DAY LIONS AND SCOTLAND’S MIGHTY MOUSE ROARED —
A MATCH HARD WON (ALONG WITH A VINTAGE BOTTLE OF WINE)
THE British and Irish Lions play their first Test against the All Blacks today, with history very much on the side of the world champion hosts. The tourists will not, of course, be short of inspiration. However, should they need evidence that the impossible can happen, then the exploits of the 1971 Lions would make for perfect reading. When Lions Roared, by Tom English and Peter Burns, delves into the very heart of that famous tour and, in an exclusive excerpt in today’s Sportsmail, takes a look at the 9-3 victory they secured in their first Test, which paved the way for a series win.
New Zealand v British & Irish Lions Fergus Slattery (Ireland)
The maitre d’ at our hotel in Dunedin was talking to us on the eve of the first Test and he stated New Zealand would win, so we obviously said rubbish. But he was so adamant we inquired as to the best bottle of wine he had in store. Chateau Lafite 1934. So the bottle was put up as a wager.
Ian McLauchlan (Scotland)
Willie John McBride had a forwards meeting. He was sitting there, his pipe in his mouth. He sat for a while and didn’t say anything and then he began to speak.
‘A lot of you will have been in hard matches, and possibly you have,’ he said. ‘But wait until tomorrow. It will be the hardest game of your lives. The All Blacks will hit us with everything except the kitchen sink. Maybe they will hit us with that as well.
‘They’ve got to beat us. There’s a whole country here that’s telling them they’ve got to beat us. They will be out to give us a doing. Think about it. Then go to bed and have a good night’s sleep.’
I was ready.
Gerald Davies (Wales)
The first Test is a crucial one because, in a psychological sense, it throws the gauntlet down. Instead of chasing the home team, the home team are now having to chase you. And that’s a good position to be in. Willie John McBride (Ireland)
Before we went out on that field, I told the forwards: ‘The one thing to remember is that no matter what happens in this game, when it’s over there’ll be no excuses. Either we’ve won or we haven’t. If we haven’t won, we’re not good enough.’
Mike Gibson (Ireland)
It’s all very well people saying ‘good luck’ but there comes a moment in the changing room when you are suddenly alone. All the people who have been helping you are suddenly gone. You’ve got 15 men standing there and that’s when you feel the tension.
Willie John McBride
I remember with about ten minutes to go, I looked up and Gerald Davies was combing his hair in the mirror. I said to our captain John Dawes: ‘Can I take the forwards for a wee minute?’, because I didn’t want any of them to see Gerald combing his bloody hair.
When we got out there, the stadium in Dunedin was mobbed. Forty-five thousand capacity with another ten thousand watching from what locals called ‘Scotsman’s Grandstand’, which was the hillside overlooking the ground where you got a perfect view for free.
Ian McLauchlan
The first man I saw when I ran onto the pitch was Jazz Muller, who was my tighthead opponent. He was 18½ stone. I thought: ‘Christ, I’ve got to humph that about all afternoon.’
Willie John McBride
Ian Kirkpatrick caught our kick-off and it was just wave after wave. After 25 minutes we had hardly touched the bloody ball. I was getting up from the ground, aches and pains everywhere and there beside me was my team-mate Sean Lynch on his hands and knees, muck everywhere and he said: ‘Jesus, we need someone to count these b ******* because I’ve tackled about 30 of them.’
Ian McLauchlan
The first 15 minutes were the hardest rugby I ever played. It was murder because they looked so much fitter than we were. Despite all the pre-match pep talks, we were still a bit in awe of them.
Mervyn Davies (Wales)
I don’t think I’d ever tackled so much in a game in my life. I never worked so hard in a game without touching the ball.
Peter Dixon (England)
I touched it three times. If that.
Gareth Edwards (Wales)
It was like the Luftwaffe coming in. We were diving here and there, stopping this attack, stopping that attack. We were just chasing shadows. They were relentless.
The first 20 minutes of that first Test match was the fastest 20 minutes I’d ever played in. They just came from anywhere.
Bryan Williams (New Zealand)
We had attack after attack but it would come to nothing as some b ***** would drop the ball. We virtually played the Lions into that game. If we had scored early and scored again, I don’t know how things might have gone.
Barry John (Wales)
I knew what I needed to do. I needed to kick into the space behind Fergie McCormick.
Fergie McCormick (New Zealand)
I thought: ‘That little p **** , he’s put another one to the side.’
Barry John
Everybody expected me to launch up-and-unders but I kicked the ball diagonally, making him turn and run.
Fergie McCormick
He was placed under no pressure at all by our loose forwards. He could have taken time to read a book and count the laces on the ball before he kicked. He stood deep and picked his shots.
Had our wingers been doing a proper covering job, as wingers are supposed to do, we wouldn’t have been in so much trouble. If only the wingers had got off their a **** .
Willie John McBride
Every kick that Barry put in was amazing. We won that Test by kicking it, not running it, which was one of the great ironies of the tour. McCormick had to scramble for everything. He didn’t kick well at all. It was a tremendous display of tactical thinking and then perfect execution by Barry John.
Barry John
Fergie never played for New Zealand again. So that was that.
Ian McLauchlan
Jazz Muller wasn’t giving me any trouble. I burrowed in underneath him. He could have adjusted his feet to bring his great weight down on either my neck or shoulders but he didn’t try any of these things.
He concentrated more on trying to pull me down with the arm but that didn’t work. We knew we had them worried when they started throwing punches but we gave as good as we got.
Peter Dixon
The Mouse truly anchored the scrum. He’s a short man and that was a strength in some ways because he was able to get underneath his opposition and lift them up. He never went backwards or got bothered if someone slapped him or whatever.
Ian McLauchlan
It was a downer that Gareth Edwards went off injured but Chico Hopkins came on and, to be honest, he played so well we never noticed the difference.
Mike Gibson
Chico Hopkins did play well but Barry John was the sort of player who could have played well with Harry Secombe at scrum-half.
Shortly after Chico came on, Barry John had an attempt at goal from 45 yards out but completely mistimes the strike and topped the ball, sending it scudding towards Jazz Muller, who tried to gather it but instead fumbled it forward.
Barry John
Playing for the knock-on I was.
Willie John McBride
And that’s when we got the try, completely against the run of play.
Ian McLauchlan
The New Zealand full-back Alan Sutherland was standing inside his five-metres line and took a fortnight to wind his leg back to kick the ball and, by that time, I’d charged down the kick. The ball just bounced nicely and I popped it down for my first Test try.
Sandy Carmichael (Scotland)
I nearly had a heart attack when he scored.
Ian McLauchlan
After my try they got a penalty through McCormick then, in the next half, Barry got two penalties.
When we got our noses in front it was tackle, tackle, tackle. Knock them down, knock them down, knock them down. Please blow that bloody whistle!
Eventually it came. We’d won. We were elated but on our knees. That day changed my life.
Before I was Ian McLauchlan, who had taken an awful long time to persuade selectors that he wasn’t too small to play for his country. Afterwards — when our tour manager Doug Smith coined the phrase — I was Mighty Mouse.
Peter Dixon
Doug Smith wasn’t called Bagpipes for nothing. He was just a walking ball of sound. He had a big laugh but had the ability to shoot you down if he needed to. A great man who was delighted at the final whistle.
Ian McLauchlan
One supporter alone sent in £80-worth of champagne. That was a lot of money and a lot of champagne in those days. Left to ourselves, we would probably have got brainless but we went off to the official function and that kept us vaguely in order for a few hours.
Fergus Slattery
Now remember at the start I mentioned the bet in the hotel and that bottle of Chateau Lafite 1934? We called the maitre d’ over who had made the bet and he spent a few minutes in an emotional state then proceeded to open the wine and smell it and muck around with it but we said: ‘Just pour it.’ There were four of us and we drank the whole bottle in a oner. It was gone in seconds after 37 years in care. He cried.
‘When Lions Roared’ delves to the very heart of that famous summer in 1971 as Lions, All Blacks and provincial players from New Zealand recount their memories to bring to life one of the most celebrated tours in rugby history — one that changed the game forever and continues to resonate powerfully to this day. Available now, £17.99.