The voice of rugby dies

[Phil]

A sad day with the loss of Bill McLaren who, for many of us, was the voice we knew whenever rugby was on until his retiral in 2002. The world will be a lesser place without him.

[Jock Scot]

Yes indeed, a sad day.

[Jack Daw]

Did he ever get the knighthood?

[###KILTEDKIWI###]

We have a chap here who used to do all the commentary, and when he stopped, it was the oddest thing to hear someone else...took a while to get used to the style and sound.

[Lachlan09]

At first I thought you meant Eddie Waring.

Goodbye Bill. "They'll be lamenting down in The Greenyards tonight"

He had many wonderful qualities, not least a sense of humour. Remember the time Scotland were playing in the World Cup. He said something like “We’ve lost seven of our last eight matches. Only team that we’ve beaten was Western Samoa. Good job we didn’t play the whole of Samoa.”

[KiltedDawg]

It feels like it was only yesterday that he was comparing New Zealand winger Jonah Lomu to a buffalo stampeding through the American plains. I will never forget watching the entire 1995 world cup as a grad student in England. He will be missed!

[PEEDYC]

Sadly missed. His turn of phrase when describing incidents and players was second to none.

[Brandane]

Listened to tributes and some of his old commentary on the BBC website. We will not see or hear his like again.

[Lachlan09]

Some fondly remembered comments by Bill McLaren:-

*It’s high enough, it’s long enough AND IT’S STRAIGHT ENOUGH.

*He’s like a demented ferret up a wee drainpipe.

*He plays like a runaway bullet (description of New Zealand wing Grant Batty).

*He’s like a raging bull with a bad head.

*That one was a bit inebriated – just like one of my golf shots (description of a missed goal kick).

*He kicked that ball like it were 3 pounds o’ haggis.

*Would ye like a Hawick ball, son ? (McLaren offering a friend a mint).

*They’ll be dancing in the streets of Hawick/Selkirk/ tonight???

*His sidestep was marvellous – like a shaft of lightning (description of Welsh wing Gerald Davies).

*The All Blacks that day looked like great prophets of doom.

*I was there (at Twickenham) in 1938 when Scotland won 28-16.

*‘Tweet, tweet, tweet’ – commentary on Scottish full-back Peter Dods’ strange run up to a penalty kick.

*My goodness, that wee ball’s gone so high there’ll be snow on it when it comes down.

*He’s as quick as a trout up a burn.

*Those props are as cunning as a bag o’ weasels.

*A day out of Hawick is a day wasted.

*And it’s a try by Hika the hooker from Ngongotaha (Wales v New Zealand 1980).

*I’m no hod carrier but I’d be laying bricks if he was running at me (description of Jonah Lomu).

*They’ll be simply chuffed to bits down at??.

*I look at Colin Meads and see a great big sheep farmer who carried the ball in his hands as though it was an orange pip.

*I’ve hardly ever had to pay to get in (the best thing in his view about 50 years of commentary at rugby matches).

"Oh! Mercy me! What a tackle! That could've put him in Ward 4!"
"I hope not Bill, that's a maternity ward!"

“He's a big lad, this one.
I wouldnae like to be makin' his porridge of a mornin' I can tell you !”

String on his Irish 6 Nations debut: "They have a saying about him down in Constitution, if you catch him you can make a wish"

'he grappled that ruck like a demented octopus'

About Scott Gibbs “and I tell you when he hits you, you think the roof's just fallen in !”

“Big Vleis Visagie - born when meat was cheap!”

[Philip S. Tibbetts]

The collection of his best moments on the BBC website is lovely - what a nice man, knowledgable player and sumptuous voice (the closest I've ever come to falling in love with a mans voice). He will be missed.