Bruce Hamilton Hay was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 international rugby union player.

Background

Hay was born in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 and educated at Liberton High School

Liberton High School

Liberton High School is a secondary school in Gilmerton, in the south of Edinburgh, Scotland. The head teacher is Donald J. Macdonald.The school currently has about 750 students studying...

. From there he went on to work as an engineer for the National Coal Board

National Coal Board

The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...

. Latterly he worked as a sales representative.

Rugby career

Hay was a fullback and gained 23 international caps for Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 and also represented the British Lions

British and Irish Lions

The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...

 and the Barbarians

Barbarian F.C.

The Barbarian Football Club, usually referred to as the Barbarians and nicknamed the "Baa-Baas", is an invitational rugby union team based in Britain...

. He started his rugby career at junior club Liberton RFC, a team he captained at the age of 18, and while there represented Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, this was an astonishing feat for a junior club player and his tough tackling reputation was sealed. He then moved to Boroughmuir

Boroughmuir RFC

Boroughmuir RFC is a rugby union football club in the Scottish Rugby Union. Founded in 1919 and admitted to the SRU in 1939, it was originally restricted to former pupils of Boroughmuir High School. The badge is derived from Boroughmuir High School and they acquired it in 1913. Although it has lost...

 in 1972 where he went on to gain international recognition.

Factfile

Position: full-back

Clubs: Liberton, Boroughmuir (from 1972). 279 appearances for Boroughmuir.

International debut: 14 June 1975 v New Zealand in Auckland. Lost 24-0

Final appearance: 20 June 1981 v New Zealand in Auckland. Lost 40-15

Scotland caps: 23. Tries: 3

Lions Tests: 3 (on 1980 South Africa tour). Tries: 1 (v South Africa)

Coaching: Boroughmuir, Edinburgh, Scotland B, Scotland Under-19s.

External links

• http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/article2647927.eceObituary in The Times
  The Times
  The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
  
  , 13 October 2007]