Roland Estcourt Reid enjoyed a dramatic start to international match rugby by scoring a try within one minute of his introduction to Scotland’s 43-20 victory against Tonga in November 2001. He scored from the wing, the berth in which was deployed at the time, while also being fielded in the back-row. He played in four matches on Scotland’s 2000 summer tour to New Zealand, scoring a try in the 24-7 success against Hawke’s Bay. He took that form into the start of the 2000-2001 season, notching three tries in Glasgow Caledonians’ Welsh/Scottish League victory over Cross Keys. He repeated that feat the following season with a treble on the wing in the 59-14 defeat of Pontypridd in the Celtic League. He also enjoyed an impressive Scotland A debut in the 37-24 win against Samoa in Perth in November 2000 and continued in that vein by scoring the only try of the game as Scotland A lost 8-15 to France A in February 2001. He was introduced as a substitute in the next game, the 42-20 triumph against Wales A, and the same pattern followed against England A, against whom he scored a spectacular try. 

Reid was back in the starting XV against Italy A in March 2001. He returned to A duty in the 6-6 draw against England A at Stirling in February 2002. After those six Scotland A appearances in the back row between 2000 and 2002 he returned to that team in the 67-7 win against Ireland A at McDiarmid Park, Perth, in February 2008, though on this occasion he was back in his 2001 international position on the wing after a successful switch with Edinburgh only a few weeks earlier. Roland won a host of representative honours in South Africa including selection for South Africa Schools, South Africa under-19 and South Africa under-21. He went on to play for the Golden Lions in both Currie Cup and Vodacom Cup competitions. He enlisted with Glasgow Caledonians in 1999 before moving back to South Africa in 2004 to compete in the Currie Cup for the Golden Lions.  In the 2004-05 season he returned to the UK to sign up with London Irish. He then played No.8 for Leeds Tykes for a season in the Heineken and Powergen Cups and the English Premiership. He also returned to the sevens scene in 2005, after two years’ absence, representing Scotland in the IRB Rugby World Cup in Hong Kong.

Playing in the centre, he formed a complimentary partnership with winger Andrew Turnbull, scoring three tries including a brace in the opening 33-14 victory over Ireland. In 2006 he joined Fidentia Boland Rugby in South Africa, playing No.8 and helping them to victory in the ABSA Currie Cup championship. A graduate of RAU Johannesburg, he is currently studying for a BSc Honours in development psychology through the Open University. Roland qualifies for Scotland through his Greenock-born father. His great uncle was Don Kitchenbrand, who played football for Rangers in the 1950s.