Douglas William Cumming Smith

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(27 October 1924 – 22 September 1998) was a Scotland international rugby union player. He played as a Wing.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Smith played club rugby with Aberdeen University and London Scottish.

Provincial career

He played for North of Scotland District in their 1947 match against Midlands District. He played on the left wing for the

Whites Trial White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as ...

side in 1950.

International career

Smith was capped 8 times for , and was a member of the British Lions team that toured in 1950. In 1946, while playing for the Aberdeen University club, Smith made an appearance for against a New Zealand Army touring team, in an uncapped match held to mark the end of the Second World War. Smith made his capped début for the Scotland national team in January 1949, in a Five Nations Championship match against France. He went on to play in all four of Scotland's matches in that year's Championship. He played three matches in the

1950 Five Nations Championship The 1950 Five Nations Championship was the twenty-first series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the fifty-sixth series of the northern hemisphere rugb ...

. He was included in the British Lions squad for their tour to New Zealand and Australia. A broken arm kept him out until the 18th game of the tour, but he recovered to play in four tour matches against local opposition and one of the test matches against the national team. The Barbarians invitational team included Smith in their squad for their 1949 Easter Tour, and he featured in two games for the team, against Penarth and Newport.

Administrative career

Smith was Team Manager for the

1971 British Lions tour to New Zealand In 1971 the Lions toured New Zealand, also playing two matches in Australia. Despite losing the first match to Queensland the tour was a great success, the Lions winning the Test series against the All Blacks. They are still the only Lions si ...

. Following a loss in the initial tour game against Queensland, Queensland coach

Des Connor Desmond Michael Connor (born 9 August 1935 in Ashgrove, QLD) is an Australian former rugby union halfback who represented internationally both the Australian and New Zealand national rugby union teams. He is an inductee in the Australian Rugby ...

proclaimed the 1971 team to be "undoubtedly the worst team in history to be sent to New Zealand.". Smith countered by predicting that the Lions would win two of their test matches against New Zealand, lose one and draw the other to win the series 2–1. They went on to do exactly that, and as of 2017 are the only Lions team to have recorded a series win against New Zealand. Following his achievements with the Lions, he was awarded the OBE in the

1972 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1972 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the ''Lon ...

list. He held the position of Scottish Rugby Union President for the 1986–87 season.

References

1924 births 1998 deaths Scottish rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Scotland London Scottish F.C. players Aberdeen University RFC players Rugby union players from Aberdeen Barbarian F.C. players Rugby union wings Officers of the Order of the British Empire Presidents of the Scottish Rugby Union Whites Trial players North of Scotland (standalone) players {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-stub