McBride keen to tour South Africa

Press, 3 June 1982, Page 34

McBride keen to tour South Africa

NZPA London Willie John Mcßride, the recently-appointed manager of the 1983 British Lions tour of New Zealand, appears set to co-manage the European rugby team on its controversial short tour of South Africa next month.

The 41-year-old veteran of five British Lions tours as a player said yesterday that he had been invited by the European side's organiser, Mr Syd Millar, to join the tour and was of a mind to accept. The increasingly controversial issue of sporting contacts with South Africa would not influence his decision,, he said. “I am a sportsman and I’ll play anywhere. I’m not interested in politics."

Mr Mcßride said he had always been consistent in his attitude to sport wherever he was asked to go: “I've just come back from Rumania with Ulster and I'm sure the British Government doesn’t approve of the Communist government there. I've also played in Argentina as well as South Africa.” Mr Mcßride said he was unconcerned that a decision to go to South Africa so soon after the British Lions ap-

pointment might provoke an angry response from politicians and anti-apartheid campaigners. . "I’m used to it by now. There was an uproar when I took the Lions side to South Africa in 1974.” He said that there was no question of intervention by the four home unions’ committee, who appointed him the Lions manager, because the home unions had approved the European team’s tour.

His capacity on the European team’s three-match tour would be largely as a coach and although he had not formally told Mr Millar he would go, Mr - Mcßride said the tour offered excellent prospects both on and off the field. “I have made a lot of friends there and it will be good to see them again. As well as that there is the challenge of what will be a hard tour out of season for our players."

A strong 22-man team including 17 British Lions and drawn from the four home unions and France has been selected for the tour which will be the showpiece of the Transvaal Rugby Union’s celebrations to mark the opening of the new Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg. The team is expected to arrive in South Africa about a week before its first match against Transvaal on July 17. The next Wednesday, the Europeans will play a President’s XV which is likely to be a Springbok side in all but name. Away from Ellis Park, the tour will conclude with a game in Capetown against a multi-racial South African team. After the withdrawal of the first five-eighths, Ollie Campbell. Ireland has five players in the team. England has seven. Wales has six, and Scotland and France two each.