Rory Lawson (born 12 March 1981) is a Scottish former rugby union player who played his career in Scotland and England as a scrum half. He won 31 caps for

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 ...

. He attended

Dollar Academy Dollar Academy, founded in 1818 by John McNabb, is an independent co-educational day and boarding school in Scotland. The open campus occupies a site in the centre of Dollar, Clackmannanshire, at the foot of the Ochil Hills. Overview As of 20 ...

where he captained the school's 1st XV. After a number of years playing amateur rugby for Heriots he then took a professional contract with

Edinburgh Gunners Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...

in 2003 but in the summer of 2006 moved to the Guinness Premiership side

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

. He gained his first international cap against Australia in the autumn of 2006, coming on as a substitute. He faced strong competition for the scrum-half position in the Scotland side from Mike Blair and Chris Cusiter, both of whom were British and Irish Lions. but still managed to captain Scotland. Lawson was a member of Scotland's

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

squad. He joined

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

in 2012. On 7 August 2013, Lawson announced his retirement from rugby on medical advice, due to a chronic wrist injury.

Personal life

A grandson of commentator

Bill McLaren William Pollock McLaren (16 October 1923 – 19 January 2010) was a Scottish rugby union commentator, teacher, journalist and one time rugby player. Known as 'the voice of rugby', he retired from commentating in 2002. Renowned throughout th ...

and son of Scottish international scrum-half Alan Lawson, Lawson comes from a sporting family. His brother Gregor played for Scotland 7's and fullback for London Scottish FC, and after retiring founded

Morphsuits Morphsuits is a company in Edinburgh, Scotland that distributes branded spandex costumes, based on the existing skin-tight garments, which cover the entire body. The company offers over 80 different designs. The company was founded by brothers A ...

, a fancy dress company. His cousin, Jim Thompson, is a fullback/

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

with

Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...

. In 2018, he married India Lawson in East Lothian, Scotland. In 2019, they had a son together, Frederick Louis McLaren Lawson. In 2021, they welcomed another son, Louis James MacGregor Lawson.

References

External links

Gloucester Rugby Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, Rory 1981 births Living people Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players of Scotland Edinburgh Rugby players Gloucester Rugby players Heriot's RC players Newcastle Falcons players People educated at Dollar Academy Rugby sevens players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Rugby union players from Dunfermline Rugby union scrum-halves Scotland international rugby union players Scottish rugby union players