Gloucester's Caledonian connection strengthened today when they won the race to sign the giant Scottish lock Jim Hamilton. The 27-year-old had appeared bound for Stade Français but performed a neat U-turn to come back to the Guinness Premiership club closest to his roots.
Hamilton, key to Scotland's win in Argentina last Saturday, was born in Swindon and moved to Edinburgh via Leicester where he played alongside Brett Deacon – another Gloucester signing this summer.
With Dave Attwood, one of England's few successes so far in Australia and Alex Brown, an England A international, also on the books at Kingsholm, Gloucester are acquiring a stable of class locks.
In Hamilton and Attwood they will also have a couple of the "enforcers" that have been missing in recent seasons when Gloucester have trodden the Heineken Cup stage. "I'm exceptionally pleased to have signed Jim," said Gloucester's head coach, Bryan Redpath, adding with considerable understatement: "He's a huge physical presence."
In fact Hamilton stands 6ft 8in, currently weighs in at close on 20st and has been a more than adequate replacement for another big man, Nathan Hines, for Scotland in Argentina. Alongside the captain, Alastair Kellock, Hamilton dominated the lineout last Saturday creating the possession Dan Parks turned into penalty goals.
Hamilton still had 12 months of a three-year contract remaining at Edinburgh, but was keen to leave and the club was not prepared to stand in his way.
He was a product of the Leicester Academy, making his debut for the first XV in 2003. He was capped by England at Under-21 level but opted to play for the land of his Glasgow-born father, becoming the 1,000th man to be capped by Scotland when he made his debut in November 2006.
"Any player of Jim's calibre is going to attract a number of offers, but the fact that he's chosen to move to Kingsholm after coming down to look around and meet us is a great endorsement of the direction that Gloucester are heading in," said Redpath, whose Scottish stable already includes another four currently on tour in Argentina – Rory Lawson, Alasdair Strokosch, Alasdair Dickinson and Scott Lawson.
