Former Bok coaches remember 'inspiration' of legend Ian McIntosh: 'He absolutely loved rugby'

To the broader rugby community, Ian McIntosh was arguably the most progressive rugby thinker during the South African game's arduous and belated shift to professionalism, an innovator of world renown.

Yet, Rudolf Straeuli hopes the legacy of the charismatic 84-year-old "Mac", who died on Wednesday after a battle with cancer, isn't overshadowed by his supreme insights.

"Look, he was a brilliant thinker of the game. There's no doubt about that," the Lions chief and former Sharks and Springbok head coach told News24.

"But what stood out for me is that Ian was a player's coach. He breathed interpersonal relationships."

Straeuli was exposed to that virtue firsthand in mid-1994, when he was selected for the Springboks' tour to New Zealand and made a memorable Test debut in Dunedin, being brilliantly on hand to round off Andre Joubert's superb break and score his side's only try in a 14-22 loss.

"I'll naturally always be grateful to Ian for granting me my first taste of international rugby. Yet, what will always stay with me is how he fought tooth-and-nail for his players," he said.

"He was the quintessential people's person, a compassionate man who taught us to balance life and the game. I don't want to go into detail about the, let's say, rugby politics of that tour, but I will say that Mac stood by us as players until the end. 

"And it was he who took the fall."

Indeed, McIntosh was dismissed as national coach after being in charge for little over a year with a win record of just 33.3% (4 wins out of 12) but was later hailed for the groundwork he had laid for his successor, Kitch Christie, who would go on to win the World Cup the following year.

He returned to Durban to guide the Sharks to two further Currie Cup titles (he ended with