Gordon and Donald Emslie will serve as non-executive members of the Board, taking up their posts from 1 September. They succeed Graeme Millar and Brian Kennedy who stepped down at the end of last season.

Scottish Rugby Board Chairman Allan Munro welcomed their appointments. He said: “Gordon and Donald will bring tremendous experience and enthusiasm to the Board. Gordon has invaluable insight to elite level rugby; Donald, as befitting a former chief executive of STV and Grampian Television, will provide a depth of understanding and knowledge of the important area of TV rights as well as the wider business sector.”

Gordon won 75 caps for his country in an eight-year international career, played Test rugby for the British and Irish Lions, and is about to embark on his third season back playing club rugby for West Of Scotland. He now works for Highland Metals, a galvanising firm.

He said: “I think it’s important to put something back into the game that has given me so much. I have knowledge from the professional game in both Scotland and England and I’m eager to start working with my colleagues on the Board to help to take Scottish Rugby forward.”

Emslie, 51, who had 22 years experience in TV and was chief executive of SMG Television from 1999-2006 and of SMG plc between 2006 and 2007, played rugby during his studies at Jordanhill College, is chairman of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland; chairman of Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre; and is a non-executive director of Scottish Water.