Colm Tucker Snr - Ireland, Munster, Shannon RFC, Lions RIP

RachaelVO

As the title suggests, sad news as Colm Tucker Snr passed away today aged only 59. (22/9/52 - 11-1-12), Taken before his time

Safe onward journey sir, may your rest in peace.

All thought and very deepest sympathies to your friends and family, may they find some comfort at this very sad time.

I always remember my mother (she was a mad Ireland rugby supporter) cheering and shouting for him when I was very young. She gave me the rugby bug.

Anyone else have any memories of his achievements?

phog

Just posted this in the Munster thread, he was a super player.

May he rest in peace.

RachaelVO

phog wrote: »

Just posted this in the Munster thread, he was a super player.

May he rest in peace.

Hopefully not just Munster supporters can appreciate the legend he was! He did his province and his country proud. Super player is right.

SOUTH AFRICA 13-17 LIONS
Pretoria, 12 July 1980


Tries Irvine, O'Driscoll, Williams
Cons Campbell
Pens Campbell
Team
15 FB Andy Irvine
14 W John Carleton
13 C Paul Dodge
12 C Ray Gravell
11 W Bruce Hay
10 FH Ollie Campbell
9 SH John Robbie
1 P Clive Williams
2 H Peter Wheeler
3 P Graham Price
4 L Bill Beaumont (c)
5 L Maurice Colclough
6 F John O'Driscoll
7 F Colm Tucker
8 N8 Jeff Squire

http://www.espnscrum.com/ireland/rugby/match/21312.html

Benny Cake

Never had the pleasure of seeing him play but heard he was a class act. Played against his son a few times and he was a pure gent...

RIP Colm

Persiancowboy

Saw him play for Shannon and Munster many many times back in the 70s in Thomond Park. Fantastic player and most famous for his foot rush where he was able to run with the ball at his feet.
A very fine player and genuine nice guy who was a few years too early for the professional era. Think he worked as a rep for Guinness in Limerick and like a lot more of that era trained when the day job permitted.

thebaz

RachaelVO wrote: »

Anyone else have any memories of his achievements?

Sad to hear - there was a rumour that he had his name misspelt in a foreign program , I'm sure he so saw the funny side (if true ! ) - anyway R.I.P.

jamiecall

Rest In Peace. Met him a few times. Very nice guy

chucken1

The 1st Rugby match I was at,my dad took me to see Colm playing for Shannon in the 70s.

Gave me a life long love of the sport.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Snickers Man

thebaz wrote: »

Sad to hear - there was a rumour that he had his name misspelt in a foreign program , I'm sure he so saw the funny side (if true ! ) - anyway R.I.P.

Might be an urban myth but somebody who was in Paris that day assured me that his name, listed among the substitutes, was indeed embarassingly misspelt.

Very sad news. One of the Munster team who beat the All Blacks in 1978, and the second after Moss Keane to pass away.

He didn't play too often for Ireland because of the competition for places in his time, and he was a somewhat surprise selection for the 1980 Lions to South Africa. But he made a big impression on that tour and was one of the undoubted successes gaining rave reviews in even the English press and making the test side for the last two tests, one of which the Lions won.

RIP.

ormond lad

Shannons AIL game against Garryowen is off as a mark of respect for the late Colm Tucker RIP

axel the red

Sympathies to his family and friends.

BBDBB

such sad news, 59 is no age

an excellent player and a gent

RIP

phog

Tributes to Colm from Shannon RFC

Amazotheamazing

Snickers Man wrote: »

Might be an urban myth but somebody who was in Paris that day assured me that his name, listed among the substitutes, was indeed embarassingly misspelt.

Very sad news. One of the Munster team who beat the All Blacks in 1978, and the second after Moss Keane to pass away.

He didn't play too often for Ireland because of the competition for places in his time, and he was a somewhat surprise selection for the 1980 Lions to South Africa. But he made a big impression on that tour and was one of the undoubted successes gaining rave reviews in even the English press and making the test side for the last two tests, one of which the Lions won.

RIP.

Seemingly it's true, someone scanned the programme.
http://www.munsterfans.com/threads/30536-The-Typo-was-not-a-myth

Very sad news. RIP.

phog

There was a massive crowd at the removal last night, one of the biggest ever in Limerick.

The Munster branch will mark his death with a minutes silence today before the game.

Tony Ward on Colm Tucker

It's a long piece but I felt I'd do it an injustice if I was to pick a piece to qoute.

Tony Ward: Colm Tucker was a giant and a gentleman whom I was proud to call my friend


Sometimes the news of someone's passing hits you particularly hard. On Thursday evening when I got home I switched on my phone to find an unusually high number of missed calls, each one having come within minutes of the other. Immediately, I feared the worst.

Some of the numbers I could identify and with Limerick the common denominator, I knew it was a case of who rather than what. Colm Christopher Tucker had moved on to join Mossie Keane and Micky O'Sullivan from the close-knit Munster squad of '78 in the big rugby nursery in the sky. It cut me deep because, like so many others, I hadn't realised just how poorly Colm had been of late.

This was a real kick in the gut. Like Maurice Ignatius before him, Colm was one of the great indestructibles; or at least that's how it seemed.

We first became friends in the summer of 1975 when an enlarged Munster squad came together for pre-season training in Limerick ahead of that season's inter-pro series. Immediately we hit it off. For the best part of the next decade, he made my life hell at club level, but with Munster, Ireland 'B', Ireland and on the Lions tour to South Africa in 1980, our careers ran parallel.

In every squad there tends to be not so much cliques as little groups who identify and mix more easily with each other. It tends to be props and hookers or wings and full-backs, perhaps the back-row or half-backs who socialise together.

Not so with Munster. Right from the get-go I found Colm easy and engaging company.

We may have appeared to be the best of enemies when, along with Johnny Barry and Eddie Price, he terrorised me, Shay Dennison, Larry Moloney, Johnny McDonnell and the rest of the light blue backs in countless encounters between Garryowen and Shannon in the '70s and '80s.

To face Colm on the charge, whether with ball at boot lace or ball in hand, was hell on earth. He was the original dribbler, with extraordinary control over the ball on the run. It was a facet to his game surpassed only by his impact when running down the out-half channel with ball cradled in both arms.

It related back to the soccer days of his youth, when he was renowned for attempting to execute a 'Beckham' strike from the halfway line in almost every game from the kick-off. It was an extra string to his bow he carried into battle for Shannon.

Dare Terry Fitzgerald even hesitate over a long-range penalty, up would step Colm, ready, willing and more than capable of giving it the full welly.

Way before the modern-day gym culture he was gifted with the most athletic physique. He had a big chest, big strong thighs and natural ball-carrying athleticism. When he hit, he hurt, but never with malicious intent.

Invariably, a big hit would be followed by him whispering: "That was great Wardy, well done, now get back up there". It wasn't sledging; he actually meant it for getting in his way. Pride alone got me back on my feet.

By contrast, if you were lucky enough to be on his side he promised to look after you and always did.

And while they may have been great rivals at the time, he idolised Shay Deering. A miserly 11 Irish caps between them says more about the system of selection than anything else. Take any No 8 you care to name and put him between Tucker at six and Deering at seven and you had a world-class back-row.

It is a travesty that Colm, like Shay, played so infrequently for Ireland. Yes, he was unfortunate in his timing given he was up against John O'Driscoll, Fergus Slattery and Willie Duggan in their prime, but in a senior career spanning some 14 years, the fact he only amassed three caps is a crying shame. They get that in a month now.

His first Ireland 'B' appearance was when we played Scotland 'B' in a televised game at Murrayfield in December '77. Colm was at blindside with Alan McLean at openside and Donal Spring in between. The front-row included Gerry McLoughlin and Ciaran Fitzgerald as captain.

We won 7-3 and while a few of us went on to senior level soon afterwards, Colm had to wait another year. That big day finally came on January 20, 1979 at Lansdowne Road, when along with McLoughlin, Mike Gibson and future Tanaiste Dick Spring, he ran out for Ireland in a match we drew 9-9 with Les Bleus.

A second cap followed in Cardiff a fortnight later but there was to be just one more -- when he came off the bench in Paris in 1980. Infamously in that game, an 'F' instead of a 'T' began his surname in the match programme.

It did, however, pave the way for his greatest representative honour when he was named as part of the Lions squad to tour South Africa in the summer of that year.

He played in the back-row in the last two Tests at Port Elizabeth and Pretoria alongside O'Driscoll (another rival he admired so much) and Jeff Squire. He was a brilliant tourist and brilliant company, hugely popular with every member of that touring party.

In playing in a winning Lions Test side he had achieved the ultimate ambition of every player in this part of the world, but Colm was always first and foremost a Shannon man. Beating us in that '77 final (as he so often reminded me) meant so much to him.

He played (winning six Senior Cup medals), was a selector, coached and was president of the club. It was a commitment to Shannon RFC that extended over 40 years. His son, Colm Jnr, played for Ireland Schools and also coached at the club, with Colm and his wife Ger two of his most loyal and ever-present supporters.

I am finding it hard to get my head around going to Limerick to bid farewell to Colm today. I will miss his regular phone calls so badly. While he had at all times a unique and wonderful sense of humour, he could by contrast be trenchant in his views, particularly where the IRFU, the Branch and Shannon RFC were concerned.

Any perceived injustice and he was on to me arguing the parish cause. And boy could he do that. He was a passionate man with a big heart. As rivals, as team-mates, as part of the wider rugby community, we will miss him so much, but nowhere will he be missed more than in the bosom of the family he loved so dear.

To Ger, to Rachel, to Colm Jnr, to Richard and to the extended family, we offer our deepest and most sincere condolences.

I am proud to have played with and against a Limerick rugby giant, but more than anything I am proud to call him a true friend, one who made life better for so many people he encountered along the way. Not a half bad legacy.

Thanks big man. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dilis.

- Tony Ward

Irish Independent

LK_Dave

I played against him in a junior match between Shannon and Newcastle West in the early 90’s. A couple of us young pups were put in our places on that particular field! The kudos we received for months after that game was bewildering both at home and especially around Limerick city. “You played against Colm Tucker.....and survived to tell the tale, you must be a hard man”.


RIP

thebaz

for Tony Ward to speak so highly of his football ability, he must have had some great control , Tony ward himself was an extermley talented footballer , with amazing ball control

phog

A long article but nevertheless I wanted to post all of it.

Munster has lost another of its finest
By Donal Lenihan

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

For Shannon, his job was to make life as uncomfortable as possible for me in the lineout by attacking my back, while Ginger McLoughlin was invariably placed in front of me to form a two-pronged assault.

THE SAD passing of Munster stalwart Colm Tucker after his long battle with ill health has inspired great memories of the club rugby scene in Munster when the great Shannon wing forward was in his prime.

At his removal in Limerick on Friday night there were several greetings, handshakes, and nods of acknowledgments from former players drawn from a multitude of clubs who had the privilege of playing with or against Colm — on that front, I count myself extremely fortunate to have sampled both experiences.

I can assure you one was far more pleasurable than the other.

Tucker was one of those granite individuals who inspired confidence in every dressing room by his sheer presence. You felt an additional air of assurance having him on your side. Over a sustained period from 1977 to 1992 with UCC and Cork Con, I enjoyed many a battle against some great Shannon teams. Even in the days before the All Ireland League, when the Munster Senior Cup and League were massive prizes, if you wanted to crown your season with silverware, you somehow had to minimise the impact of Colm Tucker — not an easy task.

Colm was gifted with natural strength and athleticism. I loved playing with him and in the days when the battle for lineout possession was all about finding the space to get off the ground in the melee of elbows and shoulders, having Tucker stationed behind you in the lineout was a massive advantage. At least you were confident that no one on the opposition side would interfere with you from behind. If they did, it wouldn’t happen a second time.

When I made the breakthrough, initially with Munster and then Ireland, Colm was a constant companion. When Ireland won the Triple Crown and Five Nations Championship back in 1982, he was unable to break into the starting side because of the presence of that outstanding trio of John O’Driscoll, Willie Duggan and Fergus Slattery. Colm was on the bench on several occasions throughout that period but there were no such thing as impact subs in those days. You had to be near death before coming off injured. Despite his obvious disappointment, Colm was a constant source of help, advice and encouragement to me which proved invaluable when finding my feet at international level.

However, that camaraderie was put firmly to one side in those titanic forward battles at club level. For Shannon, his job was to make life as uncomfortable as possible for me in the lineout by attacking my back while Ginger McLoughlin was invariably placed in front of me to form a two pronged assault. Once in Thomond Park, when the twin tormentors were having a field day on the ground at my expense, I had to exact some retribution.

Given that Ginger was in front of me, he was the easier target and I managed to land a beauty on him. He milked it, of course, and I was severely reprimanded by the referee while Colm just winked at me with a smile as broad as his bulging chest with a clear understanding that the battle was swinging their way. To add insult to injury, Ned Van Esbeck of The Irish Times reprimanded me after the game, questioning why I did that to "poor Ginger"!

Colm was always great company off the field as I found out on many a Saturday night in Dublin as we prepared for yet another gruelling Sunday morning national training session on the back pitches of Lansdowne Road at the hands of Tommy Kiernan. The Shannon boys looked after themselves first and foremost, so it was a badge of honour to be accepted into their company. There was one Sunday morning grinder that finished with about 50 live scrums.

Ginger was the only member of the Triple Crown winning pack to be dropped when the team was announced that morning for the opening game of the 1983 championship against Scotland in Murrayfield.

Mick Fitzpatrick of Leinster was selected at tight head and the Shannon boys took it personally. In the scrummaging practice McLoughlin switched to loose head on the opposition in order to directly oppose Fitzpatrick with Brendan Foley positioned in the second row behind him and Tucker at wing forward on his other cheek. In one scrum, the Leinster man lost his footing, was mangled, and sustained a groin injury. Ginger was immediately reinstated, had a blinder when the Scots were dispatched in Edinburgh and held his place for the season culminating in a trip with the Lions to New Zealand that summer.

I remember a tour from hell when Munster travelled to Romania back in the communist Ceaucescu era in 1982. Ulster and Leinster had toured there previously and returned with shocking stories. In particular they moaned about the quality of the food with vomiting and diarrhoea regular side effects. At least we had been forewarned and Tucker gave a rousing speech about the necessity to stick together throughout the three-match tour and look after one another.

That was all fine until a few of us noticed how the large Shannon contingent would go missing for an hour every evening. Eventually we caught them red handed in Colm’s room. Noelie Glynn, the Shannon hooker, was a butcher and under instructions from Tucker had vacuum-packed a large quantity of cooked meat before leaving Ireland. At night the Shannon boys would share their booty while the rest of us were in the dark. All Tucker could do was break into fits of laughter when their scam was exposed. So much for his one-for-all speech.

There is no question that Colm would have fitted seamlessly into the professional game where his power, strength in the tackle and bustling ball carrying ability would excel. When I see Ireland handing out caps to vastly under-strength teams — as they did in the USA during the Lions tour of 2009 — you just wonder what the likes of Tucker endured to secure his cherished three caps. At least his talents were rewarded with Lions recognition and I remember listening for hours as he recalled stories of their trip to South Africa in 1980. Even allowing for that famous win over New Zealand with Munster in 1978, you knew it was his proudest rugby achievement when he played in the third and fourth tests in that series. That’s what made it even more poignant to see him laid out in his Lions blazer on Friday.

I find it hard to rationalise how the two most naturally strong Munster forwards I was honoured to play with in Colm and Moss Keane have both been called to their maker at such a premature stage in their colourful lives. Moss left a huge void with his untimely passing only 17 months ago and Colm’s passing will leave a similar vacuum.

I extend my sincere sympathies to his wife Ger, daughter Rachel, son Colm Junior and his extended family.




Read more: http://www.examiner.ie/sport/columnists/donal-lenihan/munster-has-lost-another-of-its-finest-180579.html#ixzz1jtjhrM1u

Aidric

That's a very nice piece from Donal Lenihan. Great story about the meat.