Gary Strain


Gary Strain is a Scottish rugby union player at the Loosehead Prop position.. He previously played for Glasgow Warriors and Newcastle Falcons.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Strain started playing amateur rugby with Dalziel Rugby Club in 2004. He played with them until 2007 appearing 36 times and scoring 25 points.
Moving to the Glasgow Hawks for the season 2007-08, Strain was to win the Scottish Shield with them in 2009. He played for the Hawks for 4 years before moving to French side Massy.

Professional career

At the start of season 2008-09 the prop was called up to the Glasgow Warriors squad for a pre-season game against Bristol Rugby on 22 August 2008 and came on as a substitute in the match.
Massy were initially playing in the Federale 1 league in France, their highest amateur league. In 2012 they secured promotion to the French second-tier professional league, the Pro D2, for the first time in the club's history.
Strain was then picked up by the Newcastle Falcons in 2013. and played 12 times for them in season 2013-14.
Returning to Scotland, Strain first picked up a one-month training contract with Glasgow Warriors During this time he represented a Warriors 'A' side against an Edinburgh 'A' side at Stirling.
On 17 July 2015 it was announced that Strain had secured a short-term professional contract with Glasgow Warriors to provide depth and competition for places during the 2015 World Cup when the Warriors will lose a host of their top stars on Scotland duty.
The contract will allow Strain to play / coach at Glasgow Hawks when not involved with the Warriors team.
After a hiatus Strain was again picked for Glasgow Warriors for the 2017-18 friendly against Dragons at Ebbw Vale.

International career

The prop was capped by the international squad for the under 18s, under 19s and under 20s for Scotland. He went on to be capped for Scotland Club XV.

Coaching career

He then moved back to Glasgow Hawks in a player / development role. Strain was to become the Hawk's Club Development Officer in November 2014. As part of this role Strain would promote rugby in various schools including Glasgow Academy, High School of Glasgow, Kelvinside Academy, Drumchapel High School, Saint Thomas Aquinas Secondary and Knightswood Secondary.