History repeated itself with the GROGS curse striking again in March when the scheduled speaker, John Mathers, had to withdraw because of a family bereavement. However, the Committee performed the “rabbit out of a hat” trick again and found a very popular replacement guest speaker in Chris Fusaro, the Scotland and Glasgow Warriors flanker. Chris gave a refreshingly honest and interesting account of his own rugby career and a diplomatically expressed view of the current state of Scottish rugby and some of the main characters in both the playing and administrative sectors. He described himself as being from a 2nd. generation Italian family arriving in Scotland in 1949 and later settling in Cupar in Fife. This was fortunate for the future rugby star who started his 24 year playing career in mini rugby with Howe of Fife. He tried to make out that he was no better at passing or catching a ball at the end of his career than he had been at the beginning but no-one believed him. Chris talked about the importance of mini rugby in his own career and in rugby overall. He praised the human qualities that rugby fosters using Doddie Weir as an example of someone continuing with good work in the face of adversity. He loved his rugby from the very start and didn’t experience any of the strict coaching discipline he’d heard about - until 2012, coincidentally the year Gregor Townsend took over as coach at Warriors. He enjoyed a very successful career there making many good friends and harvesting many happy memories. He remembered Warriors turning the corner in 2011 by winning ugly, and creating “Fortress Firhill”. They beat the mighty Leinster at the RDS stadium but lost to Treviso at home the following week. The combination of discipline and teamwork paid off when Warriors won the Pro 12 Cup in 2015. Chris was honest and modest in equal measures when he described his professional career and some of the coaches he had played under. Here, Dave Rennie got an honourable mention. There was a dark phase in his career towards the end but the sun shone through and he remained a Warrior throughout. He is now retired, a family man, working in the family business and a part time coach. He has a treasure chest full of memories, friendships, experiences and, as GROGS could see, a modest appreciation of what Rugby has given him, not the least being the bottle of GROGS whisky which first time Chairman Neil Watson presented him with!