Former Scotland scrum-half Duncan Paterson has died of a suspected heart attack at the age of 66.
Former Scotland international dies from suspected heart attack
Former Scotland scrum-half Duncan Paterson has died of a suspected heart attack at the age of 66.
Paterson notched up 10 caps for his national side between 1969 and 1972 and went on to manage the Scotland team when his playing days came to an end.
The Gala half-back also featured in the Scotland starting line-ups that defeated England twice on consecutive weekends in 1971.
Paterson scored a try and drop-goal to contribute to the 16-15 victory at Twickenham, Scotland's first at the London ground since 1938, before appearing in the 26-6 triumph at Murrayfield a week later to mark the centenary of the fixture.
Jim Telfer, who was Paterson's captain when the scrum-half debuted for Scotland and later worked with him at the SRU, has only praise for the former player.
"It was a tremendous loss," he told
The Scotsman.
"There have been about half a dozen people involved at Murrayfield who really knew about rugby and he was one of them."
Manager
As team manager, Paterson oversaw Scotland's 1991 World Cup campaign in which they reached fourth place, and was also at the helm in South Africa four years later.
Scotland great Gavin Hastings added: "Duncan was a tremendous team manager and really developed that role very successfully, particularly in 1995 when I was captain in the World Cup and we were heading towards professionalism."
Paterson, who is the uncle of Scotland's most-capped player and record points-scorer Chris Paterson, stepped down in 1998 after serving on the SRU's general committee.
His passion for rugby held up, however, and as recently last week he was at Netherdale as a spectator for the match between Gala and Border rivals Hawick.
SRU president Jim Stevenson said: "Duncan Paterson was a true rugby man who gave a lifetime of service to the game, firstly as a gifted player and then in a variety of off-field roles for club, district and country, always seeking to recognise the big picture.
"On behalf of Scottish Rugby, I extend our sincere sympathies to his family and friends."
