[1] In December 1870 a group of Scots players issued a letter of challenge in The Scotsman and in Bell's Life in London, to play an England XX at rugby rules.

This led to the first-ever rugby international match being played at Academical Cricket Club's ground at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh, on Monday 27 March 1871.

[6] The Scots enjoyed occasional success in the early years, winning their first Triple Crown in 1891 and repeating the feat again in 1895,[6][7] and vying with Wales for dominance in the first decade of the 20th century.

70,000 spectators saw the lead change hands three times before Scotland secured a 14–11 victory which gave them their first-ever Five Nations Grand Slam.

[23] The establishment of the national leagues in 1973–74 was beginning to bear fruit; the standard of club and district rugby was higher than ever and players were more accustomed to experiencing pressure in matches where the result really mattered.

On 27 June 1988, Ian McGeechan was appointed as head coach to succeed Derrick Grant who had retired after the end of the 1988 Five Nations series.

[35] Their greatest year in the modern era was 1990,[36] when their season came down to one game, a Grand Slam decider at Murrayfield against the "auld enemy", England.

The new logo was first worn on the nation's shirts at Parc des Princes, Paris on Saturday 19 January 1991 with the name 'Scottish Rugby Union' below the thistle.

[40][41] The last Five Nations match was another Grand Slam decider against England; however, this time the English defeated the Scots 24–12, largely due to the kicking prowess of Rob Andrew.

[50] Meanwhile, the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) came under new management, chief executive Phil Anderton (known as 'Firework Phil' for his pre-match entertainment spectacles) was leading the way back to financial solvency and implementing major reforms to reverse the decline of the game in Scotland, but he resigned in January 2005 after his boss David Mackay was forced to resign by the SRU's general committee.

[85] During Scotland's 2012 Autumn Tests they suffered a series of defeats, versus the All Blacks, South Africa and most notably Tonga, which caused head coach Andy Robinson to resign.

[89] Scotland had a dismal 2014 Six Nations campaign; managing only one win (away in Italy), finishing second bottom and defeated 51–3 by Wales in the final match.

[90] Vern Cotter finally assumed his role as head coach, and in June of the same year Scotland won three tests against the top teams of the Americas, before being hammered by South Africa 55–6.

[94] However, Scotland displayed improved performances in their World Cup warm-up games over the summer, with two wins over Italy and narrow defeats away in Ireland and France.

[95] Scotland played well at the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England; qualifying from their group by beating Japan, USA and Samoa, although they lost to South Africa.

[96] However, referee Craig Joubert then awarded the Wallabies a highly controversial penalty, later judged by the game's ruling body to be incorrect, which Bernard Foley scored to give Australia victory.

Tries from Jonny Gray and Huw Jones brought Scotland to 17–22 with barely a minute to go, but it took a superb cover tackle from the All Blacks fly-half Beauden Barrett to prevent Stuart Hogg from scoring a winning try.

[111] On 6 February 2021, Scotland won their first game of that year's Six Nations tournament, defeating England 6 – 11 at Twickenham for the first time since 1983 and securing the Calcutta Cup.

The new logo was first worn on the nation's shirts at Parc des Princes, Paris on Saturday 19 January 1991 with the name 'Scottish Rugby Union' below the thistle.

In September 1993, a sponsorship deal was announced with The Famous Grouse, resulting in a sponsors' name being added to Scottish international players' kit for the first time in addition to the jersey manufacturers' emblem.

This deal is thought to be worth a tenth of the original cost and forbids the Scottish Rugby Union from affiliating itself from any other whisky manufacturer.

On 3 September 2007 it was announced that the then Rangers chairman Sir David Murray's company would become the new shirt sponsor, in a deal worth £2.7 million over three years.

[124] In August 2011, the Royal Bank of Scotland took over as main sponsors of Scottish Rugby, after Sir David Murray's company decided to end their sponsorship.

In 1923 SRU identified 19 acres of land at Murrayfield in the west of the city on which to build a purpose-built stadium, purchasing this from Edinburgh Polo Club.

One stand and three embankments were constructed over the following two years with the first international match taking place in 1925 where 70,000 people watched Scotland win 14–11 against England, thereby securing both the championship and a Grand Slam.

[39] In their semi-final on 26 October 1991 Scotland lost 6–9 to England at Murrayfield after Gavin Hastings missed a penalty almost in front of and a short distance from the posts.

Rory Darge and Finn Russell were named as Co-Captains[135] On 21 January, Dylan Richardson was ruled out of the championship due to a shoulder injury.

Arron Reed was called up to the squad[136] On 27 January, Townsend called up Euan Ferrie, Cameron Henderson, Ewan Johnson, Alex Masibaka and Ollie Smith, while Josh Bayliss was released back to Bath after suffering a groin injury[137] on 4th February, Sam Skinner was called up[138] Head coach: Gregor Townsend Four former Scotland players have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame: Eight former Scotland players have been inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame:[143] Twenty-three former Scotland players have been inducted into the Scottish Rugby Hall of Fame:[144]

[47] Scotland have appointed a further three non-Scottish coaches to lead the national side, the others being Scott Johnson, an Australian, Andy Robinson, an Englishman, and Vern Cotter from New Zealand.

[149] Vern Cotter was announced as Scottish Head coach but would not take up on the role until June 2014 as he had one year left on his contract with Clermont Auvergne.