John Jeffrey
| Date of birth | 25 March 1959 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Place of birth | Kelso, Scottish Borders | ||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||
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| Position(s) | Flanker | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| National team(s) | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Points) |
| 1984–1991 |
 Scotland
|
40 | (44) |
John Jeffrey (born 25 March 1959 in Kelso in the Scottish Borders) is a Scottish former international rugby union player. His nicknames are "The Great White Shark" and "JJ", the former widely thought to be because of his blonde "thatch of hair", though in a recent book called 'The Grudge' by Tom English, it is a nickname that was given to him because of his very white skin.
Richard Bath has described him as "one of the most galvanising sights in Five Nations rugby throughout the 1980s and early 1990s."
Jeffrey was educated at St. Mary's School, Melrose and Merchiston Castle School. He won forty caps for Scotland between 1984 and 1991, making him, at the time, Scotland's most capped flanker. He was also a British and Irish Lion with Scotland team mate Finlay Calder in 1989.
Jeffrey's "day job" was his Borders farm, of which he had only one regret: "If I stand on a hill I can see England."
Invariably first to the breakdown point, first with the tackle, or first with an inspired counter, Jeffrey had the ability to score important tries, of which he scored 11, another Scottish record at the time, shared with back-row colleague Derek White. He was also a member of the British Lions on the tour to Australia in 1989.
In 1988, after playing football with the Calcutta Cup along Princes Street in Edinburgh with England's Dean Richards, Jeffrey received a six-month ban from the Scottish Rugby Union. Richards received just a one match sentence from the English Rugby Football Union. The trophy was severely dented, and cost hundreds of pounds to repair.
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