London Scottish Lions are delighted to announce the appointment of ex-London Scottish Captain and Hall-of-Famer Mark Bright as Forwards Player-Coach for the coming season. Mark will bring a wealth of experience to the Lions set-up, having played a total of 398 games at Championship and National 1 level, 169 of them for London Scottish.

Lions President, Doug Cowie said, “It’s an honour and privilege that Mark Bright is joining us at this important stage in the development of the Lions. As we move into Level 6 of the RFU pyramid the playing environment will be more challenging than ever. Mark’s wealth of experience across the higher levels of the game will be immeasurable for the younger Lions developing their skills.”

Aged 45, the No. 8 joins from Richmond, though eight of his 11 years at the Athletic Ground were with London Scottish.

Bright’s career began in his native New Zealand with Nelson Bay (later renamed Tasman Mako) from 2001-11.

In 2006, he began combining Southern and Northern Hemisphere rugby, joining Redruth where he stayed until 2011, also representing Cornwall.

He moved to London Scottish in 2011 and captained the club to its third-place Championship finish in 2015.

Named the Rugby Professional Association’s Greene King IPA Championship Player of the Year in 2017 during a two-year stint at Ealing Trailfinders, he returned to the Exiles before joining Richmond in 2021.

The scorer of over 100 Championship tries, Bright also represented England at 7s at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Reflecting on joining the Lions, Bright said, “This is a great opportunity for me to continue playing at a lower level of the game whilst building my coaching capability. I also see this as an opportunity to give something back to Scottish where I spent some great seasons and have very fond memories.”

Newly promoted from Counties 1 (Herts/Middlesex), the Lions 1st XV plays in the Regional 2 (Thames) League next season, starting their campaign away to Aylesbury on Saturday 7 September.