SEXTON IS BY FAR THE BEST I’VE EVER SEEN INTERVIEW
Former out-half Quinn insists Ireland’s current No10 is peerless among greats
MICK QUINN is in full flow and his enthusiasm is infectious. ‘I would love to have played in the pro era, to have had the opportunity the players have now,’ he says. ‘We had more fun than they do but to have the chance of being coached by Joe Schmidt would be something else.’
Indeed, you wonder how the Ireland teams of the 1970s and ’80s would have gone under Schmidt for there was no shortage of talented players (far higher than in the grim 1990s for example) but not the consistent success their abilities deserved.
And, as a result, they tend to be forgotten about.
The game’s explosion in popularity over the last 15 years has brought swathes of new followers into the game which has played a hugely influential role in Irish rugby’s rapid growth. However, consumed by the hype and success of the pro era, modern supporters and media rarely pay heed to what went before.
During the November series, it was startling to hear one young online journalist’s surprise when he learned Ireland team manager Paul Dean was a double Triple Crown winner and one of his generations’ best out-halves. If Dean’s contribution is not widely recalled by the modern enthusiast, there is little hope for Quinn, who won 10 caps at out-half for Ireland between 1973 and 1981. But, in his day, Quinn was the real deal and his experiences of those amateur days provide context for Ireland’s current elite standing. A gregarious, natural storyteller (and gifted impersonator), over the course of an hour and a half’s conversation at his Milltown home this week, the 66-year-old’s enthusiasm for how Irish rugby has developed is obvious and he harbours no resentment at how his generation has faded from view. Quinn shot to prominence as captain and star player of the Newbridge side that shocked Blackrock in the Leinster Schools final in 1970 and things happened very quickly for him after that.
‘I was only a kid, 18-19. The star in Leinster at the time was Conor Sparks of Terenure, a very good player, but he got injured and they brought me in. Then I got in the Ireland squad in early 1973 when I was just 20 – I was the second youngest out-half to play for Ireland behind Billy McCombe.
‘My first cap, we beat France 6-4 in Lansdowne Road when they were going for the championship. Ireland had just lost by 30 points to the great Wales team in Cardiff and Barry McGann got dropped. It was very emotional, but I was confident, you had to be or else there was no point playing out-half for Ireland. I knew I could look after myself.
‘I got caught in the ruck at one stage and they were really going at me, I turned around and the first guy I saw was their great No8 Walter Spanghero – it wasn’t him at me but I just whacked him anyway and broke his nose, nobody messed with me after that.’ A superb kicker with natural handling skills and an excellent break, Quinn took to the international stage with ease and, with the long hair that was in vogue at the time, Ireland’s out-half cut quite the dashing figure. ‘Ah, you’d get noticed around the
place but there were things to bring you back to earth. We had a good team and won the 1974 championship beating England in Twickenham but that seems to have been airbrushed from history because there was no Triple Crown or Grand Slam.
‘We drew with the brilliant Wales team in Lansdowne Road, a game we should have won. I had the same hair as our scrum-half Johnny Moloney and this kid comes up to me after and says: “You’re Johnny Moloney, can I have your autograph?”
‘I hadn’t the heart to tell him he had the wrong guy so I signed it pretending to be Moloney and the young fellah goes: “Thanks a million Johnny. Come here, how do you play with yer man Quinn? He’s pure shite...”’
As it transpired, 1974 was the peak of Quinn’s Ireland career and, after the 15-6 loss to the All Blacks in November, he would not feature again until 1977, winning two caps that season before his final outing in 1981.
It was a time of knee-jerk, five-man selection committees and intense out-half competition. McCombe was in situ through 1975 before the arrival of two men who would have the biggest bearing on Quinn’s career – Tony Ward and Ollie Campbell.
‘It was hard sometimes being the forgotten man because I was playing well with Lansdowne and Leinster. I lost out but what can you do? It’s Tony Ward and Ollie Campbell, I didn’t have any animosity towards them, they were good friends of mine and are still.
‘I remember when Wardy and I were fighting for the Ireland spot. We played a final trial and both got 18 points but he got picked ahead of me. Lansdowne were playing Garryowen the following week and we ran rings around them. We got into the bar afterwards and by 10pm Mossy Keane is on auto-pilot, full of beer and he calls be over. “C’mere Quinn,” he says. “I’m telling you now you’re the best f ***** g out-half in this f ***** g country, they can have their Tony Ward but you’re my man, my number one”. So I said, “Ah, thanks Mossy, it’s been a tough week, I really appreciate that”. ‘Half an hour later, I’m walking down the bar to the jacks and there’s Mossy with Wardy going: “Wardy, you’re the best out-half I ever f ***** g played with, you’re my man, my number f ***** g one…”
Quinn didn’t drink but still feels the social side of the game was the most enjoyable part, something professional stars are missing out on.
Quinn has huge admiration for Ireland’s current crop, in particular, the man who has his old jersey.
‘Johnny Sexton is way out ahead on his own, the best I have ever seen, including Barry John, Phil Bennett, Ronan O’Gara all of them. Sexton has everything and the attitude to back it up,’ says Quinn, who harbours equal admiration for Schmidt.
‘Joe is phenomenal, in terms of organisation and perception and getting the best out of players, there is nobody like him and never has been.
‘We might not win the Six Nations, he might tinker around and I think he’d be right but, under Joe, we are well capable of winning the World Cup.’