Fascinating Geech Pre-Lions Interview

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From Today's Guardian by Donald McRae;

Fascinating stuff, if anyone can do the, imo, virtually impossible in SA this summer, its got to be Geech....one of the better pieces of rugby journalism I've read of late. Found his comparison of Munster/Leinster interpros with RL's state of Origin series a fascinating one.

I'll tell you something that took my breath away," Ian McGeechan says as his face softens and crinkles in amazement. "I was with Martin Johnson a couple of weeks ago and he told me that going on tour with the Lions to South Africa in 1997 was his greatest rugby experience. He said winning that Test series meant more to him than winning the World Cup. That had a profound impact and made me understand again the magnitude of the Lions in South Africa. Most of the great memories embedded into Lions history seem to come against the Springboks."

McGeechan will set out next week on his seventh Lions tour, with this arduous trek to South Africa being his fourth as head coach, following two trips as a player and one in an assistant coaching role in New Zealand in 2005. That unprecedented experience makes McGeechan's ensuing statement about the difficulties of this latest challenge sound forbidding. After conceding that the Lions, despite their aura and tradition, have lost six of their last eight series, McGeechan speaks candidly as he prepares for the Springboks deep in the leafy Buckinghamshire countryside.

"This is the biggest task the Lions have yet faced, by some margin. South Africa have a hardened nucleus of World Cup winners and they're playing very good rugby. They're stable and well coached, with a good captain and some great players. This is a much, much tougher ask than 1997."

The 62-year-old puffs out his cheeks comically when asked if he feels any of the optimism that surged through him this time 12 years ago – before he inspired a shock series win for the Lions. "It's hard to judge," he eventually says. "A successful Lions tour needs a special chemistry and that takes time. If you have an open mind a real strength can gather momentum once the different elements gel. But you won't know if that chemistry's working until it's literally happening. That's unique to the Lions."

No one can match the rugby chemistry McGeehan engenders from four different national identities. He seems such a wry and unassuming man that it takes a while to square his twinkly presence with the gnarled sage that has twice bearded the Springboks. In 1974 McGeechan played all four Tests for an unbeaten team that remains the greatest in Lions history. Twenty-three years later he led a squad which combined brains and grit to snaffle victory from the hosts.

"Of my six Lions tours," McGeechan says, "those two were without doubt the most special. In 1974 I was like a little boy in a sweetie shop because that was our zenith. From the early to the mid-1970s British rugby was the best in the world and that was exceptional because, normally, New Zealand and South Africa are well ahead."

McGeechan chuckles at my own stories of being an awestruck schoolboy in South Africa then, and of the devastation our overbearing Afrikaner teachers suffered as the Lions crushed the Springboks. And in the 1980s, in Soweto, I was even more struck by the effect the Lions still exerted on hardened township activists who had snuck into matches in 1974 and celebrated those demolitions of white South African superiority as if they signalled the start of a slow dismantling of apartheid. Was he aware of that political resonance in 1974?

"Yes," McGeechan murmurs, "to a certain extent. We did some coaching for black players in Port Elizabeth and, afterwards, we had dinner in the township. We were told we shouldn't have done that but we stayed on into the night talking rugby stories. And we always made a point of going to the black end of a ground after a match. But it was only when I came back in 1997 that I really understood. In Cape Town, before the first Test, a black man came to me with a huge album stuffed full of cuttings from 1974. He said the Lions gave him something to believe in during a brutal time and he thanked me and introduced me to his family. That was very poignant.

"And then Steve Tshwete, the sports minister, asked to meet Fran Cotton [the Lions manager] and myself privately. As soon as we walked in he said, 'Fran Cotton, four Tests, prop. Ian McGeechan, four Tests, centre, you dropped a goal in the third Test.' He said he didn't miss a minute of those Tests on the radio while he was imprisoned on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela. The hairs went up on the back of my neck and I felt humbled that these men, who had suffered terribly, found such hope in the Lions."

The 1974 Lions featured great players at their peak, but the 1997 party was a less established force. They had emerged from the dregs of an uninspiring Five Nations and McGeechan chose a new leader. "It's hard for people to remember now but Martin Johnson had never captained anyone before that tour. It was only because I was coaching at Northampton that I'd noticed him – because Leicester were our big rivals. He commanded such respect from my players. But not many other people saw that and I had to do some persuading. To win the argument I resorted to saying I wanted our captain to be of some size when we tossed up for the first Test. But I knew Johnno was about much more than size. He's a very special person and he was instrumental to our success. You can see the roots of England's World Cup win in that tour. Richard Hill, Lawrence Dallaglio, Will Greenwood, Matt Dawson and Neil Back were all setting out internationally and I knew that, with Johnno, they'd make England special."

Ireland now dominate the Lions – with Munster's initial supply of eight players matching that of England. Injury and suspension have since reduced Munster's representation to six but McGeechan has built his squad around another hulking lock in Paul O'Connell. As with Johnson he claims a gut instinct towards O'Connell – with the Munster man chosen ahead of Brian O'Driscoll, captain of Ireland and the 2005 Lions.

"If Paul hadn't been playing well I wouldn't have gone for him – but he's had a strong season. We're also very lucky to have Brian, who's had his best season in four years. Brian's a strong character, and very competitive, so it was difficult to tell him my decision. I didn't ring anyone else but I like and respect Brian very much. He deserved to be told by me."

A few days later Munster were hammered 25–6 in a Heineken Cup semi-final by O'Driscoll's Leinster. Did McGeechan feel concerned by Munster's humiliation? "No. Somebody described it as a State of the Origin game and that was spot on. It was just like Queensland against New South Wales in rugby league because there was so much emotion. And when you have such high emotion a game can easily tip one way. You get different circumstances with the Lions and I'm hoping we'll strike the right balance to stand up to the Springboks and play some good rugby. That's why it was vital I could pick my entire coaching staff. I totally trust Warren Gatland, Shaun Edwards, Rob Howley and Graham Rowntree – and that's so important when this is the shortest tour in Lions history."

McGeechan, Gatland, Edwards and Howley are bound together by their links with Wasps – and yet the Scot's work with the club has just ended. After giving up much of a disappointing club season to concentrate on the Lions, McGeechan insists there is no acrimony in the parting. "In January I told Mark Rigby, Wasps' chief executive, I'd like to step down in the next 12 months. That started the process and it now seems natural for me to leave at the end of a season. But it's not necessarily the end for me in club rugby. I'll probably do something in an advisory capacity or coach mentoring. With my experience it makes sense because I've had 37 years unbroken in top rugby."

McGeechan, however, sidesteps a rumoured move to London Scottish. "I don't know where that's come from. Twelve months ago I advised them on restructuring because they're very ambitious – but there've been no talks since then. My options are fairly open because nothing is decided. After the Lions I'm not thinking of anything beyond the wedding in August."

His daughter, Heather, will marry the young Wasps prop Charlie Beech – a fact which seems to delight McGeechan. "Heather was never going to stray far from a rugby player. She's always been besotted with the game and so we're thrilled because they've given us our first grandchild as well. I was over in South Africa doing my last recce and Heather was due in early February. I was a bit worried because I was away until late January. But she said, 'I'll wait. I'm not having it until you get back' – and she didn't. The baby was born on 2 February."

I remind the beaming grandad that, 12 years ago, he flew back from South Africa in the apparent certainty his days with the Lions were finally over. "I did think that," he grins, "but here I am like a bad penny turning up again." The old master then leans forward expectantly – especially when hearing of the conversation I had with Victor Matfield, the Springbok lock, within an hour of South Africa winning the 2007 World Cup. Matfield had been immense throughout that tournament but, with his hair still damp, he refused to linger over the Springboks' achievement. He spoke of how he would be driven over the next two years by the prospect of facing the Lions.

McGeechan nods thoughtfully. "They're going to be up for it all right. That's what makes the Lions so special – the way they're seen in South African eyes. For them, just like us, each match between the Lions and Springboks is like a World Cup final. It's great, of course, but as a coach it makes me wary. I know we're facing the hardest task of all."