Ian McGeechan

Ian McGeechan

Player information
Full name	Sir Ian Robert McGeechan
birthday	October 30, 1946
place of birth	Leeds , England
Nickname	Geech, Mr Lions, Lion Man
society
society	Career ended
position	Connector , inner three quarters
Clubs as active
Years	society	Games (points)
1964-1979	Headingley
National team
Years	National team	Games (points)
1972-1979 1974, 1977	Scotland British and Irish Lions	32 (21) 8 (0)
Coaching stations
Years	Association / Province / Franchise
1988–1993 1993–1999 1999–2003 2005–2009 1989, 1993, 1997, 2009	Scotland Northampton Saints Scotland London Wasps (Director) British and Irish Lions

Sir Ian Robert McGeechan OBE (born October 30, 1946 in Leeds , England ) is a former Scottish rugby union player and coach of the Scottish national team . He has also trained the selection of the British and Irish Lions as head coach four times .

Player career

McGeechan played for Headingley, one of the most traditional rugby clubs in England, throughout his career. He made his debut for Scotland against the All Blacks as a connector in 1972 . In his seven years as a national player, he always alternated between this position and that of the inner three quarters. He was nominated for Lions tours to South Africa and New Zealand , respectively , in 1974 and 1977 . A knee injury put an end to his playing career in 1979 at the age of 33.

Coaching career

1987 McGeechan was appointed assistant coach of the Scottish national coach Derrick Grant and was part of the coaching team for the first World Cup . A year later he took over from Grant. He led Scotland to win the Grand Slam at the Five Nations in 1990 and to the semi-finals at the 1991 World Cup , the Scottish national team's greatest success to date. In 1990 he was awarded the Order of Officer of the British Empire.

In 1993 he finished the first part of his engagement as Scottish national coach and in 1994 took over the management of the English club Northampton Saints . He led the club in the Courage League . After the 1999 World Cup , he was reappointed coach of the Scottish national team.

He is the only coach to date to have participated in five Lions tours. These were the 1989 tour in Australia, the 1993 tour in New Zealand and the 1997 and 2009 tour in South Africa. He was able to win the tours in 1989 and 1997, each with two wins and one loss against Australia and South Africa . At the 2005 Tour in New Zealand he was also part of the coaching team and was responsible for the unofficial games during the week.

He was hired by the London Wasps in 2005 as a coach. Under his leadership, the club won the Anglo-Welsh Cup in 2006, the Heineken Cup in 2007 and the championship title in the English league in 2008. In 2009 he ended his involvement with the Wasps.

In 2010 Ian McGeechan was for his services to rugby by Queen Elizabeth II. The Knights defeated and since then allowed to Sir Ian McGeechan call.

Achievements / titles

as a player

• 32 times national player
• two tours with the Lions, one won (1974)

as a trainer

• four tours with the Lions, two of which won (1989, 1997)
• World Championship : semi-finals 1991
• Five Nations : Grand Slam 1990
• Heineken Cup : Winner 2007
• Guinness Premiership : Champion 2008
• Powergen Cup : Winner 2006

Individual evidence

1. ↑ McGeechan departs Wasps. (No longer available online.) Planet Rugby, May 14, 2009, archived from the original on October 29, 2013 ; accessed on May 17, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ^ New Year Honors — United Kingdom. (No longer available online.) The London Gazette, December 31, 2009, formerly original ; accessed on January 18, 2010 (English).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    

Web links

• Profile with the Wasps