Jim Renwick
| Date of birth | 12 February 1952 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| School | Hawick High School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Position(s) | Centre | ||
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| Amateur team(s) | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Points) |
| National team(s) | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Points) |
| 1972–1984 |
Scotland British Isles |
52 1 |
67 0 |
Jim Renwick (born 12 February 1952) was one of Scotland's greatest rugby players, usually at centre. He played for Hawick Harlequins RFC and the full Hawick RFC team, Scotland and the British Lions, 1972–84. He earned 52 caps for his country.Allan Massie thinks his 1981–82 international season was his best, and describes him as "an individualist rather than a link-man" and that
A player of precocious talent, Jim Renwick was aged nineteen when he won his first cap against France in 1972. It was the first of a then-record 52 appearances for Scotland, and scored eleven tries. He tended to be at his best when playing against Wales, scoring more tries against them than any other country.
Richard Bath writes of him that:
Renwick was a slightly unorthodox player, and considered suspect in defence in the early part of his career – this saw him left out of the 1977 Lions – although appearances were deceptive. While Renwick never tackled in the classic style, few men got past him; he preferred a high, smothering tackle that also had the benefit of often allowing him to stay on his feet, and therefore stay in the game.
In Bucharest, in May 1984, Renwick broke Andy Irvine's previous record of fifty-one caps playing Romania, even though he'd missed the first past of the season through injury.
Equally unorthodox in appearance, the sight of the later Renwick, bald and moustached, slightly rotund, with his head-nodding as he ran, jinking and weaving and breaking into open space, was one of the more peculiar joys of international rugby. He was a good kicker, but he had a weak left foot, and preferred to run with the ball.
He was dropped on the Lions tour, in favour of an English player.
Allan Massie thought his handling and evasion skills were marvellous:
Renwick retired at the beginning of the 1984 season, just before Scotland claimed its first grand slam since 1925.
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