Tom McLaren

Tom McLaren (born in Stirling, Scotland) is a Scottish former rugby union player who played for Glasgow Warriors at the Flanker position, and played in representative teams for both Australia and Scotland.

McLaren joined Glasgow from Penrith Emus Rugby in Sydney, Australia, where he captained the club, aged 20, in the New South Wales Rugby Union Shute Shield competition, under the guidance of Head Coach Scott Johnson.

Like his brother James McLaren, he was born in Stirling and moved to Australia when his parents emigrated. The much younger Tom was only 4 weeks old at the time.

As teenager during one of his visits back to Scotland, he played for Stirling County in a Scottish Cup tie. "When I finished secondary school I came back and played with Stirling and that gave me a chance to get a feel of what it's like here" he said.

"It is really good to be back. This is my eighth time back to Scotland and it feels like a bit of a homecoming because, apart from my parents, all our family is here." He made further appearances for Glasgow in the Welsh-Scottish League that year.

McLaren stayed with Glasgow through season 2001-02, during which time he also played a number of tests for the Scottish Development side. He was signed by Blaydon RFC, and also worked as a Rugby Development Officer for the English Rugby Union in the North-East of England, delivering social inclusion projects.

In 2004 season, McLaren moved from Blaydon to play for Darlington Mowden Park. Over two years playing and captaining Mowden, he also played regularly with the Newcastle Falcons Academy side.

As a Rugby Development Officer in Newcastle, McLaren assisted colleague Matt Bryan in founding the junior arm of the West End Academicals Rugby Club. He worked in schools throughout the region. North-East Rugby Development Manager Matt Carter gave McLaren a glowing recommendation - "There is one school in the patch where 20 different languages are spoken, so diverse is the community. But Tom, with his Aussie accent and dreadlocked hairdo, easily adapted and struck up a rapport with the kids. He was absolutely brilliant and engaged all the different communities."

Outside of rugby, Dr McLaren has a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Southern Queensland, in addition to a Bachelor of Arts - Industrial Design from the University of Western Sydney, Master of Aviation Management from Griffith University, and Master of Strategic Organisational Development from the University of New England. In 2014, McLaren was also a contributing author in a global Project Management textbook. He is an award-winning academic author, having published multiple scientific papers in the behavioral economic space.