Scott MacLeod (born 3 March 1979 in

Hawick Hawick ( ; sco, Haaick; gd, Hamhaig) is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one of ...

) is a retired Scottish

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 ...

footballer. He last played as a

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

for

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 ...

. He is currently still an active part of that club, in a coaching role. Having retired from playing at the end of the 2016–16 season. MacLeod was introduced to rugby at the age of 21, having previously been a keen golfer and basketball player. He joined

Hawick Trades Hawick Trades is a former rugby union club based in Hawick, in the Scottish Borders. They played in the Border League until 2004. History The club began in 1946. It was founded after the Second War by Hawick apprentices; based on a Combined Tr ...

before going on to play for

Hawick RFC Hawick Rugby Football Club is an semi-pro rugby union side, currently playing in the Scottish Premiership and Border League. The club was founded in 1885 and are based at Mansfield Park at Hawick in the Scottish Borders. Splinter from Hawick an ...

, with whom he won the BT Cellnet Cup in 2002 and from whom he joined The Borders professional team when it was set up that year. MacLeod represented the Borders at under-21 level, but left the

Border Reivers Border reivers were Cattle raiding, raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scotland, Scottish and England, English people, and they raided the entire border ...

to join

Llanelli Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup (which ...

for the 2006–07 season and made his debut for the West Wales team on a visit to Ulster on the opening weekend of the Magners League. He returned to Scottish rugby in January 2008 by signing for Edinburgh. MacLeod made his debut for the national side on 6 November 2004, in a match 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 ...

, and has received 24 caps in total, 15 as a substitute. MacLeod was in the Scotland squad for the

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 ...

, where he made five appearances (four as a substitute). On the morning of 25 February 2008, MacLeod was announced to have tested positive for banned substance

terbutaline Terbutaline, sold under the brand names Bricanyl and Marex among others, is a β2 adrenergic receptor agonist, used as a "reliever" inhaler in the management of asthma symptoms and as a tocolytic (anti-contraction medication) to delay preterm l ...

, only to be retrospectively cleared a few hours later after it was revealed to be nothing more than an administrative error. It was also announced later in the year that he had failed a doping test due to unusually high testosterone levels. He was later cleared as the rise in testosterone was due to a large amount of alcohol being consumed by the player the night before the test to celebrate the birth of his first child. MacLeod was released by the Scarlets by mutual consent on 29 January 2009. He then signed for

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

later that day. In November 2010, MacLeod confirmed that he was moving to Japan. He has signed for the Kobe Kobelco Steelers for their upcoming 2011–12

Top League Japan Rugby League One (formerly the Top League) is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the ...

campaign. In the 2012–13 season, Macleod signed up to play for the

References

External links

Newcastle Falcons ProfileScarlets profileScotland profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macleod, Scott 1979 births Living people Border Reivers players British expatriates in Japan Edinburgh Rugby players Expatriate rugby union players in Japan Hawick RFC players Hawick Trades players Kobelco Kobe Steelers players Newcastle Falcons players People educated at Hawick High School Rugby union locks Rugby union players from Hawick Scarlets players Scotland international rugby union players Scottish expatriate rugby union players Scottish rugby union players