IAN McGeechan and Jim Telfer combined to great effect with the Lions in South Africa in 1997 as they guided their side
Jim Telfer is not one for sentimental reflection and so his excitement at this week's announcement of Ian McGeechan, his old coaching partner, as the British and Lions head coach brought no misty-eyed reminiscing of the last time the famous tour
ists were in South Africa.
Then, in 1997, he and McGeechan moulded the first band of full professionals into a Lions squad and then worked them up into a Test XV capable of beating the World Champion Springboks in successive Test matches to seal the first series win there since 1974.
The fly-on-the-wall documentary that gave us unprecedented access to the dressing-rooms and team meetings helped to make the players heroes, and Telfer and McGeechan something akin to Lions legends.
Telfer still bristles at how candid the video 'Living with Lions' was, and the stick he took from his mother at the number of swear words that were a natural part of the Borderer's efforts to exhort players to reach their ultimate performance. Still, many fans view his 'Mount Everest' speech, where he told players beating South Africa would be their "Everest", as alongside great speeches of all time.
He shrugs. Of more interest is the 2009 adventure. He is unlikely to go to South Africa as, now happily retired from the chalk-face, he enjoys supporters' trips and reunions about as much as he does holding his tongue in polite company. But the former coach is clearly excited at this week's talk of the Lions tour and has little time for those who believe it is an ill-fitting anachronism from the past.
He insisted: "It has the makings of a great Test series, and there's no doubt Ian was the right choice as coach. It seems to me that there is pressure to change the coach for the sake of changing him, but you really need a feel for the Lions job. It helps if you have been a Lions coach, and if you have played for the Lions.
"Gareth Edwards put it nicely when he said this week 'everybody wants to be one'. It's still as great an honour in professional times to be selected, even greater than playing for your country in many ways. A lot of extremely good players have never made the Lions simply because they were in the wrong part of the cycle.
"Ian knows that and shares the passion players have, but what marks him out, I feel, is his ability to speak to players and encapsulate the whole aura of being a Lion – the honour, the privilege of it. And having been there twice as a player they feel 'he's one of us'. And that does matter in a Lions context because you have such a short space of time to gain respect of the players and bring them altogether to perform at their best.
"It's very, very challenging. Yes, all the players are good, but they are brought up differently, and are prima donnas; all think they should be in the Test side, and making the Test team is the thing for every single player."
Telfer famously worked closely with McGeechan, seven years his junior, from the 1980s through Scotland's 1990 Grand Slam triumph and 1997 Lions success, both achievements against the odds. He believes the Lions can repeat the feat of 11 years ago, but gives them no more than a 50-50 chance.
"It's different now to 1997, but Ian knows that. Players now have been brought up in an era of professionalism, where they can switch on and switch off to the game easier, and have better knowledge of rugby systems, than players in '97 new to professionalism.
"But Ian is a highly intelligent man; very academically inclined, not a journeyman type of bloke. He is genuinely on a higher wavelength that the vast majority of people in the rugby world and that's why I think he didn't do so well as director of rugby in Scotland, because he was dealing with people across the country with their own agendas.
"He works superbly at Lions level. Before 1997 he studied the Boks, their players, their ways of playing, and picked the players he felt could beat them – he designed a fast game to take the South Africans at the edges, running at angles, and out-flanking them too.
"Ian outfoxed the South Africans, there's no doubt about that. Being South African they think they're the best in the world, and he used that cockiness to work against them, and by the time they realised it the series had gone.
"We also had one big advantage that we may have again next year. The coach, Carel du Plessis, was fairly new to the job, and he was struggling to cope. I don't know how good the new man Peter De Villiers is, but first Tests are only this summer, so there are similarities."
In terms of how strong the Lions may be, Telfer was quick to stamp on a suggestion spotted this week that more Scots could dream of touring because a compatriot was back in charge.
"That's not going to be the case," he said dismissively. "We had only five in 1997 and all were good enough for Test places, and that's vital. There are chances there, but they have to earn it.
"John Barclay, Ross Rennie and Alasdair Strokosch are developing well, and Ross Ford has most of the right ingredients to be a Lion, but he has to toughen up. Nick De Luca, if he could improve his kicking game and defence, could be a very good player on the dry grounds in South Africa.
"I'd also be very interested to see how big Jim Hamilton goes playing regular rugby at Edinburgh. He's a quick learner and a big man, and you need big men in South Africa – he could be big asset to Scotland and the Lions next year.
"If Mike Blair is playing next year the way he's playing at the moment he'll have an outstanding chance. There are certain things you need to be a Lion. Gregor Townsend had that something extra, and I think Blair has it – he is a good rugby player as well as a good scrum-half.
"I also think Rory Lamont has a chance, but I'm not giving players ideas that because I'm saying they're good enough they deserve to be a Lion. It will all depend on how they develop, how hard they work and how well they perform next season. It's difficult to pick a Lions team at the moment, but that's good because you want a squad of players who have really pushed themselves to get there."
As for who coaches them this time, Warren Gatland, the Wales coach, and his and McGeechan's assistant at Wasps, Shaun Edwards, are expected to be approached some time soon, but much will depend on whether Gatland, a long-time head coach, feels able to work under McGeechan and, Telfer feels, also revert to a hands-on forwards coaching role.
Telfer insisted: "The backs and forwards coaches will have to be very much hands-on, because you have such a short time to develop the game-plan. Ian may take a specialist scrummaging coach and more technical coaches, to get areas right quickly.
"A masterstroke in 1997 was his decision to bring in Andy Keast, who had been coaching at Natal, and Ian may again look for someone who knows South African rugby and their players. I can't see Jake White being an assistant, but he might be used in a background/advisory role.
"It will also be very important for Ian to get the right captain and he'll be looking at that very quickly. Last time it was Martin Johnson and he was a good, up-and-coming player, a great thinker, and Paul O'Connell might have been the man for me this time."
He added: "I am excited about it. I've looked at the fixtures a few times and it will be a tough series, with big games on Wednesdays and then Saturdays, but it could be a great series and I always believe the Lions can win.
"The Lions image was tarnished immeasurably by Clive Woodward in 2005, who made us a laughing stock, but Ian is the right choice to restore it. It is a gamble as far as Ian is concerned, because his reputation might suffer, but it's not a gamble for the Lions because he has proved what he can do. You just have to go for it."
The full article contains 1461 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
