Peter Kininmonth

Scottish Rugby sadly reports the death of Peter Kininmonth, former captain of Scotland. He was 83. Kininmonth was capped 21 times for Scotland in the back row between 1949 and 1954 and was captain in eight of those matches, most famously when he dropped a long-range goal in the 19-0 victory against Wales at Murrayfield in 1951. He also made three Test appearances for the British and Irish Lions on the 1950 tour to New Zealand.Scottish Rugby sadly reports the death of Peter Kininmonth, former captain of Scotland. He was 83. Kininmonth was capped 21 times for Scotland in the back row between 1949 and 1954 and was captain in eight of those matches, most famously when he dropped a long-range goal in the 19-0 victory against Wales at Murrayfield in 1951. He also made three Test appearances for the British and Irish Lions on the 1950 tour to New Zealand. Scotland’s victory against Wales in 1951 was all the more remarkable in that Kininmonth’s team were given little hope on pre-match forecasts against a Welsh team including no fewer than 11 Lions from the previous year’s New Zealand tour. The captain’s drop goal, the first score of the second half, edged the Scots to a 6-0 lead and sparked a performance that produced three tries without reply. His one other international score also was in a shut-out game, when he scored a try as Scotland beat France 8-0 in the old Colombes stadium in 1949. Kininmonth was renowned for his high work-rate and hard tackling as a loose forward, which notably earned him respect in New Zealand during the 1950 Lions tour. He played in more than half of the Lions’ 29 matches in that visit to New Zealand and Australia, making his Test debut in the first game of the four-match series against the All Blacks, a 9-all draw at Carisbrook, Dunedin. He was educated at Sedbergh, though he himself used to point out that he played there only in the third XV: cricket was his game at school. It was when he went to Oxford to read history that he came through as a quality rugby player. He played in the 1947 and 1948 University matches against Cambridge at Twickenham, and it was from Oxford University that he was first capped by Scotland, and he subsequently played his club rugby with Richmond. During his student days he went on a rugby tour with Oxford University to Argentina. While there, he and his fellow tourists had the privilege of meeting Eva Peron, wife of the then Argentinian president. He was a keen cricketer and golfer, and in business he was an insurance broker. He has been High Sheriff of Greater London, chairman of Richmond Fellowship, and chairman of Lloyds’ 1992 British Olympic Appeal. In later years he became an award-winning cheese-maker in Dorset.