Douglas Elliot


Douglas Elliot also known as W.I.D. Elliot and Doug Elliot was a Scottish international rugby union player, who played for.
He was six feet three inches and over fourteen stone. He was a backrow forward, and has also been inducted to the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Elliot played for Edinburgh Academicals.

Provincial career

He was capped by Edinburgh District to play Glasgow District in the inter-city match of 1947.
He was capped by Cities District in 1947 to play against Australia.
He played for the Scotland Probables side in December 1947.

International career

He was capped 29 times for Scotland between 1947–54. He was never dropped, but did spend at least six matches away due to injuries including the whole 1953 seasons.
He was one of the few Scottish players to escape untarnished by the 44-0 defeat by during the period. Elliot was the only Scot to be named by the South African rugby correspondent R.K. Stent amongst the best players who had faced the 1951-2 Springbok tour to the British Isles.
Allan Massie talking of the 1950s, said:
Bill McLaren remembers in 1947 going for a Scotland trial, and playing at the back of the line-out,

Farming career

Elliot was invited to play with the British and Irish Lions, but could not afford to spend six months away from his farm; his offer to pay for his flights
The amateur era was quite different, in both ethos and time, but as Elliot once told Bill McLaren, farmwork could take a lot of time too:
McLaren says when selecting his all-time Scotland XV that "I believe, for instance, that Douglas Elliot... would still have made massive impact in the modern game although it might have irked him not a little that he would have to give far more of his time from farming to attend so many squad sessions."