Jamie Dobie never contemplated leaving Glasgow Warriors after signing a long-term contract earlier this summer.
The Scotland international was tied down at Scotstoun until 2028 but his new deal is on improved terms and takes his contract beyond 2030.
Dobie has established himself as an integral player for both club and country in recent years with his performances earning attention from English and French clubs.
Due to his talent and versatility, the 25-year-old would have received significant financial offers to leave Glasgow had he run his contract down but that was never a consideration.
Asked if he contemplated leaving Glasgow, Dobie replied: “The decision to stay was straightforward to be honest, I'm loving my time here. This is the start of my eighth season here which is wild to think about.
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“I've absolutely loved my time here, I've won a championship here. I feel like we're in a really strong place both as a squad and with the coaching group that we've got to be challenging for championships and challenging for silverware and that's really what I want to be doing.
“I want to be contributing to a team that's doing that so the decision to stay was easy and I think over the next few years and this season particularly it'll be important to keep pushing for that.”
Dobie was in the form of his life last season to deservedly earn a starting place at wing for Scotland during the Six Nations.
Gregor Townsend started the Inverness-born star in Scotland’s opening two games against Italy and England before he sustained a serious shoulder injury against the Auld Enemy at Murrayfield.
That kept him out for four months before returning to play the full game in Glasgow’s URC semi-final defeat to the Bulls. Dobie then started Scotland’s two Nation Championship fixtures away to Argentina and South Africa - three incredibly testing encounters after a long lay-off.
“Rollercoaster is probably bang on,” Dobie replied when asked to summarise last season. “We were flying as a group and me personally, just earlier in the season and that period around Christmas with the European games and the derby games, that led to my first Six Nations starts and being involved.
“Then just in a moment it can all change and that's the nature of sport and the nature of rugby especially. It was obviously challenging to pick up an injury and have to deal with the surgery and all the sort of the time out that comes. Then you're sitting in the stands and you're wanting to contribute, especially as it gets to the back end of the season.
“I did work hard and managed to get back for the one game, just the semi-final at Murrayfield, which was great to be back for. One of the goals was to be back for Glasgow and help contribute to a successful season and it was obviously disappointing with how that day and how that result went, especially with the way the game was and the foothold we had in it.
“For me to be back fit and put myself back in contention for the summer squad and play in three massive test matches in the Nations Championship was awesome and I loved the experiences of playing those matches.”
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Naturally a scrum-half, Dobie has earned a starting berth for Scotland at wing due to his excellent displays in that role for Glasgow.
His versatility is unquestionably a huge asset but it’s also caused frustration in the past due to his belief that he wasn’t getting the chance to fully master one role. That, however, is no longer the case.
He said: “I've learned to sort of love both of them, I don't get frustrated with moving about now. I've got different reasons for loving each position.
“I love playing scrum-half, I love the influence you can have on a match and the satisfaction you can have after a good game at scrum-half and a good result and then with the wing there's obviously that bit more freedom and there are different strengths in my game which I can bring into it.
“For the first while I maybe felt like I was being caught between two positions and I wasn't getting the best out of both but I've kind of learned to love playing both of them and, to be honest, it's an honour playing for Glasgow and Scotland wherever that is. I’m delighted wherever I'm playing.
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“If I'm playing on the wing my training week I'll predominantly just train on the wing, just so I'm on top of all the details for that week on the wing and then I can still stay on top of some sort of skills stuff for scrum-half throughout that week.
“Then vice versa if I'm playing scrum-half for a game then I'll be training at scrum half that week because we obviously can know the team earlier in the week so for our training that’s how it's sort of adapted.”
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