Jonny Gray

​Jonny Gray became the 1050th Scotland cap when he was introduced as a replacement for his brother Richie in the second-half of Scotland's Autumn Test against South Africa in November 2013.

He was a Scottish Rugby Elite Development player, attached to Glasgow Warriors at the time, though naturally his talents were soon rewarded with a senior contract with the club. On the 2014 summer tour, Gray enjoyed his first start for Scotland in the 21-19 win against Argentina in Cordoba.

A replacement appearance against South Africa followed before his performances banked his place in the boilerhouse in every match of the following 2014 Autumn Tests - registering his first international try in the 41-31 win over Argentina.

Jonny and brother Richie were both on the scoresheet that day, making them the last brothers to score in a Test match since Gavin and Scott Hastings, who were on the try-sheet together three times during their career (twice in 1991 - Five Nations and RCW - and in the RWC 1995). Jonny and Richie Gray are the 21st set of brothers to play for Scotland in the same game.

Jonny then started each of the 2015 RBS 6 Nations Championship and was subsequently listed as one of the nation's two nominees for the player of the tournament award, racking up an outstanding tackle count of 84, the highest in the tournament. The lock, who turned 21 in the penultimate week of the Championship, missed only one attempted tackle throughout the tournament’s five games.

A further two starting roles followed in Scotland's Summer Test campaign, including the 48-7 win over Italy, before being named in the 31-man squad for the Rugby World Cup 2015; starting in four out of five possible matches.

He scored his second test try against Australia in the 2016 Autumn Tests and his impressive form earned him starts for all five 2017 RBS 6 Nations games and a further two starts in the summer tour against Australia and Fiji. Gray was ever-present in the Scotland squad in last year’s RBS 6 Nations, the summer tour and the Autumn Tests, where he scored three tries against New Zealand and Australia in the final two games.

In 2018, Gray again featured in every test of Scotland's 2018 NatWest 6 Nations campaign and was the championship leader for most tackles, ending the campaign with 100 all five tests.

He played at a second World Cup, in Japan in 2019, starting three of Scotland's matches in Pool A, and has unsurprisingly continued a consistent run of international matches since, including playing a starring role in the 2021 Calcutta Cup win at Twickenham.

Through the ranks...

Jonny joined Glasgow Warriors in the summer of 2012 on the back of standout displays for Hamilton and the Scotland under-20 team.

He started his first game for the national under-20 side at age just 17 and was selected as Scotland under-20 captain for the 2013 RBS 6 Nations, and played 14 times at that level.

Gray was named as one of the recipients of the 2012 John Macphail Scholarship and spent three months developing his rugby in New Zealand alongside Gregor Hunter and coaches Ben Fisher and Chris Paterson.