Alexander David Gregor MacKenzie (born 9 July 1956 in

Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...

) is a former

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. His regular playing position was Prop.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

He first went to Blairmore School at Glass near Huntly. A small primary school, it also produced former Scotland captain David Sole. MacKenzie was later educated at

Strathallan School Strathallan School is a private boarding and day school in Scotland for boys and girls aged 5-18. The school has a campus at Forgandenny, a few miles south of Perth. School roll The school has 73 full-time staff, and 18 part-time staff. It h ...

Perthshire Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore ...

. In his younger days, he played at hooker and then flanker but the master at Strathallan converted him to Prop at the age of 16 and that position stuck. He played for

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

. Highland lost the player to New Zealand in 1977 when Mackenzie went to study agriculture at Lincoln College in Lincoln Town. While in New Zealand he played college rugby and trained with the All Blacks. He went on a Barbarians tour playing the Welsh sides Newport and Penarth. McKenzie headed to the Borders, hoping that moving there would put him more in contention for international honours. He played for

Gala Gala may refer to: Music * ''Gala'' (album), a 1990 album by the English alternative rock band Lush * Gala (singer), Italian singer and songwriter *'' Gala – The Collection'', a 2016 album by Sarah Brightman * GALA Choruses, an association of ...

first. That single game, on 8 September 1984, was to cause McKenzie later issues as he was later banned for playing for Selkirk in any Border League matches that season; since their rules did not permit a player to play for two different Border League clubs in a season. McKenzie played for Selkirk a matter of weeks later, moving from Gala, as a committee member on the Selkirk board had a vacancy on his farm. He later returned north to play for Highland again.

Provincial career

McKenzie played for

North and Midlands North and Midlands - and now known as Caledonia - is a select provincial amateur rugby union team that draws its players mainly from north of Scotland, roughly corresponding from around Stirling northwards. Historically the North and Midlands ...

. On moving to Selkirk, he then played for South of Scotland District. On returning to the Highlands, he was again named in the

squad.

International career

He had 3 caps for Scotland U16s while at Strathallan School. He captained Scotland U21s. On four occasions he was selected as a Scotland 'B' replacement. MacKenzie was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

once in 1984 at prop against on 8 December as part of their 1984 tour of Britain and Ireland. Australia won the match 37–12 at

Murrayfield Murrayfield is an area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen, Saughtonhall and Roseburn. The A8 road (Scotland), A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murra ...

Farming career

He ran the family farm at Nigg with his brother Kenneth. He moved to the Borders then worked on a farm at Selkirk. He now runs a farm near Hanmer Springs,

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Business career

Shortly after moving to Selkirk and working on a farm there, Mackenzie got a job in Edinburgh as a trainee consultant at Hill Samuel Investment Services. Without the farm work keeping him fit, Mackenzie turned to the weights at the gym.https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000540/19841204/412/0022

References

1956 births Living people Scottish rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players Rugby union players from Inverness People educated at Strathallan School Scottish expatriates in New Zealand Rugby union props {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-1950s-stub