Rugby player, administrator and GP;

Born: September 16, 1917; Died: January 21, 2012.

DR John Robert Stephen Innes, who has died aged 94, and was present at the last execution in Scotland, was one of a mere five of the country's pre-Second World World internationalists who returned to the national team after playing their part in defeating Hitler.

The small band at least had the satisfaction of knowing that the war, which blighted what ought to have been their peak playing years, did not totally cancel out their international careers.

Known universally as Donny, he was very much an Aberdonian, raised in the city and schooled at one of its foremost educational establishments, Aberdeen Grammar School.

He went there as a five-year-old in 1923, emerging in 1935 as house captain of Keith House, a prefect, captain of the First XV, vice-captain of the cricket XI and the athletics squad and editor of the school magazine.

From there he moved on to Aberdeen University to study medicine, while continuing to play rugby at Rubislaw, moving seamlessly from the school XV to that of the former pupils' club.

His dashing three-quarter play took him on to the North and Midlands XV – he faced Jack Manchester's 1935 All Blacks for the North and Midlands while still a teenager and from there graduated into the full Scotland XV, winning the first of his eight caps when, as a late replacement, he joined five other new boys in the XV at Cardiff in 1939, playing at centre. Although always thought of as an Aberdeen GSFP player, he actually won his pre-war caps out of Aberdeen University, where he was playing while a student. He was also a fine sevens player and in the 1939 Murrayfield tournament played in midfield with the great English winger Prince Alexander Obolensky outside him, and out-scored Obolensky in leading the Co-Optimists to victory.

After Wales' 11-3 Cardiff win, Innes was moved onto the wing for the trip to Dublin, during which he scored his single full international try, Scotland's only points in a 12-3 defeat; and he was again on the wing for England's visit to Murrayfield for the final game of that season.

Then Hitler marched his Wermacht into Poland and rugby had to take a back seat for some years. On completion of his medical training in 1940, the new Dr Innes completed the mandatory six-month residency at Woodend and Foresterhill Hospitals.

He was commissioned into the Royal Army Medical Corps but he still managed some rugby action during the greater hostilities, playing and scoring tries in five war-time internationals – including a brace in one match against England.

He saw active service with 155 and 156 Field Ambulance companies attached to the 52 Lowland Division during their sweep through the Low Countries and into Germany post D-Day and was demobilised with the rank of major. He continued to serve in the Territorial Army in peacetime.

He again faced the English in the "Victory" internationals of 1946, but failed to make the Scotland XV when official rugby returned in 1947. However, he was recalled and honoured with the captaincy for the visit of the Wallabies in November, 1947 – carrying on as skipper for the 1948 Five Nations campaign.

He enjoyed a first win as captain over the French. The 6-4 victory in the opening Murrayfield international of that campaign was Scotland's first of the post-war era, following the 1947 "whitewash" and the 16-7 loss to the Wallabies in November.

The Welsh and Irish matches were lost, but in his final international he led Scotland to a 6-3 win over the English at Murrayfield as they regained the Calcutta Cup, last won in the famous Wilson Shaw's Match at Twickenham 10 years before. It was a high note on which to sign off his international career. Innes was a Barbarian, marking his arrival with a hat trick against Penarth in the 1946 Easter Tour of Wales.

He became established as a GP in Rubislaw Terrace in his native Aberdeen, and was also appointed as the medical officer for HM Prison Craiginches. He fulfilled this role from 1949 until retirement and was present at the last execution in Scotland in 1963.

He continued to serve Aberdeen Grammar School FP and the North and Midlands as an energetic committee man. He climbed the greasy pole at Murrayfield and in 1973-1974 was SRU president, then in 1991 he was honoured by his ain folk, when he was president of the Aberdeen Grammar School Former Pupils Club. His other hobby was golf.

He had married fellow medic Dr Peggy (Erskine) in 1943 and they enjoyed a long and happy marriage until her death in 1990. He is survived by a daughter, Helen, and son, Robert.

The noted Welsh journalist JBG Thomas rated him as one of the finest tacklers he had seen, while he was a natural leader who captained every team he played for.

Few rugby players make it to the international arena, fewer still have the honour of leading their country. And still fewer Scots know how it feels to lead the nation to victory over England in the Calcutta Cup, while only a handful go on after retiring from playing to reach the very top of the SRU tree as president.

Donny Innes is one such Scot. His was a life well-lived.