“The real world is scary,” says Javan Sebastian. The prop is reflecting on a career path that now brings his first start for Scotland, against Romania.
In 2016, lacking a professional contract and fearing his playing career was over, the tighthead prop took a job at a Carmarthen butcher’s.
On Saturday night the 29-year-old slots into the front row of a team showing 13 changes from last week’s win against Tonga, with another bonus-point victory the aim for Gregor Townsend’s men.
It will be a uniquely memorable moment for Sebastian when he runs out at the Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille to face the hard-scrummaging Oaks.
“I was a bit overwhelmed when Gregor told me I was going to be starting tighthead,” says the Wales-born front-rower. “I was quite surprised to even be selected in the World Cup squad. It’s a massive achievement to be selected in any squad, so to get a starting place is pretty surreal.”
There are plenty of part-timers at the Rugby World Cup – just not in the squads of tier one nations. Sebastian’s past ensures he has a different perspective to anyone who has experienced life only as a professional athlete. In rugby parlance, to butcher a chance means to squander it but Sebastian, who represented Wales at youth level and qualifies for Scotland via his Edinburgh-born father, knows the real meaning of the word.
“That was a dark time,” he says of his alternative career. “It was after I left Glasgow, having been there for a year. I went back home [to Wales] to have my first-born. I took a year out of rugby and didn’t really end up having a job, so I applied to be a butcher and play semi-pro.
“I worked in the butcher’s for about two months. I couldn’t hack it any longer than that. It was dark, not a nice place. I thought my professional rugby career was pretty much over, so I took a year out to reflect and get back to normal life.
“It made me open my eyes to what I could potentially do,” says Sebastian, who has joined Edinburgh from the Scarlets for the 2023-24 season. “Being a butcher or any other normal job is quite tough. I’m not saying that being a rugby player isn’t tough … I discovered normal life wasn’t for me, so I thought I would try to play again.”
A high-profile, high-stakes World Cup fixture in northern France – following several weeks spent at the team’s base on the Côte D’Azur – is a far cry from his previous life in rugby, too.
“Playing semi-pro in Wales was pretty dark,” says Sebastian. “You go to places like Neath, Cross Keys away, when it’s raining and it’s seven o’clock at night and the pitches are deep in mud. It’s not a nice place to play.”
Motivation will not be lacking for Sebastian, then, and neither should it be for Scotland collectively. A five-point victory on Saturday sets up what Townsend called a “straight shootout” with Ireland for a quarter‑final place; presuming South Africa defeat Tonga with a bonus point on Sunday.
Victory against Ireland by more than seven points in Paris next Saturday would then send Scotland through; an unlikely outcome against the world’s No 1 team? Perhaps, but one that seemed all but impossible in the aftermath of Ireland’s epic win over the Springboks last Saturday. At that point Scotland had played only one match, the opening 18-3 defeat by the world champions.
A bonus point was secured by half-time against Tonga in Nice last weekend, and Romania have conceded 158 points in two matches but Scotland’s forwards coach, Pieter de Villiers, insists there will be no risk of complacency.
“We’ve not thought of that,” De Villiers said. “A lot of the boys starting this week have not had starts yet and they will be very excited to get going … Guys like Javan are really chomping at the bit.”
Of Sebastian’s opportunity, De Villiers added: “It’s a well-deserved start. He’s had a great preparation … he is one of the best scrummaging tightheads out there.”
Scotland’s mission is clear against Romania, as is Sebastian’s. They will do their best not to butcher it.
