Scots clash stirs the best of memories for Irish legend McBride
THE voice is still booming. The views as forthright as ever. You would never think, speaking to 80-year-old rugby legend Willie John McBride, that he had a stroke only last year.
‘I was carried into that hospital like a vegetable,’ said the former Ireland and Lions captain. ‘All down one side, my face, my speech, my left arm, my left leg, everything. I was in a bad way but somebody up there likes me.
‘I feel as fit as a fiddle now but don’t travel much — not that I would be allowed to just now.’
McBride’s memory remains sharp as a tack. Eleven times he played against Scotland and he can remember them all.
‘I had some great games in Edinburgh, and some really great nights,’ chuckled McBride from his home in County Antrim.
He played with and against such Scottish legends as Ian ‘Mighty Mouse’ McLauchlan and the late Gordon Brown, and the man with a ferocious rugby reputation speaks of his old friends in reverential tones.
‘On the 1971 Lions, our front row was more or less settled for the first Test against New Zealand, with Ray McLoughlin and Sandy Carmichael ready to play before the pair of them got injured against Canterbury,’ said McBride, who played 63 times for Ireland and 17 for the Lions over five tours.
‘Sandy got his face broken and Ray broke his thumb so the two of them were out. Sean Lynch and “Mouse” came in for all the tests and they were absolutely superb. And they out-scrummaged the All Blacks.
‘Ian was superb in ’71 in New Zealand and I don’t know what we would have done without him in ’74 in South Africa. He was tremendous in ’74.
‘We didn’t have vice-captains on the Lions tour back then but I don’t know what I would have done without him. He was a great supporter to me, both on and off the field.
‘He is a great man, as was Gordon Brown. A lovely man taken from us far too soon. What a player he was. He was a winner. He never gave up. He’s someone I will never forget as a friend and a Lions team-mate.’
McBride remains a close watcher of rugby and can’t wait for Scotland’s game against Ireland tomorrow. As a former second row, he is keen to see who wins the battle between locks James Ryan and Iain Henderson, and Scott Cummings and Jonny Gray.
‘There are going to be some very good second rows out there and it’s going to be interesting to see who gets the upper hand,’ he said. ‘Scotland have Cummings and Jonny Gray, who has really come on since he moved to Exeter while we have Henderson and Ryan.
‘The Scotland line-up is looking good and the pair of them have been starting together for a while, which will help their understanding, and I like the look of them.’
For many, it is the head-to-head between No10s Johnny Sexton and Finn Russell that has captured the imagination.
Yet McBride’s mood darkens for a moment when talk turns to who will be the starting fly-half for his beloved Lions against South Africa this summer.
‘From what I am hearing, there isn’t going to be a Lions tour as such because they are talking about playing games here, which is a lot of nonsense,’ he said.
‘That isn’t a Lions tour. The ethos of the Lions is to tour. If they push ahead with such a daft plan to take on South Africa here, they will destroy the reputation and history of the Lions.
‘Everything will be different, the style of play on different surfaces than there would have been in South Africa, the feeling of the tour in general.
‘This would be a South Africa tour to play the Lions rather than a Lions tour of South Africa.
‘I can’t see why they can’t put it off for a year, but no doubt they will come up with some excuse not to do that.
‘If they don’t put it off for a year, then I would have taken playing the Lions game against South Africa in Australia, anywhere but here. I see they appear to have kicked that Australian plan out but at least playing there would have given players a chance of touring abroad like a proper Lions side.
‘Also, you asked about who I would start between Sexton and Russell — if there was a proper Lions tour I would say Sexton.
‘Russell is a talented player but he can do silly things, too. Sexton is a very astute player but, even at his age, he is still a great competitor. He never shies away from anything which is why he gets injured so much. I would go with him to start.’
Another thing that annoys McBride these days is the amount of red cards being dished out.
In Ireland’s first match of this year’s Six Nations against Wales, they had Peter O’Mahony sent off, which contributed hugely to their defeat. Scotland then had Zander Fagerson sent off in their defeat to the Welsh the following week.
‘Wales have been very lucky,’ said McBride. ‘They were lucky against us and they were a bit lucky against you. You can’t win a game with 14 men and that was obvious with the two tries they scored against Ireland. We didn’t have the cover outside because we had to bring a centre into the scrum. We just left that gap outside but we were not far away. Without the red, we would have won.
‘I was watching Ulster v Leinster and there was a red card. I turned it off. I had never seen anything like it in my life. And there were four yellow cards plus that red. The whole game is being destroyed. You can’t play with 14 men and have players sent off so often.
‘I hope both teams are allowed to keep 15 men on the park as it is going to be a cracking game if that happens. Scotland are just coming good now and coming close to reaching their potential. Scotland may not have had a great record over the past few years against Ireland but deserve a lot better results-wise than what they have got. To beat England at Twickenham is a tremendous effort, what a result.
‘One or two of the Irish guys are coming towards the end of their career but there are young guys coming though and this is a game too close to call.’
Winger Duhan van der Merwe could be one of Scotland’s star men tomorrow, but McBride is not happy with the influx of foreign stars like the South African qualifying through residency.
‘I will never, ever get used to these imports coming into our national game,’ he says. ‘I can never accept that. There are far too many of them. We have them, Scotland have them, Wales, England. They are only killing the development of our own players. I can never accept that.’
McBride finishes by asking about the health of his old pal McLauchlan. ‘How is he? Isn’t he living on an island off Scotland somewhere? Pass on my regards to him. He is one of the greats when it comes to rugby and one of the finest men I have ever met.’
Coming from someone like McBride, that is high praise, indeed.