GLOUCESTER Rugby writer Nick Purewal interviews former Gloucester centre Don Caskie about his role as backs coach with Georgia – and the indomitable spirit he has shown fighting throat cancer.
A POTENT drug concoction blasting his throat cancer, Don Caskie arranged an entire rugby tour from his hospital bed.
-
Don Caskie pictured in 2005
-
COMMITTED: Geogian players throw themselves into contact in their game against the Army last season
-
ON THE RUN: Flying centre Don Caskey on the attack for Gloucester against West Hartlepool at Kingsholm in January 1996
-
LeLos: The proud Georgia team sing the national anthem at Kingsholm
Chemotherapy nuked the former Gloucester centre’s rapidly-dividing cancerous cells – but never his resolute spirit.
When his Georgia side pitched up in England to face the Army at Kingsholm, Caskie was in the stands, despite being locked in advanced stages of radiotheraphy treatment.
Caskie was too unwell to stay at his former club ground for the second half, but his charges wound up 30-17 winners on that March night.
The 45-year-old spent longer agonising over how to stop his muscular Georgian backline playing like extra forwards than he did bemoaning his aggressive throat cancer.
When Caskie accepted the challenge of Georgia backs coach in August last year, there were just two grass rugby pitches in the entire country: the national side trained on concrete.
No wonder the powerfully-built backs threw themselves into every driving maul – none fancied a dive on the tarmac.
Caskie refused to suspend his coaching duties when cancer bit, and now he is en route to a full recovery and relishing the impending World Cup.
Eating solid food is just around the corner too, and the former Kingsholm favourite believes only the positive influences of friends and family and the determination to hit principal career targets have steered him back to health.
“I had some fantastic goals and targets to reach. Without them it would have been a different scenario,” he said.
“I always had the World Cup to aim for and along the way I had things to organise.
“I organised the tour to England for the A team from the hospital bed, and set up a link between Hartpury and Georgia.
“And these sorts of things I could do actually basically from a hospital bed.
“I worked until I couldn’t do any more.
“I think that’s what helped in securing the future job.”
Caskie will set up Georgia’s first rugby academy after the World Cup, and will move lock, stock to Tbilisi in December.
England, Scotland, Argentina and Romania are Georgia’s Pool B opponents in New Zealand.
Caskie said he owed a lot to Georgia head coach Richie Dixon – first for the job opportunity, and then the chance to keep working while ill.
He said: “The more positive you are the better it is, and certainly positivity comes
500 Word Extract from Original Article Only...
Article From Publicly Accessible RSS Newsfeed - Displayed for Rugby Rules Context : View Full Original Article Here
