Happy 54th Birthday Scottish Rugby great, Gary Armstrong born 30th September 1966 in Edinburgh.

Armstrong was first capped at aged 22 against Australia at Murrayfield, he went on to be capped 51 times for Scotland in a career ravaged by injury brought on by his fearless playing style, it is quoted by fellow Scot David Sole (that) "If you were picking one guy to go over the top you would pick Gary Armstrong. He would put his body on the line for the cause -- a phenomenal player with incredible courage."

Such were Armstrong's injuries he devoted an entire chapter to them in his autobiography" Scotland played 89 matches in all between his debut against Australia in October 1988 and his final appearance against the All Blacks 11 years later,he would undoubtedly have played the majority of these matches had he remained injury free, however he surely would not have been the same fearless player. He was fearsomely committed, a quality which made him a favourite of notoriously demanding Scotland coach Jim Telfer.

To put him on a pedestal on my own would be unfair, I confess to not being a massive Rugby fan but when the late great Bill McLaren, said of him "I can't recall an occasion on which he passed one rubbish ball to his partner, then you might start believing the mans ability.

To sum things up in a poll in The Herald in 2015 Gary Armstrong was voted the Greatest Scottish Rugby player ever, another article from ESPN is titled "The man who never threw a rubbish pass" The Sports network have him at our number six best player. 

The year Gary Armstrong retired, 1999 was the last time Scotland won the Five (now six) Nations Championship. Checking the facts myself, in the 20 years that have passed, we haven't even been runners up our best standing lately was third in 2018.

Coincidence? Make your own mind up. To borrow a line from a famous song...." When will we see your likes again?"