Belfast student Harry McKibbin set off on the 1938 tour as one of the youngest and most inexperienced members of the Lions squad. He returned home feted as "the storm centre" of the visitors' backline and having received equal billing in the Cape Argus ' "In The Limelight" column with former British foreign secretary Anthony Eden and Czech president Dr Edvard Benes.

McKibbin had made just one appearance for Ireland before the tour but had served notice of his talent against Wales that year, when he bottled up the great Wilf Wooller and caused havoc in attack.

That same combination of swift offensive play and textbook tackling came to the fore again in South Africa , where he matured almost instantly into the mainstay of the Lions' three-quarter line and was the only back to appear in all three Tests.

Scoring just one try on tour, McKibbin was always more of a creator than a finisher, with the try he manufactured for Bill Clement against Western Province Town and Country from a pinpoint cross-kick was rated the best ever seen at Newlands.

He did, however, emerge as a quality place-kicker and scored 30 points in the last three matches after taking over from the injured Viv Jenkins and Russell Taylor.

A record 16 of those (including his lone try) came in the final match, against Combined Universities, when he almost single-handedly rescued a last-minute 19-16 win.

His most important contribution, though, came in the third Test , when he kicked a vital conversion and 40-yard penalty as the Lions - featuring all eight Irishmen among the party - overturned a 3-11 deficit to win 21-16.

McKibbin won only three more caps for Ireland as the Second World War brought international competition to a halt, but he went on to be president of the IRFU, his nation's representative on the IRB and a Lion once again when he returned to South Africa as assistant manager of the 1962 side.