Dempsey wanted to advance his Lions’ prospects by putting in another eye-catching performance in the final game away to France but that would prove a Paris match too far. He hasn’t played competitively since.
It was a weird one,” he explains of his six-month absence. “Essentially it was [a case of] surgery or no surgery and if I got the surgery it would have been the same time out. So obviously we opted to go conservative but essentially I came back at the same time. It’s just a really complicated one. I was out for pretty much two years with it in my early 20s and I’ve had significant surgery on it before. It’s kind of like you’re dealing with the old ghosts as well. It’s never going to be fully back to what it was. But your body adapts and strengthens in other ways to deal with it. So it was more as we restarted that rehab again, you’ve got to kind of conquer all those other things which maybe if you didn’t go through earlier you might have gone through faster.
“We got to the point where it was for the betterment of my mid to long term future to not rush back and get emotional about coming back for a quarter final against the Stormers and stuff, not being 100 percent and then risking things. Or trying to get back for a [Scotland] summer tour, not being 100 percent when they can give other guys a go. I can sit here now, look back and think it was the smartest thing to do. Obviously you never know with surgery if it would have been better or worse but I’m happy with how it’s gone.”
Dempsey got through the full 80 minutes against Wales but already knew he had done the damage before the final whistle had even blown.
“Thirty minutes into the Wales game I felt something in there. I had an old surgery on it, so there is scar tissue and every now and then it will flare up. In the heat of a Test match, with the adrenaline and everything, you don’t think too much about it, so I played on and then just about the first play of the second half, 41 minutes in, I felt it go again. I played the rest of the game, we got the win and there was nothing in the data in terms of GPS and stuff. No red flags. So, we trained the first couple of days before France, we were getting ready to go to Paris and it just didn’t really turn the corner.
“Especially the back end of the Six Nations, you’re dealing with a few different niggles and you just kind of get on with it. But obviously when you’re dealing with a hamstring and you can’t get up to a certain speed, that caused us to scan it. We scanned it on the Wednesday and we were flying out on the Thursday. On the Thursday morning we made a decision that it wasn’t good to go.”
At 31 years old and with the benefit of past experiences, Dempsey knows his body better than most and believes he has adapted to cope with his strengths and weaknesses.
“If you break it down, I’m 31 now, I am who I am, I know what my strengths are, I know what my weaknesses are. I don’t have to be out there running like Steyno [Kyle Steyn] on the wing and reaching high speeds. My super strength has always been my first three or four steps, in and around contact, getting up in defence and ball carrying in contact.”
Lions disappointment
Not being able to put himself into even possible contention for the Lions’ tour of his homeland was a sore one but watched with interest from afar as a fan.
“That was obviously one of the more disappointing things. You’re looking at that Six Nations with that one extra game against France, trying to put your hand up and build a campaign [to be selected]. I had just come back from my shoulder as well which was against the Springboks. I had only played five games up until that Six Nations after the [2024 URC] final.
“I was already coming off an injury and you’re trying to build a campaign to then put your hand up for certain things. It was definitely tough, seeing Nons and Shuggy [Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones] get announced there having played with them a lot at both levels and knowing their backgrounds. There’s that aspect of it but you’ve got to be realistic at the same time.
“Me and Duncy [Weir] were just kind of like big brother, little brother. He was rehabbing his shoulder, I was rehabbing my hamstring. We were in at Scotstoun a lot. Then they throw you a week here, a week there [off]. Overall I got about three weeks off, spread out whereas normally you get your four or five in a block. So I did a bit of Euro travelling and just following the Lions as a fan. They were playing against a team I used to play for and teams I used to play against. I really enjoyed doing all that – it was a very good reset and I’m just itching to get back in on it.”
Jack Dempsey is back in the Glasgow fold after recovering from a hamstring injury. Image: © Craig Watson – www.craigwatson.co.uk
All being well, Dempsey’s return to competitive action will come against the Sharks on Friday night when Franco Smith’s side look to get their URC season off to a flier.
“We’re very short term focused. That’s one thing Franco’s done. When he first started laying down the scaffolds for this pre-season it was a first five game focus, leading into autumn. I think sometimes you can get caught looking at the European pool or the 1872 Cup. That’s where we reflect on last year, a few of those games where we slipped up: Ospreys at home, Benetton, where we should have won. We shot ourselves in the foot, maybe looking too far ahead. We could have used those points on the log we could: we would have finished first or second. Then you get the home semi.
“Two years in a row, we finished fourth after being second all year. So if we can bank these points early while also getting new boys blooded…we’ve got a new defence coach so there are going to be a few hiccups here and there, but if you can get those learnings while you’re winning and banking points, that’s going to help us in the long run.”
Dempsey was pleased to see Smith sign a new contract after holding talks with various interested suitors over the past few months.
“I know there’s been chatter around the last six months about Franco, where he’s going, all these teams being rumoured. But from a Glasgow point of view, it’s good just to have him in the building. We don’t want to be chopping and changing all the time. Having that consistency in there is for the betterment of Scottish rugby as well, even though we’re just one half of the two clubs. The development, not chopping and changing. Or a coach comes in, does a good job, gets bought out by someone else, and then f***s off and then we’ve got to get someone else in. It’s real mature decision making, I think, for the long term of Scottish rugby.”