Gordon Bulloch (born 26 March 1975) is a former

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.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

He made his debut for West of Scotland in November 1995 against a touring side, South African provincial team

Griqualand West Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km2 that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people – a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin, wh ...

. He went on to captain West of Scotland from 1996-97 and took West to promotion to 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 ...

Professional career

The game turned professional in 1996 and he played for and captained

Glasgow Rugby 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 ...

district team - now

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 ...

. He is Glasgow Warrior No. 2 after his professional debut against Newbridge on 12 October 1996. He captained Glasgow through to 1999. In November he led the team to the quarter final play-off in the 1997–98

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

. In May 2002, he signed a further three year contract with Glasgow. In December he made his 100th senior appearance for Glasgow. Bulloch signed for

Leeds Tykes Leeds Tykes (formerly Leeds RUFC, Leeds Carnegie and Yorkshire Carnegie) is an English rugby union club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the National League 1. The club was founded as Headingley FC, but renamed in 1991 when it j ...

in May 2005. He had joined on a two-year contract, although the following year Leeds Tykes were relegated from the Guinness Premiership in England and subsequently freed several players including Bulloch.

International career

He played for Scotland at U19 and U21 level and has been in four tours in South Africa. In 1996, he was an important player in helping the Scots to fourth place in the 1996 Students' World Cup. In 1997, he was part of the squad for the Scotland XV tour and played in the three victories on the tour. He won his first A cap in 1997 for Scotland's victory over Emerging Wales, and went on to play against all of Scotland’s Five Nations opponents at that level. In December 1997 Bulloch made his full Scotland debut in an Autumn international against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

at the

Murrayfield Stadium Murrayfield Stadium (known as BT Murrayfield Stadium for sponsorship reasons, or popularly as Murrayfield) is a Rugby stadium located in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It has a seating capacity of 67,144 making it the largest sta ...

. Bulloch went on the 1998 tour of Oceania but in the first five minute of Scotland's first test against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

he left the field with a dislocated shoulder. In 1999 his performances in Scotland's Five Nations success saw him force his way into the World XV. He played in the

1999 Rugby World Cup The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was principally hosted by Wales, and was won by Australia. This was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's professi ...

. In June 2001 he was called into the

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

squad to cover for an injury to

Phil Greening Phil Greening (born 3 October 1975) is an English former rugby union footballer who played as a hooker. Greening finished his rugby career with London Wasps in 2005. During his career he earned 24 caps for England, as well as going to Austral ...

on the tour of Australia. He made five appearances, including a replacement appearance in the first Test in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. His only start came against

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

County when the Lions won 46-3. In November 2002, he was named man of the match for his outstanding performance in Scotland's win over South Africa at Murrayfield. He was included in the Zurich World XV for 2002, a notional team list that was compiled based on ratings from detailed video analysis of performances during the past year. In August 2003 he played against Wales and in gaining his 53rd cap he became Scotland’s most-capped hooker. He was named captain for the following match against the Irish. He played in the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

. In 2005, Bulloch captained

in the Six Nations He was selected for the

2005 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand In 2005, the British & Irish Lions rugby union team toured New Zealand for the first time since 1993, playing seven matches against first and second division teams from the National Provincial Championship, one match against the New Zealand Mao ...

and was picked as captain for the fifth tour match. He captained three of the Lions mid week games. He made his Test debut in the final Test game of the tour - becoming the only Scot to do so on the tour. Bulloch required stitches after an injury was sustained in a training ground incident involving himself and John Hayes. He retired from international rugby union shortly after his return from Lions duty. In June 2014 he lost the accolade of Scotland's most capped hooker to

Ross Ford Ross William Ford (born 23 April 1984) is a Strength and Conditioning coach for the Scottish Rugby Academy. He was previously a Scotland international rugby union player who played as a hooker. He made 110 test appearances for Scotland, maki ...

Administrative career

In August 2008 he was appointed a non-executive director on the board of

Scottish Rugby The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; gd, Aonadh Rugbaidh na h-Alba) is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Styled as Scottish Rugby, it is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league s ...

Business career

Bulloch moved back to Scotland and took up employment with Colliers CRE, and returned to play rugby with then third-division West of Scotland. Bulloch now works for Highland Galvanisers in Elgin, as a technical consultant.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bulloch, Gordon 1975 births Living people Scottish rugby union players Rugby union hookers Leeds Tykes players Glasgow Warriors players Rugby union players from Glasgow British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Scotland Scotland international rugby union players West of Scotland FC players People educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School