Good war of Gavin Hastings

draw -- if the three-Test series is to be kept alive. For Gavin Hastings

the game represents the ultimate test of leadership and nerve. Derek

Douglas profiles the charismatic Lions captain

A BRITISH Lions tour has about it the aura of a military campaign. The

tour itinerary is a series of pitched battles, or battles on pitches,

and after six weeks in the field the war is won or lost. The war in New

Zealand may yet be lost. We shall know soon enough.

Before they even left these shores -- hobbled by injury to the likes

of Gary Armstrong and Craig Chalmers and hog-tied quixotic selection --

the tourists may have lacked the necessary firepower to do themselves

justice. By breakfast-time tomorrow we shall know whether these Lions

have anything left to play for but their pride.

Nevertheless, Gavin Hastings has had a good war. In New Zealand the

31-year-old Watsonian has played some of the best rugby of his life.

Paradoxically, the Lions fullback has led by personal example from the

front.

Hastings's performance in the third game of the tour, with a

barnstorming try and three conversions contributing mightily to an

against-the-odds win over the Maoris, ranks as one of the great

individual efforts of all time. It was significant, too, that the Lions

plummeted to defeat against Auckland last Saturday only after Hastings

had been forced to withdraw at half-time with a hamstring injury.

Of equal importance is the fact that, in the hostile rugby environment

of New Zealand, Hastings has won the hearts and minds of a discerning

yet one-eyed populace which needs no second bidding to display its

contempt for poms -- even Scottish poms.

Andrew Gavin Hastings is the seventh Scot to lead the Lions on an

overseas expedition. Bill McLagan in 1891, Mark Morrison (1903), David

Bedell-Sivright (1904), Arthur Smith (1962), Mike Campbell-Lamerton

(1966), and Finlay Calder (1989) have all been holders of the game's

ultimate accolade.

HOWEVER, in spite of the fact that Hastings has captained virtually

every team he has played for there was nothing inevitable about his

selection to lead the Lions. After the untimely retiral of Scotland's

Grand Slam skipper David Sole, who would have been a stand-out candidate

for captain and a certain choice for the Test side, England's Will

Carling was seen in many quarters as the obvious choice.

The Englishman would, however, have been a disaster. Despite his

leadership of a uniquely talented England side, Carling does not possess

Hastings's easy off-pitch manner. He is not media-friendly and he would

have been viewed in New Zealand, and by the Kiwi press, as the ultimate

pom. Additionally, Carling's loss of form -- which has led to his

exclusion from tomorrow's Test side -- would have made his position as

skipper untenable.

Hastings is the product of a comfortable middle-class Edinburgh

family. He learned the rudiments of the game at the city's George

Watson's College along with brothers Graeme, 33, Scott, 28, and Ewan,

26. Rugby was in the blood. The Hastings' father Clifford, an

accountant, played No.8 for Watsonians and with mum, Isobel, spent

schoolday Saturday mornings ferrying the boys to and from the four

separate matches in which they would be taking part.

Three brothers played for Scottish Schools and while Gavin and Scott

went on to win international honours with Scotland and the Lions, the

eldest brother, Graeme -- now an Australian citizen -- played

representative rugby with Victoria State.

Scott, who was forced to return from the New Zealand tour with severe

facial injuries, says: ''With four sports-mad boys in the family it was

an incredibly competitive household. We were lucky enough to have a

large garden and we were always out there playing whatever sport was in

season. During the Five Nations it would be rugby and when Wimbledon was

on it would be tennis. You had to be sharp to survive and it was

invariably three against one.

''Our parents never pushed us in our rugby but they had a hard time of

it shuttling us to school games. And mum always had an awful lot of

dirty kit to wash!''

Gavin and Scott made their international debuts against the French at

Murrayfield in 1986. The sometimes mercurial nature of Gavin's career

was exemplified by his first touch of the ball in international rugby.

From the kick-off Hastings kicked the ball directly into touch. There

were two options open to the French. They could opt either for a

scrummage at the centre spot or take a throw-in from the touchline.

The Scots, Hastings included, assumed that they would go for the

scrummage. But the French went for the quick throw-in and Pierre

Berbezier cantered in for one of the quickest -- and softest -- tries

the international game has ever seen.

But the incident also highlights the irrepressible style which has

been the hallmark of the Hastings career. He immediately put the blunder

behind him and kicked six penalty goals to give the Scots an 18-17 win.

Since then Hastings has amassed 45 caps and a Northern Hemisphere

record of 424 points. Only Grant Fox, Michael Lynagh, and Hugo Porta

figure ahead of Hastings in the all-time scoring stakes. With the Lions

in Australia in 1989 he played in all three Tests and was the tour's

equal top scorer with 66 points. He has captained his school side,

Scottish Schools, the Barbarians, Cambridge University, London Scottish,

Watsonians, and the Anglo-Scots.

In his younger days Gavin, with brother Scott, had a reputation for

revelling in the extra-curricular activities which, in those halcyon

days before the game got so serious, were so much a part of any

self-respecting rugby outing.

Scurrilously, it is reported -- and denied by the brothers -- that on

arrival at a spectacularly ramshackle hotel during a Romanian tour

another member of the party turned to the Hastings boys and declared:

''Look at the state of that place. It looks as if somebody's been here

before you!''

That, though, is in the past. In New Zealand, Hastings, a chartered

surveyor by profession but now in sports management with the David

Murray-owned Carnegie partnership in Edinburgh, has been a peerless

ambassador for the game and for Scotland.

Nevertheless, he has a mountain to climb if he is to go down in the

history books as the leader of a series-winning Lions side. Finlay

Calder, who led the 1989 Lions to a 2-1 series win in Australia, does

not doubt that Hastings has the personal qualities to rescue an ailing

tour. ''Gavin is just the man for the job. Before the touring party was

chosen Will Carling was seen as the first choice as captain but I would

have gone for Gavin every time.

''Will has captained a superb England side but, without taking

anything away from him, it really is quite easy to skipper an

outstanding team. Nevertheless, there were instances, Wales in 89,

Murrayfield in 90, and Ireland and Wales last season, when his captaincy

could have been called into question. Gavin has this ability to turn a

game on his own. Will has suffered injury and loss of form. Let's

consider what would have happened if Will had been made captain. The

party would have been in an even more difficult situation.

''I have the absolute highest regard for Gavin. If anybody can turn

the tour around then he can. He has enormous self-confidence. It's not

arrogance, it's just an unshakable and entirely justified self-belief.''

DAVID Sole, Gavin's predecessor as Scotland skipper, who played in all

three Tests during the 1989 tour, says: ''The Lions now have a monstrous

task ahead of them. It's not impossible for them to beat the All Blacks

on Saturday but they, and Gavin, know that it is going to be hard. If

they don't do it then, to all intents and purposes, the tour is over.

''Despite the fact that he is a seasoned international player I don't

think that as a captain Gavin will have been confronted with a situation

like this before. In his favour is the fact that he is playing

particularly well himself and so he does not have to worry about his

personal form. I would question the selection of the party that Gavin

has been asked to lead and, although I'm not overwhelmingly optimistic

about the result on Saturday, I'm sure that he and coach Ian McGeechan

have the ability to get the tour back on course.'' But what of Hastings

the fullback? Where does he rank among the all-time greats? Andy Irvine,

in the eyes of many the best fullback that Scotland has ever produced,

is ideally placed to run the rule over Gavin Hastings the player.

Irvine, capped 51 times for Scotland and a veteran of two Lions'

tours, says: ''Gavin is a great player and, from what I have seen on the

TV, he is having a superb tour. I don't think, though, that we have made

enough of him in a Scotland jersey. He isn't the fastest fullback we've

ever had but he's big, strong, and powerful and a devastatingly strong

runner when he comes down the middle.''

Irvine adds: ''I had the good fortune to play outside John Rutherford

and Phil Bennett who were two of the best stand-offs the game has ever

seen. They are streets ahead of anyone playing today. I think Gavin

would have been even better if he had been lucky enough to play behind

stand-offs of that calibre.''

Tomorrow morning in Wellington, with his personal standing in the game

secure, Hastings will seek to emulate his countryman Calder and lead the

Lions to a series-levelling Test victory. Win, lose, or draw Andrew

Gavin Hastings will not be found wanting.