Is this the toughest job in rugby?

HE is considered by many to be the greatest Lion of them all. With an incredible five tours as a player and one as manager, 17 test appearances, including two winning test series against New Zealand and South Africa as captain, Willie John McBride’s pedigree as a legend of the game was cemented long before his retirement.

The only blip on his CV is as a manager. McBride was manager of the 1983 Lions tour to New Zealand, when the hosts won the test series 4-0.

The following season, as coach to an Irish team that had won a Five Nations championship, a Triple Crown, and a share of a championship in the previous two seasons, he presided over a whitewash that yielded only the wooden spoon.