Chairman of the International Rugby Board, Dr Syd Millar, will be more than an interested onlooker when Ireland take on France in their quarter final clash in Melbourne on Sunday, November 9.
The former Ireland and British Isles international made his Test debut for Ireland in their 11-6 loss to France in 1958. It was to be the first of many disappointments for Millar against the Tri Colores.
“I played against them 10 times and I think we won three so my record against them wasn’t great,” Millar recalls.
“They brought a new dimension to rugby in that the French were always great thinkers, they were conceptual thinkers.”
France in golden run
Unfortunately for Millar, who played for Ireland on 37 occasions, he struck Les Bleus during a golden era for French rugby, winning the Five Nations in 1959, 1960 (shared with England), 1961-62, 1967-68 and 1970 (shared with Wales).
“Their use of the forwards and the short passing game, that was new to rugby football. They had all these variations in their play, which we found difficult at that time. We lost in ‘58 but we won in ‘59 in Dublin.”
Millar, who also played 10 times for the Barbarians between 1959 and 1971, says the French brought a different attitude to the game and added to their love of running rugby proved to be an unpredictable combination.
“They were the great thinkers and you never knew how they would play. They would come out one day and play like a dream team and the next day they couldn’t get it together.”
Unique perspective
Millar, who played his last international against Wales in 1970, is one of the few players to have played international rugby in three different decades, putting him in a unique position to comment on the change in style from his playing days through to the modern era.
“Forwards were expected to be providers of the ball and little else so you did your work in the scrum, the lineout, the ruck and maul and so on and did your tackling but it didn’t involve much handling with the ball,” Millar said.
A former forward colleague once said to Millar, “My nightmare is to be caught in the middle of Twickenham with the ball in my hands.”
He says it neatly summed up the style of play in his day but believes those days are well and truly gone.
“Rugby players are rugby players. You have to handle the ball wherever you are, you have to kick the ball from wherever you are,” Millar said.
“The skills between backs and forwards are much the same. The backs have to ruck and maul just as the forwards have to.
Respect
Just as in his heyday, Millar has a great deal of respect for the current French team and its coach Bernard Laporte, adding that the Irish will have their work cut out on Sunday.
“I think Bernard Laporte is a very good coach, who has disciplined France. They used to give a lot of penalties away and argue amongst themselves but those days are over.
“They also have a very good captain, their No. 10 is playing well and they have a very good pack of forwards, so they are a very good all round team.
“The grounds will suit them, the dry ball will suit them, the conditions will suit them so it is going to be very difficult for Ireland.”
Career highlights
Of his own career, Millar nominates the 1974 Lions Tour of South Africa, where his British Isles side remained unbeaten on the 22-match tour, amongst his many career highlights.
“I had a good bunch of players and we worked very hard. I suppose your first cap has to be a highlight as well, the game goes so fast but you’ve got an Irish cap and you’ve played for your country,” Millar said.
Turning his attention to Sunday’s quarter final Millar, who managed Ireland in the first World Cup in 1987, finds it hard to predict the eventual winner and says the Irish are still suffering from the pre-Tournament loss of Geordan Murphy.
“The genius of Murphy will be missing so we’re a little bit slower in the backs than we might have been but our forwards should be able to at least equal what they are doing,” Millar said.
“The game could go either way I think. It’s a very open game. Ireland have won three out of the last four but that doesn’t mean anything. This is a World Cup, it’s different.”
Cup success
On the overwhelming success of Rugby World Cup 2003 Millar says:
“Australia have managed this very well, the fact the Australian public have got behind it so well I think has been a big factor in its success.
“(Managing Director and CEO of Australian Rugby Union) John O’Neill and (General Manager RWC 2003 and Tournament Administrator) Matt Carroll have done a bloody good job as have our own staff.
“There is an old truism, ‘Much can be accomplished if it doesn’t matter who gets the credit,’ and I think there has been a fair bit of that,” Millar said.
The same could be said of Millar’s own fine career.