From Exeter he moved to Bath where he was capped in 86 at the tender age of 23. However a facial injury prevented him from participating in the record defeat of England or victory against Ireland to steal a share of the championship with France.

He returned in 87 and played in all of Scotland ’s matches in the inaugural World Cup in New Zealand and was ever-present in the Scotland side from them. In 89 he was selected for the British Lions Tour of Australia which they won 2/1 having come back from a 1-0 defeat in the first test – unprecedented in any Lions team before or since.

At the start of the 89 season he was awarded the Scotland captaincy and led Scotland to only their third ever Grand Slam in 1990 when his walk on to the field against England in the final match become part of rugby folklore. He captained Scotland to the semi-final of the World Cup in 1991 and retired in 1992 having scored the last ever four point try in international rugby against Australia.

Ian McGeechan described him as the proto-type prop for the 90s – a description which he was particularly upset about having moved into another decade!

In total he has 44 caps for Scotland led the team on a record 25 occasions.

David joined The Change Partnership as a Director in 2001 having spent 11 years with UDV and Diagio, latterly response for the procurement of raw materials, alcohol, cereals and other commodity-type products for Guinness and UDV across the World and a budget of almost £200 million.

Now, as a Director of The Change Partnership (now Whitehead Mann) he works with senior business leaders providing business coaching services to enhance and accelerate personal and corporate performance.

His work within the media includes a role as a guest commentator with ITV2 and Eurosport (he was a member of the Eurosport commentary team during the 1999 Rugby World Cup) David is also a regular contributor to the sports pages of the Sunday Post.