{"id":325108,"date":"2025-08-07T12:00:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T12:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/325108\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T12:00:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T12:00:10","slug":"willie-john-mcbride-calls-out-modern-games-farce-element","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/325108\/","title":{"rendered":"Willie John McBride calls out modern game’s ‘farce’ element"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/a>, quipping that the famed tourist team should instead be called the \u201cBritish, Irish and Newly Qualified Lions\u201d.<\/p>\n

Now 85 years of age, the famed 1974 Lions captain for the tour to South Africa<\/a> has given an interview to Rugby World magazine<\/a>, and his reflections on the modern game are rather scathing.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cToo brutal\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is so much obstruction in the modern game, and the scrum has lost its significance,\u201d stated McBride, who earned 63 Ireland caps and was chosen on five Lions tours in the old amateur era.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou 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\u2019d be far better picking three props for your front row.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is so much I don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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\u2019m not sure we would see such players in the modern game. It\u2019s too physical now. Too brutal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt Williams: B&I Lions restored \u2018absolutely tarnished\u2019 image after \u2018disgraceful\u2019 Springboks series<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

David Campese slams \u2018microwave meal version\u2019 of Lions tour as \u2018hype far greater than the reality\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/a>, 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\u2019t like what was happening.<\/p>\n

He has now revisited his comments and explained his annoyance that 30 years into the professional era, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales still aren\u2019t producing enough players of sufficient quality.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are all good players,\u201d he said of the Farrell contingent of eight southern hemisphere-born players. \u201cThere is nothing wrong with them in that regard. All very talented.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that disappoints me, though, is that rugby has been professional for 30 years and we\u2019re still not developing our own players. Surely there are enough fellas around that are equally as good and worthy of a Lions call-up?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Planet Rugby Awards: OUR Players of the Series, Jason Leonard prize winner and more from the Lions tour<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thirty years after rugby turned professional in August 1995, British and Irish Lions legend Willie John McBride has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[186,5313,225,90462,12,4151,79,16,15,117351],"class_list":{"0":"post-325108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-british-and-irish-lions","10":"tag-home-page","11":"tag-internationals","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-rugby","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-willie-john-mcbride"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114987376500731298","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}