Stuart McInally

​Edinburgh-born Stuart McInally joined his hometown team in 2010 and has since become a club centurion and captain.

An age-grade back-row of some distinction, the former head boy of George Watson’s College was introduced him to the first team in late 2010.

Since then McInally grew in stature, joining the list of promising young players at the club that were taking advantage of the internationalists on duty at the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Having impressed in the first half of the 2011/12 season McInally penned a two year extension with the club until 2014 and immediately began to repay the faith shown in him with a characteristically decisive try in the round one win over London Irish at the Madejski Stadium.

One of Edinburgh Rugby’s most consistent performers, McInally was selected to start as one third of the destructive back-row units in Scotland A’s back-to-back wins over the England Saxons – the first being the 2012, 35-0 thrashing at Netherdale, the second, and equally memorable, memorable occasion being the 13-9 victory at Kingston Park, Newcastle (the A-side’s first win on English soil, on the sixth time of trying) the following year.

An age-grade internationalist of some repute, McInally captained Scotland at U17, U18, U19 and U20 and has represented the Scotland 7s on the HSBC Sevens World Series. His short-game debut was in Dubai in the opening tournament of the 2009-2010 IRB Sevens World Series, and he went on to play also in the George (South Africa) event a week later.

McInally made his front-row debut in Edinburgh’s win over Ospreys at Myreside in March 2015, and made his 100th appearance at the same ground against Connacht in April 2017.

McInally debuted for Scotland against Italy in 2015, and went on to be named in the national team squad for the Rugby World Cup that year. The hooker enjoyed a breakout season under the guidance of Head Coach Richard Cockerill, where he started all but one of Scotland’s games in both the Autumn Tests and Six Nations. McInally was rewarded for his fine form as he was named as Edinburgh’s 2018 player of the year, while Gregor Townsend named the hooker as Scotland’s captain for the Summer Tour to Canada, USA and Argentina.

The hooker was named as Edinburgh captain ahead of the 2018/19 season, while he captained Scotland during the 2019 Six Nations.

McInally celebrated his 150th appearance for the club by captaining his team to an away win over Sale Sharks in the Heineken Champions Cup in December 2020.