Thirty years after rugby turned professional in August 1995, British and Irish Lions legend Willie John McBride has admitted he despairs over some of the changes that have happened in the game.
He has also revisited his controversial remarks in May about Andy Farrell selecting eight southern hemisphere origin players to play for the Lions in Australia, quipping that the famed tourist team should instead be called the “British, Irish and Newly Qualified Lions”.
Now 85 years of age, the famed 1974 Lions captain for the tour to South Africa has given an interview to Rugby World magazine, and his reflections on the modern game are rather scathing.
Among them is his frustration over what has happened to the scrum, the Irishman claiming that teams would be better off selecting three props in their front row and forgetting about picking a hooker. He also described the lineout as a farce.
“Too brutal…”
“There is so much obstruction in the modern game, and the scrum has lost its significance,” stated McBride, who earned 63 Ireland caps and was chosen on five Lions tours in the old amateur era.
“You used to be able to dominate the game through your scrum. Hookers like Ken Kennedy and Bobby Windsor used to come alive for put-ins and win the ball against the head. You’d be far better picking three props for your front row.
“There is so much I don’t understand about the game now. The lineout is a farce. Then you have the five-metre lineouts when so many players are ahead of the ball, mauling, and offside.
“I still love the game, though. I had the privilege of playing with men like Mike Gibson, Barry John, Phil Bennett, Dick Milliken, Gareth Edwards, JJ Williams and JPR Williams. Some of the greatest ever to play the game. I’m not sure we would see such players in the modern game. It’s too physical now. Too brutal.”
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Switching to the 2025 Lions squad, which included the South African-born pair Duhan van der Merwe and Pierre Schoeman, Kiwi-born trio Bundee Aki, Jamison Gibson-Park and James Lowe, and Aussie-born trio Sione Tuipulotu, Mack Hansen and Finlay Bealham, McBride had suggested in May that he didn’t like what was happening.
He has now revisited his comments and explained his annoyance that 30 years into the professional era, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales still aren’t producing enough players of sufficient quality.
“They are all good players,” he said of the Farrell contingent of eight southern hemisphere-born players. “There is nothing wrong with them in that regard. All very talented.
“The thing that disappoints me, though, is that rugby has been professional for 30 years and we’re still not developing our own players. Surely there are enough fellas around that are equally as good and worthy of a Lions call-up?
“If we go down this road, you wonder whether it should just be called the British, Irish and Newly Qualified Lions. Time moves on and brings about changes. I accept that.”