mark Palmer's piece in The Times

Edinburgh owe him a huge amount for having been the coach who drove through the signing of Hamish Watson from the Leicester Tigers academy when others in the management group argued vehemently that he was too small to ever make it as a modern-day openside flanker.

A lot of those scrums in that Lions series were about survival. The Lions often went backwards but avoided a mauling and avoided a lot of penalties - Smith's technique and fight keep him in it when pretty much anyone else would've been flattened. I imagine anyone who's only familiar with the last decade of scrums would be amazed by the scrums in that series, just a totally different world.

I sat next to him in Charles de Gaul Airport waiting for flight to Edinburgh. Couldn't believe it was him, about same size and weight as I was then. I said hello, he didn't say anything, he just nodded then proceeded to eat the most food I have ever seen anyone eat in one go. Flight was called, he nodded goodbye and strode off.

He was easily the best prop I have ever seen play for Scotland and possibly the Lions.

I knew Tom as we were at Dundee together in the early 90's. Played a couple of games with him and the late Danny Herrington, who also passed ridiculously young. Last met him about 10 years ago at the Commonwealth Pool and he hadn't changed a bit. A truly genuine, nice and humble guy. What a loss to his family and the rugby community.

Sh*te news that one. Was well respected at Brive and at his time down the road from here. RIP

Blackmac wrote: Thu Apr 07, 2022 10:52 am I knew Tom as we were at Dundee together in the early 90's. Played a couple of games with him and the late Danny Herrington, who also passed ridiculously young. Last met him about 10 years ago at the Commonwealth Pool and he hadn't changed a bit. A truly genuine, nice and humble guy. What a loss to his family and the rugby community.

Danny was a great guy, sadly taken far too young, I remember him playing the AB's, I think it was, for N&M and had his opponent screaming for mercy. Tom said this about him

"When I joined my first senior club in Dundee, there was an old prop called Danny Herrington, a bit of a local legend, who basically shoved my head up my arse in training, twice a week every week for what seemed like years. Now, that's what you call a learning curve. Those training sessions were my classroom. Danny took the view that a young prop should have his share of bad experiences before trying to inflict them on other people."

Jock42 wrote: Thu Apr 07, 2022 4:54 am

I think it got dusty in here.