Three tours, nine Tests
(1959: 3 Tests; 1962: 4 Tests; 1968: 2 Tests)
Coach: 1974
Manager: 1980
Chairman: 2001

Syd Millar

Not even the great Willie John McBride can match Syd Millar's
record of involvement with the British and Irish Lions, a remarkable relationship that spans six decades.
The Ballymena and Ireland prop went on three tours as a player, coached the most successful of all Lions sides on their unbeaten circuit of South Africa in 1974, managed the team in the same country six years later and was chairman for the 2001 visit to Australia.

Alongside those duties, he also acted as a selector in 1977 and was a member of the Lions committee in 1993 and 1997. That adds up to nine tours over 42 years, and still going strong - he is currently chairman of the International Rugby Board, and he is also a Trustee of the Lions Trust charity.

Millar's longevity should come as no surprise: his Ireland career ran from 1958 to 1970 and, at 33, he showed the determination to battle back from three years out of the selectors' favour to win the final 14 of his 37 Ireland caps and make his third tour as a Lion.

The 16-stone front-rower started out as a stand-off and maintained those handling skills as a dangerous force in the loose. A tighthead prop by preference, he was also sufficiently versatile to pack down at loosehead in Tests on both the 1959 and 1962 tours.

Millar was the Lions' most-used prop on that latter tour, playing in 16 of the 24 matches. He made 39 Lions appearances in all, scoring three tries.

Being a member of four successive Lions tours to South Africa made Millar the expert on the place, as he proved as coach in 1974 and manager in 1980 when meeting two very different challenges.

On the latter tour, Millar superbly fielded the political flak coming the Lions' way as the international debate over sporting attitudes to apartheid reached its peak.

On the former, he produced a side manager Alun Thomas considered the best-prepared in the history of the game and was rewarded by becoming the only 20 th century coach to beat the Springboks in a four-Test series in South Africa .

Millar rated the 1959 side as the best he ever played in, but the triumph of 1974 still stands as his finest Lions hour.