- Date of Birth30 / 10 / 1946
- Lions Tours1974, 1977
- International CapsScotland / Lions
- Lions Origin ClubsBarbarians, Headingley
It is hard to find a man, player or coach, who has contributed more to The British & Irish Lions since 1888 than Sir Ian McGeechan.
His 30 appearances as a player, including seven Test starts across the historic and successful 1974 Tour to South Africa and the 1977 Tour to New Zealand, proved to be just the beginning of his link with the Lions.
A Scotland captain nine times during his 32-cap international career, a knee injury ended his playing career at the age of 33 but McGeechan was later appointed as his country’s assistant coach for the 1987 World Cup.
He took charge of Scotland a year later and led his first Lions Tour to a 2-1 series success over Australia in 1989 and reprised his role as coach for the 1993 Tour to New Zealand.
However it was in 1997 that he cemented his legend, as the Lions beat the world champion Springboks 2-1 as he and fellow Scot Jim Telfer wrote their names in the history books.
The Scot was also part of Sir Clive Woodward’s coaching staff for the 2005 Tour to New Zealand and was head coach in 2009 for the Lions trip to South Africa.
A popular and highly-respected coach, McGeechan has also become well known for his inspirational and emotional speeches given to players prior to important Test matches and at club level enjoyed considerable success with Northampton Saints and Wasps.