Rugby
Lions’ greatest ever player slams squad for having seven stars not born in Britain
Willie John McBride, widely considered the greatest British & Irish Lions player of all time, has hit out at the number of players in Andy Farrell’s squad who were not born in Great Britain or the Republic of Ireland. Seven players are not considered “native” by McBride, who captained the undefeated 1974 visit to South Africa and was a part of five tours, as he blasted how groups are no longer exclusive to players born on British and Irish soil.
Farrell included New Zealand-born Jamison Gibson-Park, Bundee Aki, and James Lowe in addition to two players originally from Australia (Mack Hansen and Sione Tuipulotu) and South Africa (Duhan van der Merwe and Pierre Schoeman). This year’s tour to Australia is not the first to feature foreign-born players, though McBride slammed the idea of including adopted British and Irish players this year.
