Obituary: Michael Campbell-Lamerton

Michael Campbell-Lamerton, Lions captain. Died aged 71

Michael Campbell-Lamerton captained the British and Irish Lions rugby team on its tour of Australia, New Zealand and Canada in 1966.

When the Lions lost the first two tests in New Zealand, he was asked whether he would be prepared to drop himself from the team. He replied that he would try to see that the best man played, according to Allan Massie of The Scotsman newspaper, and he did drop himself from the last test.

The 1966 side became the first Lions to lose all four tests in New Zealand.

At almost 2m and 108kg, Campbell-Lamerton, who played at lock, was one of the biggest men in the side.

Welsh journalist J. B. G. Thomas wrote of him that no one could have tried harder on and off the field to make the tour a success. So much, he wrote, did Campbell-Lamerton "try and worry that by the end of the tour he had lost two stones (12.7kg) in weight".

He captained Scotland and is one of the few Scots to have done two Lions tours, the other to South Africa in 1962.