Latest news with #GavinHastings
Daily Mail
7 hours ago
- Sport
- Daily Mail
The Lions Rampant: Mail Sport casts an eye over Scotland's proud links to the iconic red jersey and asks who would make an all-time Scots-only Lions select?
The death of Ian McLauchlan over the weekend makes it a compelling time to consider the rugby legends Scotland has contributed to the Lions cause over the years. From leading Lions points scorer Gavin Hastings to men like Ian McGeechan and Jim Telfer — both of whom contributed so much in terms of playing and coaching — Scottish grit has been central to large chunks of what the Lions have achieved in the post-war era.
Edinburgh Reporter
2 days ago
- Sport
- Edinburgh Reporter
Rugby world record is set
Edinburgh's Gavin Hastings, chair of The Lions Trust, has paid tribute to the players who set a new world record for playing rugby union non stop in the name of charity. The event was staged in Mullingar with the principal beneficiary being mental health charity LooseHeadz as well as Wooden Spoon. More than £100,000 has been raised – and counting – with a number of Scots taking part. Hastings, who captained the Lions in 1993, said: 'Congratulations to LooseHeadz and Wooden Spoon for a phenomenal achievement. 'I have huge respect and admiration for all the men and women who took part in this world record-breaking feat in Mullingar over the past two days. 'As rugby's mental health charity, LooseHeadz, is tackling the stigma of mental health and the money raised from this challenge will go towards ensuring every rugby club has a dedicated mental health lead. 'It is amazing moment to celebrate.' The men's game lasted for just over 36 hours beating the previous best of 30 hours, 29 mins, 41 secs in the lead up to the Lions pre tour fixture with Argentina at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin, on Friday evening. The women's game lasted 26 hours, 33 mins beating the previous best of 24 hours, 5 mins, 41 secs. The Lions Trust 'exists to connect with, nurture and support all Lions players in need whilst furthering the spirit, values and ethos of The British & Irish Lions throughout rugby clubs across England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales'. The Lions Trustees are Richard Hill, Jamie Roberts, Tommy Bowe and Gavin Hastings photographed below. Photo courtesy of The Lions Trust Like this: Like Related
Irish Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Gavin Hastings: Scots Irish Lions combo one of highlights of special Aviva night
Lions legend Gavin Hastings is relishing the prospect of a Scots Irish collaboration at the Aviva Stadium. Connacht and Ireland's Bundee Aki will join with Sione Tuipulotu of Glasgow Warriors and Scotland in the Lions midfield for the clash with Argentina tonight. "I think a lot of people are looking forward to seeing that one," grinned Hastings, a three-time Lions tourist who made six Test appearances for the team and captained the squad on the 1993 tour in New Zealand that was won 2-1 by the All Blacks. "There's not going to be very many holes in that combination, obviously. But it'll be interesting to see how it goes, they're two very experienced and talented guys. "I think it's going to be a pretty stiff challenge for the Lions but, listen, you've got to play your first game somewhere, so you may as well be in front of your home supporters. There's no doubt it'll be a great game. I think they're very, very keen to get us off to a winning start. "I expect that the Lions to just be very, very competitive. That's what we want. Some people suggest that it might be sort of easy against Australia on the tour, but there's no way they're going to roll over. "So I think the Lions have got to work very, very hard for everything they're going to potentially achieve. Andy's a very experienced coach, and I'm sure he knows how to get the best out of them. And that's what it's all about." Hastings will be at the game after spending yesterday afternoon in the baking heat in Mullingar, where British and Irish Lions official charity partners LooseHeadz and Wooden Spoon hosted a successful Guinness World Record attempt to break the record for 'The Longest Game' of rugby for both men and women. It started on Wednesday and the men participating played for over 36 hours to raise over £100,000 to help tackle mental health. The previous world record was 24 hours, five minutes and 15 seconds. "There was never any question of me running around," the Scotland legend laughed. "I'm just here lending my support for a couple of hours. That's much better! "They were slightly on a go-slow given the heat. It's a great cause. Many people in Ireland wouldn't be as familiar with Wooden Spoon, they're a rugby charity, helping kids with difficulties and all the challenges that kids have and they're making their mark in Ireland as well. "The other charity here is Looseheadz. One in four people are affected with mental health and we all know of rugby people that have faced difficulties. "One of my great adversaries, John Carter, one of the great Kiwi guys, was probably one of the very first to say that he had struggled with mental health during his career. "It's great that people are talking about it. I'm chairman of the Lions Trust and we support a number of different charities, among them Looseheadz and Wooden Spoon. "These guys have put this longest game of rugby on and good on them. I think they've already raised well over £200,000, and they want to get to a quarter of a million if possible. Amazing." There is a JustGiving donation page for The Longest Game here: and the LooseHeadz charity can be found here
Telegraph
09-05-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Brian O'Driscoll's Lions team for first Test: Henry Pollock to start at No 8
We are in Whitechapel, east London, and the artist, Nelly, is hard at work, painting the names of the 2025 Lions squad on the side of a building in gigantic fashion. Huddled beneath are some of the great and good of Lions alumni. Jamie Roberts chats to dignitaries; Gavin Hastings does a piece to camera before looking over his shoulder at the artist's progress, just a stone's throw from where Ieuan Evans – his former Lions team-mate – named Andy Farrell's squad, at the 02. From behind them emerges Brian O'Driscoll, the former Irish centre who experienced four Lions tours, and is one of the greatest exponents to have ever played the game. So, what would be his team for the first Test? 'This is based on current form; as if the first Test were tomorrow,' O'Driscoll says. 'There were not too many shocks in that selection, in fairness. Of course, there will always be 50/50 calls and one or two contentious decisions but even the likes of Henry Pollock to me is not a bolter any more. I think he was a shoo-in. 'But, as ever, someone who might have been perceived to have limped into the squad will end up a Test player – or someone who was not even named today will feature in a Test. That is almost always the case. There will be someone who we do not anticipate who really excels and delivers in the key moments of big games.'
Telegraph
08-05-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Picking a Lions squad now is very different to my time answering to the committee
Selecting a British and Irish Lions squad has changed over the years. In 1993 ahead of the tour of New Zealand, I found myself in a private room in the famous East India Club in London. It was the last tour of the amateur era and a world away from the final meeting that Andy Farrell and his Lions coaches would have held on Wednesday. I found myself sitting in front of a Lions committee, made up of around eight or nine representatives from the four home unions, which was chaired by England. It was the same room that I had been interviewed for the job of head coach a few months earlier by the same committee. I think they interviewed four people in all. I know Dick Best, who was head coach of England at the time and who ended up as my assistant in New Zealand, was one. I never found out who the other two were. When we met up again just after the final round of matches in the Five Nations Championship, the first item on the agenda was the tour captain. I was already in London because Scotland had played their last game, against England, a couple of weeks earlier. Dick, meanwhile, had to fly in from Dublin, where Ireland had caused a major upset by beating England the previous day at Lansdowne Road. 'I want Gavin Hastings to be my captain,' I said. In my mind he was the only choice, just as Finlay Calder had been in Australia four years earlier. I wanted someone I could trust, but also someone I knew would be honest with me. If something wasn't right, that meant we could nail it straight away, so it didn't become an issue. I could count on Gav on both fronts. I was adamant it should be him. But the committee seemed less certain. 'We will need to discuss this,' I was told. They insisted that I rang Gav and ask him that if he was to be offered the captaincy of the Lions, what would his answer be? And so I did just that and told him the line that I had been asked to say. He was bewildered. 'Geech, what are you talking about? You know what it means to me!' he said. 'Gav, I am here with the Lions committee and just need to know your answer,' I replied. 'You know what my answer would be,' he said. 'So, your answer would be that you would accept?' I replied, trying to give the committee words that they wanted to hear. I had to explain what had been going on to him when we next met up. The procedure for selecting the squad was even more drawn out. Filling the other 29 places also required a discussion for each player, with everyone having a say and, in some cases, a vote. You can imagine how long it took and in some cases I ended up with players that I had not gone for. Four years earlier, ahead of the tour of Australia, it had been much more straightforward. Clive Rowlands, the team manager, was brilliant. He had organised for every country to have a selector who had been watching players over the season and feeding information in, but they did not have a vote on selection. The captain and squad were picked by Clive, myself and Roger Uttley, my assistant coach. In the build-up I had been speaking to the other national head coaches about players' strengths and weaknesses, but also their characters – what they were like off the pitch as well as on it – and how they trained. I wanted as round a picture as I could get of each player. That was just as important as talent on a Lions tour, and it still is today. But this was not the case in 1993. So, when I was very pleasantly surprised when Fran Cotton asked me if I would be head coach again to South Africa in 1997, I said I would do it on two conditions. 'I want Jim Telfer to coach the forwards and that you, me and Jim pick the squad,' I told Fran. He saw it through. Fran was a brilliant manager. In many ways, the 1997 tour was a watershed moment for the Lions. Sky Sports came on board, it was in the same time zone as the UK and Ireland, the game had just turned professional which meant we could pick players who had gone to rugby league for the first time. It was also the first time we took 35 players instead of 30. That came about after I had gone out the year before to watch the Springboks' series against the All Blacks. I spent time with the All Blacks and they were really helpful and let me watch their sessions. After one of them I had a long conversation with Sean Fitzpatrick, the All Blacks captain, and John Hart. Their advice was to bring a third player for each of the key positions – prop, hooker, one in the back five, scrum-half, and one in the back three. Fitzpatrick said that as a hooker on all his previous tours, he had been involved in every game, either starting or on the bench. It meant that he could never switch off. He also recommended bringing all our own equipment, because without it, we would not be in control of everything on the ground if we left it to the host union. So that's what we did. I put together a report on recommendations for what needed to be in place, and the Lions committee just approved the whole lot to go ahead with it as we wanted, with squad selection, appointments and the type of rugby I felt we had to play to beat South Africa. We brought five extra players in the squad, and organised scrum machines and all our kit so we were totally self-contained and in complete control of every venue that we trained at. Everything was in place and recognisable as the same for the players, so there were no surprises, and we could plan everything out. This time there was no committee discussion about the captaincy or awkward phone calls. I said to Fran that I wanted Martin Johnson to be captain. It could have been seen as a controversial selection. Johnno was not even captain of Leicester at the time, never mind England. It was a template that was still in place when I was asked to be head coach again for the tour of South Africa in 2009. Things have of course evolved from then, but one thing remains unchanged from every time there is a Lions squad announcement. It takes me back to when I was in that position as a player. 'Chemistry and relationships established on tour never go away' In 1974, I received a letter in the post informing me that I had been selected for the tour of South Africa. Back then, the side were called BIRUT – British Isles Rugby Union Team. That was what was on our bags in capital letters. The Lions have had a huge impact on my life. The special relationships with the squad and with the jersey are like nothing you can describe. It is such a personal thing because the identity is with one group of players. Most of them you will never play with again. Dick Milliken and I were partners in the centre in the 1974 Test team and became good friends and have remained so every since. Our families met and we have spoken to each other every year since. Last year we had our 50th anniversary of the 1974 tour. When we met up in Belfast, it was incredible because that rapport and feeling was immediately there again. The chemistry and relationships established on tour never go away. One thing that I made sure I did when I was head coach in 2009, even though the squad was broadcast and the news was instantly available on the internet, was to send each player a letter, signed by me, informing them of their selection, because it meant so much to me as a player. For the squad that is announced on Thursday, the thing I want more than anything is for them to create their own unique bond.
