Two More Good Guys Gone

THIS has been a sad week for those of us who have been a long time in the game, with the deaths of All Blacks legend Sir Wilson Whineray and Hawick and Scotland legend George Stevenson.

 

I belong to the school of thought which dictates that a star in one era would have been a star in any era; this is a basic add-on to the belief that while form might be transitory, class is permanent and both Whineray and Stevenson oozed class and charisma.

 

I was speaking to one of the current leading men in green and he put it well, suggesting that Geordie was well-nigh uncoachable. He did things off-the-cuff and instinctively, the very antithesis of the sort of playing by numbers which is such a big part of present-day professional rugby.

 

The way Stevie and the smaller and lighter Eddie McKeating of Heriot's repeatedly went in low, like navy blue torpedoes, to repeatedly sink the bigger John Gainsford and Iain Kirkpatrick, their Springbok opposite numbers, during the Murrayfield international of January, 1961 is one of my abiding memories of those school trips through to the internationals.

 

On paper, Scotland had no chance, but, we gave the 'Boks a game and a fright and much of that was down to the two centres.

 

Although they were international contemporaries, Stevenson and Whineray never faced each other on the national stage. Stevie was not chosen for the 1959 Lions Tour to New Zealand and he was out of selectorial favour when Whineray's marvellous All Blacks were held to a 0-0 draw at Murrayfield in 1964 - the closest Scotland has yet come to beating the world's best team.

 

 

 

TO A centre of lesser class. Ayr's Ross Curle has been suspended for six weeks, following his second red card of the season, at Currie a couple of weeks ago. I think he got off lightly, compared with the old days when the SRU used to hand down draconian sentences for the most-innocuous of crimes.

 

Six weeks, Curle got off lightly, but not half as lightly as he did on the day. Ayr coach Kenny Murray apparently went through him. Just as well Ayr Director of Rugby Jock Craig was at the game, or Curle might be missing two "male brain cells" by now.

 

 

 

WITH the best part of a full XV not considered due to various injuries, there were no surprises in the 34-strong squad Andy Robinson named for the forthcoming All Blacks game, the first of the three autumn tests.

 

There were whispers that, just maybe Clermont Auvergne's Mark Bennett might be called-up for the Autumn test squad. If I was the SRU I wouldn't hang around too-long before securing young Mark for the national side - before he qualifies for France on residency grounds.

 

Get him into at least the A squad for the Six Nations, or risk losing him.