half. Scotland lost 31–13 against one of Australia's best ever sides. Richard Bath writes of him: "...despite his apparently painful shyness, Armstrong has proved throughout his career to be obsessively focussed once out on the pitch. A relatively small man, Armstrong tackles way over his weight and combines this with quick service to his backs and an uncanny ability to break around the fringes just as easily from the first-phase as from ruck or maul. Although Armstrong failed to shine on the victorious 1989 Lions tour of Australia, his gritty nature stood him in good stead when the chips were down in 1990, that famous year for Scotland... he perhaps more than any other player was the on-field catalyst for Scotland's 13–7 win in the Grand Slam decider against the Auld Enemy England at Murrayfield." It was Armstrong's dart to the blind side that provided the spark opening the opportunity leading to Tony Stanger's try. He was scrum half in Scotland's 1990 Grand Slam win and his country's run to the 1991 rugby world cup semi final. Armstrong's fearless commitment led to serious knee injuries in 1992 and 1994 that impacted the representative caps he collected. It spoke volumes for his tenacity and courage that he returned to the top flight. In 1998 he captained the Scotland team again. Armstrong equalled Roy Laidlaw’s then record as Scotland’s most capped scrum-half when he won his 47th cap against Romania in August 1999. He then joined the 50-cap club when he led Scotland to victory in the World Cup play-off match against Samoa that October. Armstrong captained Scotland to victory in the 1999 Five Nations and to a quarter final place in the same year's rugby world cup. Gary Armstrong captained Scotland to the 1999 Five Nations Championship, playing his eighth Test as captain as Scotland grasped pole position with their stunning 36–22 victory against France. He was skipper throughout the previous two Five Nations Championships and was also captain on Scotland’s 1999 visit to South Africa, when he played in all four matches and scored the opening try of the tour in the victory over Border. He retired from international rugby after Scotland’s 18–30 defeat by New Zealand in the 1999 Rugby World Cup quarter-final. He played 51 times for Scotland. In a 2015 series of articles in The Herald titled "The 50 Greatest Scottish Rugby Players", Armstrong was ranked as