‘Mister Mac’ left his mark on rugby

A sports coach who becomes a legend is the man, or woman, who can inspire members of a team to play out of their skins on that one day when it really counts.

Ian McIntosh, the former Springbok, Natal and Sharks rugby coach, who died this week at the age of 84, was one such legend.

His finest hour, most rugby fans in KwaZulu-Natal will say, was in October 1990, when he took underdogs Natal to victory in their first Currie Cup final win against the mighty Northern Transvaal. It was a result which caused konsternasie op die stasie at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria. McIntosh’s time as Springbok coach in 1993/94 was less successful.

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Burdened with strange decisions by a five-man selection committee and the looming figure of rugby supremo Louis Luyt, “Mister Mac” was fired after just over a year … but not before laying some of the foundations for the success that Kitch Christie and the Boks would achieve in the 1995 World Cup.

The tributes that poured in from around the world from rugby greats testified to the fact that McIntosh left an indelible mark on South African rugby. He may be gone, but his legacy lives on, on rugby fields across our country.