Bulloch back on board at Murrayfield

At 33 and still captaining West of Scotland, Bulloch is much younger and more closely associated with the current game than any previous non-executive or executive director. The decision of Brian Kennedy, the Sale owner, to stand down this year left a huge void of pro rugby experience among the SRU leadership, but Bulloch played both amateur and pro rugby, and represented the British and Irish Lions, in a career which brought 75 caps.

He said: “I think it’s important to put something back into the game that has given me so much.”

Emslie, 51, has 22 years experience in television and was chief executive of Scottish Media Group Television from 1999-2006, and SMG plc in 2006-7. He played rugby while at Jordanhill College, is chairman of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre.

The new men replace Graeme Millar, who quit in May, and Kennedy as from 1 September, and join Jock Millican and Allan Munro as non-executive directors.