Alex Dunbar (born 23 April 1990) is a retired

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. His regular playing position was Centre.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Born in Dumfries and a former pupil of

Lockerbie Academy Lockerbie Academy is a mainstream non-denominational secondary school in Lockerbie, Scotland. The head teacher A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title i ...

, Dunbar graduated in 2008 with an HNC from the

Scottish Agricultural College Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) is a public land based research institution focused on agriculture and life sciences. Its history stretches back to 1899 with the establishment of the West of Scotland Agricultural College and its current organis ...

Auchincruive Auchincruive is a former country house and estate in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is located east of Ayr, on the north bank of the River Ayr. Auchincruive House was built in the 18th century on the site of an earlier mansion. In 1927, the estate ...

in Ayrshire.Alex Dunbar profile on Scottish Rugby
/ref> Dunbar has appeared for Glasgow at every age level from under-14 to under-18 and was Annan rugby club under-18 player of the year in both 2005 and 2006 and the following season. He moved from Annan RFC to

Selkirk RFC Selkirk Rugby Football Club are a rugby union side based in Selkirk in the Borders, Scotland. They play in their home games at Philiphaugh, and compete in the Scottish Premiership (the highest tier of club rugby) and the Border League (the olde ...

in 2008. Dunbar was drafted to

Glasgow Hawks Glasgow Hawks is an amateur rugby union team in Glasgow, Scotland. They were Premiership Division One champions for three consecutive seasons from 2003–04 to 2005–06. History In Paris on 27 August 1995 a meeting of the International Rugby ...

in the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

for the 2017-18 season. Dunbar was drafted to

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire council area and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With a population ...

in the

for the 2018-19 season.

Professional career

Scottish Rugby Academy The Scottish Rugby Academy, for sponsorship reasons the Fosroc Scottish Rugby Academy, is a national academy structure designed to give Scotland's young rugby stars a pathway into the professional game. The academy structure is based on 4 regiona ...

contracted player, Dunbar made his

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

debut in the 25–13 win against

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

at Ravenhill in December 2009. Dunbar was the only Scot (and only Scottish based player) to be included in the Rabodirect Pro 12 'Dream team' for the 2013–14 season. He agreed a new Glasgow contract until 2017 and helped Glasgow finish 2nd in the league. In January 2017 he signed a two year contract extension. On 2 September 2017 Dunbar played his 100th competitive match for the Warriors, in the first round of the

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

against

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

. In January 2019, it was announced that Dunbar would spend the remainder of the season on loan at Newcastle Falcons and would then leave Warriors. Dunbar signed a one year contract for French

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

team

CA Brive Club Athlétique Brive Corrèze Limousin, also referred to as CA Brive, Brive () or CAB, is a French professional rugby union club based in Brive-la-Gaillarde, in the Corrèze department. They compete in the first-tier Top 14 competition. Briv ...

in June 2019. He was released by Brive in May 2020. Due to ongoing injury issues, Dunbar announced his retirement in May 2021.

International career

Dunbar has played for Scotland at under-17, under-18 and under-20 level. Dunbar won his first cap for the senior Scotland team in their opening match of the quadrangular tournament in South Africa in 2013, against Samoa and followed up the next week with his first try against South Africa in Nelspruit. He scored a second-half brace of tries as Scotland posted their first win in the 2014 RBS 6 Nations Championship by 21–20 against Italy in Rome.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunbar, Alex 1990 births Living people Annan RFC players Ayr RFC players CA Brive players Glasgow Hawks players Glasgow Warriors players Newcastle Falcons players Rugby union players from Dumfries Scotland international rugby union players Scottish rugby union players Selkirk RFC players Rugby union centres