Dougie never got the credit he was due

SCOTLAND’S Dougie Morgan, who passed way this week aged 73, was one of those individuals who was underrated as a player and coach and as a manager, possibly on account of his quiet no-nonsense demeanour.

A quietly efficient scrum-half and superb goal kicker he should have won more than 21 Scotland caps although in fairness Alan Lawson provided stern opposition for the starting spot in the Scotland side for much of the 70s.

Morgan, below, also won two Lions caps in 1977, scoring all their points in the heart-breaking 10-9 defeat in the final Test at Eden Park.

After retiring from playing he was a shrewd presence behind the scenes and could claim to have attended seven World Cups – five fifteen aside and two Sevens – as either coach, assistant coach or manager with various Scotland squads.

He proved a notably popular if not, initially, successful Scotland head coach after taking over in 1993 from Ian McGeechan. At one stage Scotland endured a depressing run of nine straight defeats but Morgan kept his sense of humour and 1995 proved much more successful with a famous win in Paris setting the Scots up for a Grand Slam decider with England, at Twickenham.

Scotland lost that game 24-12 but gave a very decent account of themselves in South Africa where they gave New Zealand more hurry up than most in a vastly entertaining World Cup quarter-final in Pretoria.

An excellent club cricketer who knocked on the door of the Scotland side on a number of occasions he always insisted one of his proudest moments was acting as 12th man for Scotland against MCC at Lord’s and making a catch, even if Wisden didn’t record the replacement’s name in those days when they made such a catch.

Like I say, some people never quite get the credit and acclaim they deserved.