Andrew Gavin Hastings was born in Edinburgh on 3 January 1962 and educated at George Watson's College and Cambridge University where he gained Blues in 1984 and 1985, the latter as captain. He also played club rugby for Watsonians and London Scottish. A fine attacking full-back, Gavin Hastings played in 61 internationals for Scotland, 20 as captain, between 1986 and 1995, and scored a record 667 points. He twice toured with the British Isles, to Australia in 1989 and as captain to New Zealand in 1993, making a total of 16 appearances, including six tests, and scoring 167 points. In 1989 he played in the same Barbarians XV as his brother Scott Hastings [q.v.] against New Zealand at Twickenham. He also captained the Barbarians in five matches: against Newport (1988), Leicester (1992), Swansea (1994), Stirling County (1995) and Scotland (1996).