He becomes the fifth man to leave the SRU's executive board this week after the general committee moved to oust chairman David Mackay.

Non-executive directors Fraser Livingston, Andrew Flanagan and Eric Hagman stepped down after Mackay left and now Anderton has also resigned.

The general committee is made up of amateur members from club sides and were unhappy with Mackays plans to concentrate on the national side and the three professional clubs.

Anderton, 39, became chief executive in February last year, replacing Bill Watson.

He was promoted from the post of marketing director, having previously held a similar position with Coca-Cola.

On his appointment, Anderton called for a new era of winning rugby but that failed to materialise.

Scotland were handed the wooden spoon in the RSB 6 Nations tournament last year and Glasgow and Edinburgh have failed to win a single match in Europe this season.

Anderton said: This is probably the saddest day of my life and it is with great regret that I tended my resignation as chief executive of Scottish rugby.

It's all about governance, who runs the game. If the appropriate structures are put in place and Dave Mackay is reinstated, if I was asked to come back, I would be delighted, but the structure is the most important thing.

A sixth departure has since been confirmed with general committee member Iain Brown also resigning.

PE teacher Brown, who represented Scotland at basketball, was the committees schools representative.

The SRU later announced that Fred McLeod, who was appointed interim chairman following Mackays departure, would also take on the role of chief executive on a temporary basis.

An SRU statement said: The appointment is made with the full approval of the general committee. In addition Scottish Rugby's executive directors have supported this appointment and will work with Fred as an interim management team.