Sean Maitland: Scotland Rugby’s Newest ‘Kilted Kiwi’

Sean Maitland, ex-Canterbury Crusaders and now Scotland rugby winger has one of his two wishes. He’s just been selected for the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia. Whether he gets the other is up to another New Zealander, Australian rugby coach Robbie Deans. That’s because Maitland and Quade Cooper, Australia’s New Zealand-born first-five, are cousins. Maitland told The Scotsman that ‘it really is a bit of a fantasy that we [Cooper and I] might line up against each other this summer. I mean, I’d love it to happen.’ Now it just might, though that’s up to Robbie Deans. Maitland can play for Scotland because of his grandfather Stan, who was a Govan welder. ‘I’m very proud to be half-Scottish; it means I’m not just your average Kiwi,’ Maitland told The Scotsman. The paper notes however that Maitland is ‘more exotic than that, with his mother being half-Maori, half-Samoan.’ The Scotsman reports that Maitland has settled in well and that he loves Glasgow and its sporting passion. ‘I’ve got a flat in the West End and my girlfriend Nava has just qualified as a primary teacher, so she’ll be trying to get a job here. The people are real friendly and it’s no problem for me to understand them. Right up until he passed away when I was 16, my grandfather spoke with a Glaswegian accent. He never lost it all his time in New Zealand,’ Maitland said. Maitland, The Scotsman reminds readers, is not Scotland rugby’s first ‘Kilted Kiwi.’ Others, such as Glenn Metcalfe, and the Leslie brothers John and Martin, have gone before. Maitland said that he had the chance for the All Black Sevens but he declined, ‘knowing it would ruin his eligibility for Scotland. Honestly, playing for Scotland has already made my year,’ he told The Scotsman.