John Rutherford picks out Iain Milne as his top Scot

FORMER Scotland stand-off John Rutherford believes the influence of prop Iain Milne in a golden period for Scottish rugby was never properly recognised.

Speaking in the new feature of legend interviews on the Scotsman Rugby Show, Rutherford picked out the tighthead prop fondly known by Scots players and supporters as “The Bear” as his favourite Scotland internationalist of all time.

The Heriot’s prop made his debut for Scotland in 1979 and won 44 caps, anchoring the scrum through a 12-year period which included Scotland’s second Grand Slam in 1984 and led up to the third in 1990.

Rutherford told this week’s Scotsman Rugby Show: “I don’t think Iain got the recognition he deserved.

“In the Seventies and Eighties, Scotland was a lightweight team and he was like a rock at that time. He held the team together and was an outstanding player of his generation.”

In the programme, Rutherford reflects on a career that brought 42 Scotland caps and a place on the British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand in 1983. In answering five quick questions, he speaks of his debut for Scotland, the threat from a Welsh internationalist that he claimed was out to break his legs, his rugby hero, favourite game and toughest opponent.

Wales feature prominently in his reflections, providing the opposition for his debut and his favourite game, as well as his choice of rugby hero, but it was an All Black openside flanker who caused him no end of problems that the former Scotland fly-half selected as his toughest opponent. “The best of all was Graham Mourie from New Zealand,” he said. “Every time I played against the All Blacks, he was outstanding. I felt that I had no time on the ball at all.”

The Scotsman Rugby Show will feature an interview with a former internationalist each week and invites readers and viewers to e-mail their suggestions of past players they would like to hear from.

The new ten-minute programme also includes highlights from weekend club matches, with Melrose’s win over Currie and the Edinburgh Accies-Gala match featured in this week’s programme, and hears from Edinburgh and Glasgow players on how they plan to turn around a disappointing start to the RaboDirect PRO12 campaign.