{"id":301024,"date":"2026-02-16T15:03:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T15:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/301024\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T15:03:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T15:03:08","slug":"keith-wood-after-a-lions-series-every-player-that-went-on-tour-is-wrecked-ireland-rugby-union-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/301024\/","title":{"rendered":"Keith Wood: \u2018After a Lions series, every player that went on tour is wrecked\u2019 | Ireland rugby union team"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have known Keith Wood for nearly 30 years and so it\u2019s easy to talk about life and death long before we move on to rugby. But the game always provides context and, last Friday afternoon, the 54-year-old former Lions hooker and Irish captain drove to Cork to watch his youngest son, Tom, play for Ireland against Italy in the Under-20 Six Nations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The previous weekend Tom made his first-team debut<\/a> for Munster to match his dad and the grandfather he never met. Gordon Wood played for Munster, as well as Ireland and the Lions, before he died, aged 50, in 1982. Keith was only 10 when that first tragedy occurred but he went on to play for the same three teams as his dad.<\/p>\n

Wood has three rugby-playing sons \u2013 Alexander and Gordon are his other boys \u2013 and he talks about how they gave him so much beautiful life after he had been besieged by death.<\/p>\n

There is a third Gordon in this story. Gordon Wood was Keith\u2019s big brother and, in September 2002, he suffered a massive heart attack and died at the age of 42. \u201cIt was two days before Alexander was born,\u201d Wood remembers, \u201cand our mother died about three months afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wood was 30 and had recently been named world rugby\u2019s player of the year. We talk about grief and acceptance rather than personal achievement and Wood says: \u201cI look back and don\u2019t get maudlin at all. There were still some amazing things even though I missed the funeral and I missed the birth. Alexander was born at Chelsea & Westminster hospital and they\u2019d been prompted that my brother had just died. When I walked into the atrium an orchestra was practising [Mozart\u2019s] The Magic Flute. So that\u2019s the music in my memory of that extraordinarily stressful time.\u201d<\/p>\n

All these years later Wood is just as balanced: \u201cSomeone said to me: \u2018Your father played for Ireland, you played for Ireland and now Tom is playing. You must be very proud?\u2019 I said: \u2018Well, pride is the wrong word. My pride in my son does not rely on somebody else selecting him. We\u2019re really happy for him, but I see how hard all my kids work.\u2019<\/p>\n

Keith Wood, then Ireland captain, celebrates a win over England in Dublin in October 2001. Photograph: Chris Bacon\/PA<\/p>\n

\u201cI love what the game has given them. Alexander has had five operations and so he\u2019s not going to achieve in the sport. But what rugby has given him at 23 in terms of courage and resilience is stunning. All three of them are at university and the other two are in the academy at Munster. It\u2019s difficult to do both at once because they leave at 6.30 most mornings and aren\u2019t back until very late at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wood didn\u2019t fly to Glasgow to watch Tom\u2019s Munster debut and he explains that \u201crugby was only one part of our house and never the be-all and end-all. That was drummed in by my mother who was very strong. So when it comes to my boys I only want them to play if they like it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been very keen on trying to alleviate any pressure. So I turn up to as many of their matches as I can without committing to going to all of them. I missed some big days when they started because I think that\u2019s more appropriate. I\u2019m not going to say it\u2019s nothing to do with me, but it\u2019s really nice for them to have their day without any mention of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

That healthy reflection means Wood is ideally placed to offer a measured insight into Irish rugby. He was Ireland\u2019s talisman for most of his 58 Tests when, between 1994 and 2003, Irish rugby often struggled. Wood seemed to have enough fire and intelligence to shoulder the frailties of his entire team.<\/p>\n

In contrast, for the last eight years, Ireland have been a force in the international game. As Wood considers their more uneven current form before facing England away on Saturday he says: \u201cOn any sine curve you\u2019ll have peaks and troughs. I don\u2019t believe we\u2019re in a trough but people look at it with a sense of recency bias. I hate the idea of jumping on the bandwagon that pundits do after either a good performance or a poor performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Six Nations began with Ireland being thumped in Paris<\/a> \u2013 as an imperious France swept into a 22-0 lead at half-time. Ireland showed more fight after the break but still lost 36-14. Wood recalls that, \u201cafter the game, [Ireland\u2019s coach] Andy Farrell said Ireland lacked intent. That\u2019s important. In the first 20 minutes, if you don\u2019t match France\u2019s passion, aggression and innate confidence, which is pretty jaw-dropping in Paris, the game drifts away. Our forwards didn\u2019t get into the game quickly enough and we distanced ourselves from the physicality required to blunt their edge.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of our players are getting old. Some have been coming back from injury. In the year after a Lions series, every player that went on that tour is wrecked [Ireland supplied 15 members of the 38-man squad<\/a>]. It takes a huge amount out of you physically and mentally so Ireland look a bit jaded and flat.<\/p>\n

Italy\u2019s full-back Lorenzo Pani climbs highest at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday as the Azzurri gave Ireland a huge test. Photograph: Paul Faith\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in a dip, without a shadow of doubt. We need to bring younger, more powerful players through. A few years ago people said Ireland\u2019s system was the best-ever. I said the system was very good, but not the best-ever for the simple reason everybody catches up. Everything goes in cycles. I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll fall to the bottom of the barrel but we might have a few hard losses and we have to rebuild.\u201d<\/p>\n

This past Saturday Ireland beat Italy 20-13<\/a> in Dublin. Wood was thoroughly entertained and impressed by Italy. He dismisses the misconception that the Azzurri are easy to beat: \u201cItaly did so much so well and, for the want of a drifting ball, could have beaten Ireland. That doesn\u2019t mean Italy are near the top of the world but their curve is moving upward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wood praises the players Ireland brought in against Italy \u2013 highlighting the impact of the Ulster centre Stuart McCloskey who threw a quarterback-style pass<\/a> to set up Robert Baloucoune\u2019s stunning try at a pivotal moment. \u201cIreland made lots of changes and there was a freshness to some of the players coming in. McCloskey is [33] and I\u2019d retired at that age. With him you can talk about a freedom of spirit in his thinking. He\u2019s had the disappointment of not being picked but he\u2019ll take a risk and that\u2019s brilliant. His out-of-the-box thinking led to an unbelievable Irish try.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a huge regard for what Joe Schmidt [Farrell\u2019s predecessor] did with Ireland but it was incredibly manufactured and reliant on one or two people pulling every string. It\u2019s great when you\u2019re winning but, if people figure you out, you don\u2019t have much to fall back on. Andy Farrell is trying to make changes to that style but he knows Ireland need wins at the same time. Italy played a far more interesting game, and we needed a couple of extra bits to get past them, but I\u2019m happy with the way it all worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n

England were on a roll, having won 12 games before their visit to Edinburgh, and Wood thinks that some of the more adventurous elements of Premiership clubs such as Northampton were having a positive influence on Steve Borthwick\u2019s often staid team. But Scotland were superb and England wilted amid a chastening 31-20 defeat<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cEngland went in saying we have a gameplan, which we know works, and we\u2019re going to be able to beat them using it,\u201d Wood argues. \u201cI\u2019m not going to call that arrogance. I\u2019m going to call that a level of certainty from a pretty young team. But imagine how much they are hurting now and how beneficial that hurt is for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey got knocked off their kilter and lost their way in the midst of it. I also thought they were complaining quite a lot and my recommendation would be to stop talking to the ref and leave it to the captain. But that\u2019s just one part of the story. Scotland were exceptional. They were exhilarating and their level of aggression and discipline was a joy to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keith Wood with ball in hand against Australia on the Lions tour of 2001: \u2018It takes a huge amount out of you.\u2019 Photograph: David Davies\/PA<\/p>\n

Turning to France, Wood says of their head coach, \u201cI\u2019m fascinated by Fabien Galthi\u00e9. I know him pretty well<\/a> and he\u2019s unusual in his thinking. He picked a squad with second-rows that were back-row players. [Against Ireland] he picked a pack that were really good scrummagers and they didn\u2019t scrum in the game. They just held the scrum. They didn\u2019t go up in a lineout once. They didn\u2019t play like they traditionally do in the Pro 14 and grind it out. They tried to run the Irish players around the field with ball in hand and got into the game incredibly quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cGalthi\u00e9 surprised everybody by dropping some great players. But then you look at the performance of the players he\u2019s picked instead and it\u2019s been extraordinary. We\u2019ll see whether he sticks with that or whether they go back to some of the heavy guys for heavy matches. I would say there\u2019s a requirement to do both.\u201d<\/p>\n

Could France become the second northern hemisphere country to win the World Cup next year? \u201cAbsolutely. France have the ability to beat anybody. They also have an ability to beat themselves. It looks as if Galthi\u00e9 is saying: \u2018We know we have great experience, great power and unbelievable gas.\u2019 They\u2019re my favourite team to watch. I obviously want Ireland to win but France play the best rugby.\u201d<\/p>\n

We spend a couple of hours talking about Wood\u2019s life and his enduring delight in rugby. Just before we end I ask how it was to watch Tom, playing at fly-half, as he scored 10 points and helped steer Ireland Under-20s to a thrilling 30-27 victory<\/a> over Italy last Friday night. \u201cIt was bloody freezing in Cork,\u201d he says with a smile. \u201cBut I thought Italy were unbelievably good. Their handling and their physicality is extraordinary. It was a seesaw game.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder-20s rugby is fantastic to watch. A lot of mistakes are made but players try things that a senior team wouldn\u2019t. There\u2019s joy and a freedom to it. Sport is tough, and you never know where it\u2019s going to end. This could be their high-water mark as players and, if it is, my God you have to enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was Tom\u2019s birthday this past Saturday and, as Wood pauses, I think of all the words he has shared about life and death. He\u2019s no longer a dad to any teenagers and Wood sounds suitably reflective when he tells me that \u201cthere\u2019s a Muhammad Ali quote which is one of my favourites: \u2018A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Wood also says: \u201cI really loved my career, but I wish I\u2019d enjoyed it more and soaked it up a little more.\u201d But he sounds as proud as he is wise when, thinking of his 20-year-old son, Wood suggests, \u201cthere\u2019s one thing I would say for Tom, and it\u2019s pretty much the only thing I\u2019d say for him. His feet are firmly on the ground. He\u2019s appreciating every minute of rugby and life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I have known Keith Wood for nearly 30 years and so it\u2019s easy to talk about life and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-301024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}