Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Dingwall-raised rugby player Jacob Henry puts miles in to reach Commonwealth Games goal

Former Highland RFC player Jacob Henry. Photo by David Gibson/Fotosport/Shutterstock (12541804j)
Former Highland RFC player Jacob Henry. Photo by David Gibson/Fotosport/Shutterstock

Many athletes have had to leave home to further their sporting career. Rugby prospect Jacob Henry is no different.

Henry, 21, was born in London but grew up in Dingwall, where he made his name as a talented teenage rugby player.

He was initially on the books of local side Ross Sutherland and spent two years with Highland in Inverness, before catching the eye of Scottish Rugby.

The reward for his journey was a place at the Commonwealth Games, with Henry in the Scotland sevens squad for the tournament this summer.

“I’ve been all over the place,” said Henry. “I started my age-grade rugby at Ross Sutherland and I was just enjoying having fun.

“I got asked to do some of the Caledonia regional stuff and then moved to the Borders when I was 17. I got into the senior academy at Edinburgh and am now playing sevens at the Commonwealth Games. It’s crazy.

“Moving away from home was something I was wanting to do. There wasn’t much to do in Dingwall and when the offer came to go to the Borders, I jumped at it.

Jacob Henry in action for Scotland against Argentina in the Vancouver Rugby Sevens.Photo by Phamai Techaphan/Shutterstock (12904676co)
Jacob Henry in action for Scotland against Argentina in the Vancouver Rugby Sevens. Photo by Phamai Techaphan/Shutterstock 

“Living up north, all the camps would be in Aberdeen or Edinburgh, so I’d been used to staying away from home. Going there wasn’t too bad and I slowly adjusted to it.

“I think the reason why I ended up moving about all over the place was because it was best for my rugby – someone who comes from that far away but needs consistent training.

“Once that started that’s when I really started to improve.”


Name: Jacob Henry

D.O.B: 31/8/00

Home town: Dingwall

Previous CG experience: none

Event(s): Rugby sevens


Henry is currently on the books at Edinburgh, but he was brought into the sevens setup towards the end of last year. He had been starring for the Southern Knights in the Super6 when the chance came to play sevens.

“I feel like this past year, coming back from a bad injury, I’ve been catching up on everything. It’s been a good year for me; I played well in the Super6 and from that got asked to train with the Scotland sevens.

“I got picked for my first tournament and did the next one after that. I went back to 15s to get ready for the next season with Edinburgh, but I wanted to give the Commonwealths a shot. I asked to go back and they facilitated that.”

A serious Achilles injury prompted an arduous rehabilitation process which was mentally challenging for Henry. The Scotland under-20s cap credits Edinburgh with helping him through.

He said: “I feel like after rupturing my Achilles, I didn’t realise how bad an injury it was until a couple of months later. I had no function in my foot really and had to slowly build it back up.

“It was pretty much learning how to walk again, then how to run, then how to sprint. It was tough and a long process, 11 months being away from rugby.

“It was lucky in some sense it was followed by the Covid season, so I didn’t have to catch up on too much rugby. No-one else was really playing.

“Edinburgh looked after me really well and I came back better than before. I can still feel it here and there, but it’s where it needs to be for what I want to be doing.”

Team Scotland will face South Africa, Tonga and Malaysia at the Games this summer, with the rugby sevens taking place in Coventry between July 29 and 31.

Alongside Henry in Team Scotland will be fellow Highland alumnus Paddy Kelly, who moved into sevens in 2020 after injuries had hampered his career.

Representing Scotland on a big stage is an honour Henry is relishing.

“I’ll probably be overwhelmed with emotion. I watched the Games as a kid and it’s probably something I can only describe after I’ve done it,” he said.

“It’ll definitely be a special one.”