Rory Gordon MacGregor Lawson became Scotland's 111th Test match captain and started a Murrayfield international for the first time when he gave a magnificent lead to ensure Scotland defeated world champions South Africa in the EMC Autumn Test in November 2010. He followed that up by captaining Scotland to a win against Samoa the week later. His third outing as Scotland captain maintained his 100% record as leader - the 10-6 EMC Test win against Ireland at Murrayfield - and he made it four out of four with the RWC victory over Georgia in Invercargill in September 2011. That run came to an end as he led the team for a fifth time in the narrow loss to Argentina, 12-13, in Wellington.

In 2010 he had a brief stint as acting Scotland captain during the triumphant second test on the summer tour of Argentina.  Lawson, who started both Tests, helped Scotland to a 24-16 margin in the first and a 13-9 victory in the second, thus securing their first cap Test series success in 50 years of touring. 

He followed in the footsteps of his father, Alan, also a Scotland scrum half, when he made his debut as a replacement against Australia in the 2006 Bank of Scotland Corporate international at Murrayfield in November 2006. They are the 15th father-and-son pair to play for Scotland.

Rory’s Six Nations debut, also as a replacement, followed against England at Twickenham on the opening day of the 2007 tournament, and he had his first Scotland start on the championship’s final day in the Paris match against France. He made his World Cup debut later that year as a replacement in the St Etienne win against Portugal as well as playing as a substitute against New Zealand at Murrayfield. After a year out of the national squad he returned to take a prominent part in a memorable victory, playing as a replacement for nearly an hour in the 9-8 win against Australia in the Bank of Scotland Corporate Autumn Test at Murrayfield in November 2009.

He led Scotland A to the final of the Barclays Churchill Cup tournament in Canada in June 2006, and he was chosen to continue as captain of that team for the match against their Australian counterparts at McDiarmid Park, Perth, five months later, though before that he was promoted to national squad for the first time for the autumn Test against the Wallabies. He returned the Scotland A team as captain in the Churchill Cup win against the USA at Henley in May 2007, and he led that team to two handsome wins in February 2008 – 37-15 against Italy in Mogliano, near Venice, and 67-7 against Ireland A at McDiarmid Park, scoring a try in the latter match.

He had two more Scotland A appearances in the IRB Nations Cup success in Bucharest in June 2009 – replacement against Russia, and captain against Uruguay. His cousin, Jim Thompson, also played for Scotland A in that tournament.

Rory’s 2008 Scotland A successes were followed by his return to Six Nations Championship duty as a replacement in Scotland’s 15-9 Calcutta Cup success against England at Murrayfield in March 2008. He also made replacement appearances in the two Tests on Scotland’s visit to Argentina in June that year. Rory has also represented his country in sevens, making his international debut at the IRB New Zealand tournament in February 2006. In that Wellington tournament he was a key figure in the 10-5 extra-time victory against Canada in the Bowl final, scoring an equalising try and then setting up Ross Rennie for the sudden-death winner. Instead of heading on to the USA with the squad for the subsequent Los Angeles tournament, he flew home to help Edinburgh prepare for their Celtic League crunch clash with Ulster at Murrayfield. He returned to sevens duty for of the Commonwealth Games sevens in Melbourne, Australia, in March 2006. In June 2005 he was selected to play for Great Britain at the World Games sevens in Duisburg, Germany.

While at Dollar Academy, Rory captained Midlands Schools at under-16 and under-18 as well as leading Scottish Schools’ under-15 team before going on to the schools’ international under-18 level and the Scottish Youth Development tour to New Zealand in 1999. He played club rugby for Heriot’s before signing as a professional with Edinburgh in 2003, and he moved on to Gloucester for season 2006-2007, making his tournament debut as a replacement in the win against Bath at Kingsholm on the opening day of that season’s Guinness Premiership. His first Premiership start for Gloucester followed three weeks later in the Kingsholm victory against Northampton. Before joining Edinburgh, Rory helped Heriot’s to lift the 2003 BT Cup with victory against Watsonians 25-13 in the final at Murrayfield.

Rory is a grandson of the late, world-renowned rugby commentator Bill McLaren.