A club career saw the back-row forward (he had to make an early call to ditch plans of a playmaking stand-off) represent hometown Gala, Melrose, Border Reivers and the Scotland Club XV, with Murrayfield main bowl action aplenty for many of them.

And it all began, as it does for so many, as school pupil: “All the way back to my Gala Academy days, we’d train or play in the morning then the excitement of getting on the school buses up to the match, it was unbelievable,” he recounts. “To grow up watching it, with my Dad back in the day, it was unbelievable.

“Luckily, yeah, I played there. Back with Gala in 1999 [in the Scottish Cup final, in which they defeated Kelso 8-3]. I think as a player or coach with Melrose there were another eight or so times? And back in my Border Reivers days as well. Good memories of playing at Murrayfield and it’s a special place.

Pictured: Murrayfield playing memories as John gets some attention from Ayr’s Ross Doneghan in the 2013 Scottish Cup final

“It’s great to hear other teams when they come here, they love it with the piper and the build-up pre-match.

“Especially with the anniversary of the stadium as well this year, it’s a big landmark for Scottish Rugby as a whole and a special time with memories shared and we want to create our own memories. It’s good to be at home with the added pressure of your home support to go and deliver performances and win.”

Coming hot off the back of an autumn Test schedule, whereby Scotland finished three from four with a win over Australia, the turnaround was swift – “quicker than I can ever remember” – but when it comes to Six Nations, the magic of the championship grips everyone.

“The cultural differences between the teams, the flair of the French or the rivalry with England – everybody is very unique,” says the man affectionately known as JD. “In parts there are similarities but what I love is that game-to-game it’s completely different.

“The optimism and expectation within the group is higher than it’s ever been. There’s external noise but internally what I like is that the players and the coaches speak about how performances that were maybe ok in the past aren’t really the be-all, it’s wining Test matches and improving as well.

“I think the last two or three years the drop of a ball, a decision here, has been the difference between finishing in our best-ever position or third or fourth, so it’s very tight margins, but every team’s the same and want to win.

“There’s no guarantees in Test rugby, the competitiveness of the top 10 teams is the best it’s ever been in the history of the game. What we want to do, if the top four is the elite, we want to break into that more regularly and get wins against them.”

The momentum from November, as Scotland eased past Fiji and Portugal, lost out to world champions South Africa before ending on that Wallaby win, is something John and the coaching team are keen to use as a springboard to the next level, as he explained: “We knew it was really important to beat Australia to deem it a success but there was so much more in that game we could have done to make it more convincing. There was no satisfaction after the win, it was more ‘we missed a huge opportunity to do more’ and that’s going to drive us forward. That shows the progression of the group and where we are now. We’re not the plucky guys who pull off the odd win, we want more and the guys are demanding more.”

JD is a part of a coaching unit who have collectively overseen a host of international matches, with the importance of a tight-knit team off the pitch as fundamental to success on it, as he added: “The dynamic is brilliant, the alignment work that Gregor’s done over the years, the connection of the group, everybody’s on the same plan. We’ve been through a lot together, I think we’ll be on about 50 Tests together and the management, support staff, S&C, all of that has a real familiarity about it. We’ve been through dark days and good days, World Cups and Six Nations and we’re all evolving at the same time.

“The openness and connection, the respect we have for each other – it’s connecting it all up and the coaches get on really well. We go through a lot of stress and pressure together but we all complement and dove-tail into all areas really nicely.”

He would dearly love a few more magical Murrayfield moments, albeit less stress-inducing than his last trip as a spectator.

JD’s son, Jake, was part of the Merchiston Castle School side that reached the final of the U18 Schools Cup in December, losing out to a well-drilled Stewart’s Melville side.

Playing stand-off (John *did* feature there once for Gala apparently), young Jake acquitted himself well, although it didn’t do much for his dad: “He was probably the youngest on the field at 16 and it was great to watch but I was more nervous watching that than the Test matches! It was a great experience for him out there, but a very uncomfortable watch for me.”

As Scotland prepare to face Wales in their last home game of the 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations, those Test match nerves will return but as ever, it’ll all be worth it if the hosts emerge victorious.

Pictured: John with Scotland men’s scrum coach, Pieter de Villiers, with whom he has shared many international highs and lows.