Obituary: David Milne

21/01/15 HERIOT'S RUGBY CLUB - EDINBURGH Brothers (L/R) Iain, Kenny and David Milne are looking forward to seeing their former side's clash when Heriot's meet Barbarians.

In Scottish rugby folklore, David was a pivotal member of the three bears.

Alongside his brothers, Iain (older) and Kenny (younger), he was on the left of a truly formidable front-row  that will forever be part of the rich history of Heriot’s rugby club.

While Iain and Kenny were both Scotland internationalists, Iain going on to tour New Zealand with the British and Irish Lions in 1983 and Kenny, with the Lions also to New Zealand in 1993, David was also soon catching the attention of the national selectors.

David Ferguson Milne was born in Edinburgh on 7 December 1958.

Educated at George Heriot’s School he went on to play his adult rugby at Goldenacre and earned rave reviews in Douglas Middleton’s Centenary History of Heriot’s – though initially on the right-hand side of the scrum, given fellow Scotland prop Jim Burnett, had worn the number one jersey during Heriot’s championship winning season in 1978-79.

David made his Edinburgh district debut on their 1979 tour of France and went on to play six times for Scotland B,  emerging in the victorious side on five occasions, including twice away against their French counterparts in Villefranche-sur-Saone and Chalon-sur Saone.

A strong scrummager in his own right, David also featured in international trials, but it was on Scotland tours to Japan in 1989 and North America in 1991, where he made the biggest impact on your correspondent.

David was bright and intelligent both on and off the field. On the 1989 tour, there was a risk that the densely populated, high-rise and traffic-choked cities of Tokyo and Osaka, could have sapped the team’s morale.

SEASON 1985/1986
SCOTLAND RUGBY
David Milne

Every journey, whether to match venues or training grounds, took an age, but his sense of humour – coining the new medical condition “bus lag” – kept spirits high.

David played in both the Test matches against USA and Canada on the pre-Rugby World Cup tour in 1991 – which were subsequently included in our retrospective caps project.

But in his playing pomp, his first cap was in the 1991 Rugby World Cup opener when he was introduced as a replacement for David Sole in the 47-9 win against Japan.

A highlight for David was when he lined up alongside brothers Kenny and Iain, to form the Barbarians front-row in a 34-22 victory against East Midlands at Franklin’s Gardens, Northampton in March 1989.

21/01/15
HERIOT’S RUGBY CLUB – EDINBURGH
Brothers (L/R) Iain, Kenny and David Milne are looking forward to seeing their former side’s clash when Heriot’s meet Barbarians.

On playing retirement, David worked in business development and marketing, including pharmaceuticals, B2B services, professional services, IT and financial services.

He served on the board of five different companies and is a past Chair of Edinburgh Leisure.

His most recent role was as business development manager at the Edinburgh legal firm, Lindsay’s.

Scottish Rugby extends its sincere condolences to all David Milne’s family, in particular his wife Julia, son Rory, daughter Shonagh, grandson Freddie, Rory’s wife, Jas, and Shonagh’s husband Kalen, plus his sister Susan.

When we have details of David’s funeral we will update this story on our website.

David is pictured first right in the front row as Scotland defeated USA 41-12 in Connecticut 1991.