Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
retired
rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
player who competed in
rugby sevens
Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...
at
2010 Commonwealth Games
The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth that was held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 201 ...
, serving as
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
2020 Tokyo Olympics
The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...
.
Early life
Forrest was born in
Rutherglen
Rutherglen (; , ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having previously existed as a separate Lanarkshire burgh, in 1975 Rutherglen lo ...
Cambuslang
Cambuslang (, from ) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. With approximately 30,000 residents, it is the 27th-largest town in Scotland by population, although, never having had a town hall, it may also be cons ...
) and
Hamilton College
Hamilton College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, Clinton, New York. It was established as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and received its c ...
, then studied sport and exercise science at the
University of Strathclyde
The University of Strathclyde () is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal charter in 1964 as the first techn ...
.
Rugby career
Playing
He started playing for
Cambuslang
Cambuslang (, from ) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. With approximately 30,000 residents, it is the 27th-largest town in Scotland by population, although, never having had a town hall, it may also be cons ...
at the age of eight years. He was attached to
Glasgow Warriors
The Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and beca ...
from 2005, but made his professional debut for
Border Reivers
Border Reivers were Cattle raiding, raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border. They included both Scotland, Scottish and England, English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their victims' nationality.Hay, D. "E ...
in 2007 shortly before the club folded, at which point he signed a 7s contract with Scotland, but was still affiliated with the Warriors.
He represented Scotland at under-19 level while playing for Cambuslang, and at under-21 level while with
Glasgow Hawks
Glasgow Hawks is an amateur rugby union team in Glasgow, Scotland. They were Premiership Division One champions for three consecutive seasons from 2003–04 to 2005–06.
History
In Paris on 27 August 1995 a meeting of the International Rugby ...
.
In Sevens, Forrest became involved in Scotland squads in 2006, playing in 30
World Rugby Sevens Series
The SVNS, known as the HSBC SVNS for sponsorship reasons, is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World ...
tournaments from the
2005–06 World Sevens Series
The 2005–06 World Sevens Series was the seventh edition of the global circuit for men's national rugby sevens teams, run by the International Rugby Board since 1999-2000. The series was won by Fiji in the last event of the competition, ending ...
onwards. Despite breaking an
ankle
The ankle, the talocrural region or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular joint. The ...
playing 15s rugby in November 2008, he returned to take part in the
2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens
The 2009 Rugby sevens World Cup was the fifth edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected Dubai in the United Arab Emirates as the host venue for the tournament ahead of bids from four other countries. The f ...
in
Dubai
Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
the following March, leading his nation to victory in the ''Plate'' (the second-tier competition for those who did not progress in the primary ''Cup''), then achieving rare semi-final placings at the
2009 London Sevens The London Sevens is played annually as part of the IRB Sevens World Series for international rugby sevens (seven-a-side version of rugby union). The 2009 competition took place on 23 and 24 May in London, England, and was the seventh Cup trophy in ...
and
2009 Edinburgh Sevens
The Edinburgh Sevens is played annually as part of the IRB Sevens World Series for international rugby sevens (seven-a-side version of rugby union). The 2009 competition, which took place on 30 May and 31 May in Edinburgh, Scotland, was the eight ...
World Series events.
In September 2010 it was revealed that he would captain the Scotland Sevens team at the
2010 Commonwealth Games
The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth that was held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 201 ...
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
, which he later described as the highlight of his career. After the event (in which Scotland placed sixth overall, losing the ''Plate'' final to
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...
), Forrest announced his retirement from playing at the age of 26 on account of long-term injury. He took a post as rugby development officer in
Inverclyde
Inverclyde (, , , "mouth of the Clyde") is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the historic county of Renfrewshire, which ...
.
Coaching
From 2012 Forrest coached the First XV at Cambuslang, then in May 2014 moved to Premiership side
Ayr
Ayr ( ; ; , meaning "confluence of the River Àir"), is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. A former royal burgh, today it is the administrative centre of South Ayrshire Council, and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With ...
, where he had also been a player, to become the club's backs specialist.
In April 2012 he became the coach for the new Scotland Women 7s squad that were scheduled to compete in a FIRA-AER tournament in Belgium in June 2012. After five years in the role, in 2017 he stepped down and was replaced by Scott Wight. He then worked as a performance lifestyle adviser at the
Sportscotland
Sportscotland (officially styled sport) (), formerly the Scottish Sports Council, is the national agency for sport in Scotland.
The Scottish Sports Council was established in 1972 by royal charter. The body works in partnership with public, ...
Institute of Sport, before returning to Scottish Rugby in late 2018 to take up the position of Women's High Performance Manager, 7s Head Coach and 15s Assistant Coach.
Club honours
Glasgow Hawks
*
Scottish Premiership
The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...