Andy Irvine (rugby union)

Andrew Robertson "Andy" Irvine MBE (born 16 September 1951) is a former President of the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU), and a former Scottish international rugby player.^[2] He earned fifty one Scottish caps, and scored over 250 points for Scotland.^[1]

Background

Irvine was born in Edinburgh, on 16 September 1951 and was educated at George Heriot's School in the city. From there he went on to Edinburgh University. After graduation he followed a career in chartered surveying and now is on leave from the Edinburgh property firm Jones Lang LaSalle while he is president of the SRU.

Player

Andy Irvine originally played for Heriot's Rugby Club.^[2]

As fullback for Scotland, he won 51 caps, between 1972-82.^[2] His first cap was against the All Blacks.^[2]

Richard Bath writes of his playing style that:

"looking back at the history of the game, there is a temptation to view world-class attacking full-backs in the same way as the local bus; you wait for ages, and then two come along at once! Yet if Andy Irvine MBE, one of the first real superstars of the game North of the Border, spent much of his rugby career in competition with that great Welsh full-back J.P.R. Williams, that does little to diminish the impact he had upon Scottish rugby throughout the 1970s... Yet despite his many caps Irvine was notoriously frail under the high ball, and even his staunchest supporters could not pretend that he was the most defensively sound of Scotland's full-backs."^[2]

The French sports newspaper L'Equipe, on February 17, 1980, described Scotland's play against France as "Le Triomphe de Baroque" and dubbed Murrayfield "Irvinefield".^[1]

He also earned British Lions caps versus South Africa (1974), New Zealand (1977) and South Africa (1980). He also played for the Barbarians during their 1976 Easter Tour. In the 1974 tour, he adopted many South African tactics and styles of play, although JPR Williams was preferred as full back for the tests, limiting Irvine to two test appearances on the wing.^[1][2]

Irvine vies with Gavin Hastings for the title of Scotland's greatest ever fullback, with incisive running at a blistering pace from the back his trade mark.  In fact most polls over the last 20 years have voted Irvine Scotland's greatest player, and he is generally considered one of the best, if not the best, attacking full backs of the modern era.  His presence in the line often distracted defenders even when he did not have possession.

He is an inductee of the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame and the International Rugby Hall of Fame.

Allan Massie praised him saying,

"Just as Muhammad Ali transformed heavyweight boxing, so that one could never again be satisfied by or impressed with, firm-footed bruisers, so Irvine affected full-back play."^[3]

Norman Mair wrote "in any assessment of him, it is easy to overlook the threat he poses in the eye of the enemy", and said of Irvine's try against Wales:

"Robertson's break for that opening try was preceded by a shrewd conversational exchange between our centres in which Jim Renwick observed that Steve Fenwick was tending to lie wide on the lookout for Andy Irvine, and that therefore there could be something on for Robertson were he to take his pass, Renwick's, 'on the pop'."^[3]

However, he was not without his critics:

"He had his detractors. He wasn't, they said, as safe in the tackle as a full-back should be; he was uncertain under high ball, inclined to take his eye off it, not always cradling it properly. Sometimes he seemed to panic in defence, and throw out inaccurate or foolhardy passes. And so on..."^[1]

He was also compared, unfavourably, to his Welsh contemporary JPR Williams.^[1]

Other activities

Irvine became president of the Scottish Rugby Union in 2005. He announced his readiness to stand for a second term at the end of March 2006.

He has appeared as a guest on BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound radio programme to comment on international rugby games.

He has also coached rugby at Heriot's Rugby Club.

Andy Irvine is a director of the Bill McLaren Foundation along with John Rutherford.

References

• Bath, Richard (ed.) The Complete Book of Rugby (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ISBN 1-86200-013-3)
• Massie, Allan A Portrait of Scottish Rugby (Polygon, Edinburgh; ISBN 0-904919-84-6)

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Massie, p142
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Bath, p141
3. ^ ^{a b} Massie, p143

External links

• Irvine to stand for second term at SRU, The Scotsman, April 1, 2006
• Irvine ready to answer his country's call - The Scotsman, 7 May 2005
• Andy Irvine - tribute in the Scotsman newspaper.
• Andy Irvine - part 1 on Sporting Heroes
• Andy Irvine - part 2 on Sporting Heroes
• Irvine on video - vintage Scottish rugby
• The Bill McLaren Foundation - The Bill McLaren Foundation