Adam Hastings: How horror injuries changed Glasgow fly half's career

Hastings was Player of the Match in last weekend’s memorable Investec Champions Cup victory over Toulouse, expertly pulling the strings as Glasgow came from 21-0 down to win 28-21 at a windswept Scotstoun. It was a result that sent shockwaves through Europe and underlined Glasgow’s growing belief under Franco Smith.

So the 30-year-old will be on a real high going into Saturday’s huge BKT URC derby showdown with Edinburgh Rugby at Hampden Park, where a bumper crowd is expected for the latest chapter of the 1872 Cup rivalry. Hastings' buoyant mood is a far cry from the tough times he went through during a three year period that brought a series of demoralising injury setbacks, which threatened to derail a career once earmarked for the very top.

While at Gloucester, there was a torn hamstring, a dislocated shoulder and a succession of knee ligament issues. Then, following his return to Glasgow last year, he suffered a horrific double jaw fracture. But thankfully, those dark days are now behind Hastings, and he looks to be loving his rugby once again in the blue and black of the Warriors.

“My body has taken a bit of a battering over the last three years,” Hastings said. "I’ve had quite a lot of time out with injuries. I didn’t play a whole lot of rugby in my last two years at Gloucester. Last year, I strung eight games together at the start of the season, I was playing well, and then I was out for another three months with my jaw.

“So, for me, it’s just important to focus on each week as it comes and not look too far into the future. But I feel in a good place now. I feel pretty strong and fit. Touch wood, I can remain fit for the season.”

Hastings - the son of former Scotland and British & Irish Lions skipper Gavin - admits the string of injuries he suffered during his time at Gloucester were particularly challenging, both physically and mentally, as weeks on the treatment table turned into months.

“I thought I was cursed. I couldn’t believe my luck,” he admitted. “There were definitely times where I thought ‘Is my body able to actually play this game anymore?' I never actually thought about retiring, but it definitely crossed my mind will I have to. It was a tough one. It was a difficult time.”

Then, after making an impressive start to his second spell with Glasgow, he suffered a double break of his jaw while attempting a tackle against the Scarlets in November of last year.

“I can’t really remember it. I just remember kind of coming too as I was walking down the tunnel into the doctor’s room.”

On arriving at hospital, he came to realise the full extent of the damage.

“My jaw was just apart. It was like two jaws. It was pretty horrendous. I have had a lot of injuries, but that was the worst one. It was awful. I had six weeks on basically a liquid diet. I lost four kilos in a week and about seven kilos overall.”

After undergoing surgery that saw bolts and wires inserted in his jaw, he was sidelined for some three months, ruling him out of the 2025 Six Nations and forcing him to watch on as Scotland battled through the championship without him.

But, on returning to action, his fine form saw him selected for Scotland’s summer tour of New Zealand and Fiji where he started against the Maori All Blacks and came off the bench in the Test encounters with the Fijians and Samoa.

Then, last month, Hastings lined up at No. 10 in the opening autumn international against the USA at Murrayfield, taking his tally of caps up to 35 in a record 85-0 demolition.

The Edinburgh-born Hastings has featured in every game for Glasgow so far this season, with last weekend’s European triumph against Toulouse being a real high point. Hastings is quick to pay tribute to the part the home supporters played at a packed Scotstoun amid one of the great comeback wins.

"For the fans to come out on a night like that, a sell out, and just get behind us, it meant the world. It's huge for the mental side of it as well, the confidence that we got, because we've had a few scoldings in Europe over the past couple of years. So it's just good to get a statement result like that, especially at home as well.”

Hastings converted all four of Glasgow’s second half tries as they turned the game on its head.

“It was such a tough first half for us into the wind. It was just so hard to exit,” he said. "But we had the same against Sale the week before. It helped us a bit knowing we had come back in that game. We had the wind, we knew if we just stuck to the process, got a bit of territory and put a few phases together, we would be OK. I thought our forwards were so good. We spoke about helping them out as a backline, but what a shift from them.”

Now it’s back to league action and the 1872 Cup, with a Hampden humdinger against Edinburgh — and a fit, confident Adam Hastings is right at the heart of it.