Rugby player Born March 28, 1953 Died April 2, 2009 David Gray, who has died aged 56 after collapsing while out for a run, was a considerable figure in Scottish rugby.

He broke through into the international team, just as his West of Scotland team-mate, British Lion Gordon Brown, dropped out of the international reckoning, and Gray was seen as the young pretender to a place in the Scottish scrum's boilerhouse which had for so long been stoked by "Broon frae Troon" and Irvine's Alistair McHarg.

He was just one of a group of formidable players to emerge from Ayrshire in the late sixties and seventies: Ian McLauchlan, Quintin Dunlop, Gordon and Peter Brown, Alistair McHarg, Bill Cuthbertson and Gordon Strachan were all full caps; Ian Gray (David's elder brother), Alec Wilson and Jock Craig were Scotland B-squad members; while John McHarg (Alistair's elder brother), Ronnie Boid, John Burston, David Good and Richard Allen were in the Glasgow squad.

McLauchlan, the Brown brothers and McHarg were key components in a formidable Scottish pack, dubbed "the Mean Machine".

Sadly, Gray, whose bulk and curly, silver hair made him a distinctive player to spot, lacked the X factor which had made these giants great. He was very competitive, within the laws of the game, not always a good thing in the ruthless world of forwards play in that era.

Certainly, from his days at Kilmarnock Academy, then as a teenage prodigy in the second row of a very good Kilmarnock pack, his size and athleticism marked him out as headed for the top.

In a nation of wee men, the 6ft 8in, nearly 18-stone Gray stood out. His lineout threat was obvious, as was the bulk he brought to the scrummage, but he could be devastating about the field - the text book way he hit rucks, driving in low, was not the least of his attributes.

Some rugby commentators of the time reckoned that had Gray had brother Ian's "devil" and Ian his brother's bulk - Scotland would have had two amazing forwards on its hands.

He should have won more than his total of nine caps over three years from his debut v England in 1978; he played against Ireland, France and New Zealand in 1979, was an ever-present throughout the 1980 Five Nations and played his last international against France in 1981.

After a couple of fairly anonymous matches, his Scotland career was over.

Gray happily played on with West of Scotland, whom he had joined from Kilmarnock with a view to gaining international recognition, and where he was taken under the wing of the legendary Broon. He captained the club in the early eighties and until his death was a well-regarded member of the Burnbrae "family".

His post-rugby life saw his marriage break up, but he bore his misfortunes with the smile which was never far from his face and in his fifties he found contentment in a planning post with South Ayrshire Council.

He had a pithy patter in one-liners, and a life-long love of Scotland's wild places, both waking and fishing. In his work he was involved in mapping pathways and making outdoor access easier.

He completed the 200 miles-plus Greet Outdoors Challenge, walking across the wilderness from Knoydart to the east coast in May 2008.

He was planning to compete again next month and his fitness running with Ayr Seaforth Athletics Club was partly geared to that challenge.

It was while making his weekly track session at Ayr's Dam Park Stadium that he collapsed and died, just after crossing the finishing line at the completion of his run.

David Gray's family always came first; he is survived by his son, Donald, studying at Strathclyde University and planning to continue his rugby with his father's old West of Scotland club, and daughter, Rosemary, studying at Heriot-Watt University.