Ian Richard Smith (born 16 March 1965) is a former

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. He is now a

coach.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

He was educated at the Sir Thomas Rich's School in Longlevens. He went on to play for

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

. He formerly played as a flanker. Smith made his senior debut aged 18 and by 1996 had played more than 350 games for them.

Provincial career

He played for the

Scottish Exiles Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

district in the

Scottish Inter-District Championship The Scottish Inter-District Championship is a rugby union competition between regional sides in Scotland. Established in 1953, the tournament went through several formats. The Scottish Rugby Union confirmed in January 2023 that the Scottish Int ...

. Smith stated: "I always wanted to play for Scotland, from the days of watching the Five Nations sat on my grandfather’s knee."

International career

He represented England 'B' against Spain in 1989. He also qualified for Scotland through his paternal grandparents and

Ian McGeechan Sir Ian Robert McGeechan, OBE (born 30 October 1946) is a Scottish rugby union player, coach and teacher. Born in Leeds, McGeechan represented Headingley as his only club during a 15-year club career, qualifying for Scotland through his father h ...

persuaded him to play for Scotland. He played for Scotland 'B' against Ireland 'B' on 22 December 1990. In 1991 he played for Scotland 7s in the

Hong Kong Sevens The Hong Kong Sevens ( zh, t=香港國際七人欖球賽, link=no) is a rugby sevens tournament held annually in Hong Kong on a weekend in late March or early April. Considered the premier tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Series competiti ...

tournament. He made his full test debut for Scotland against England at Murrayfield on 18 January 1992. He played one match at the 1995 World Cup. His last international appearance was against South Africa at Murrayfield on 6 December 1997. He gained 25 caps for Scotland in the period 1992–97. He played 7 matches for the

Barbarian F.C. The Barbarian Football Club, known as the Barbarians, is a Great Britain, British-based invitational rugby union club. The Barbarians play in black and white hoops, though players wear socks from their own club strip. Membership is by invitatio ...

and scored 9 points between 1990 and 1993. He captained the team against Newport in 1992.

Coaching career

In 2004 returned to

Moseley Moseley ( ') is an affluent suburb in south Birmingham, England, south of the city centre. It is located within the eponymous Moseley ward of the constituency of Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley (UK Parliament constituency), Hall Green and ...

as head coach. In 2009 Mosely beat Leeds at Twickenham to win the EDF Energy National Trophy. In 2011 he went on to a coaching role with the

Georgia national rugby union team The Georgia national rugby union team, nicknamed The Lelos, is administered by the Georgia Rugby Union, Georgian Rugby Union. The team takes part in the annual Rugby Europe International Championships, Rugby Europe Championship, and the Rugby W ...

. He was appointed interim and later effective head coach of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

going into the

World Rugby Nations Cup The Nations Cup is a rugby union competition that was first held in 2006 at Estádio Universitário in Lisbon with Argentina A, Italy A, Portugal and Russia taking part. The tournament is part of the International Rugby Board's US $50 million St ...

in 2016.

Outside of rugby union

He worked as a civil engineer.

References

External links

profile
on ESPN {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Ian 1965 births Living people Rugby union players from Gloucester People educated at Sir Thomas Rich's School Scotland international rugby union players Scottish rugby union players Scotland A international rugby union players Scotland international rugby sevens players Scottish rugby union coaches Barbarian F.C. players Rugby union flankers Male rugby sevens players Scotland 'B' international rugby union players Scottish Exiles (rugby union) players 1995 Rugby World Cup players