Jim Greenwood was a member of the 1955 British Lions team to South Africa that had as it's vice captain one of Annieslands greats-- Angus Cameron of Glasgow HSFP
This side won a historic victory over the Boks at that citadel of South African Rugby Ellis Park Johannesburg



JIM GREENWOOD
Monday, 13 September 2010
Scottish Rugby is saddened to learn of the death of the former Scotland and British Lions back-row forward and pioneer of modern rugby coaching Jim Greenwood.  He was 81.
Known as Mr Rugby in New Zealand, Greenwood arguably made a bigger impression as a coach than he had in a glittering playing career which saw him win 20 caps, captain his country and play in four Tests for the 1955 British Lions on their tour in South Africa.
 


 
Scotland head coach Andy Robinson was coached by Greenwood when he was a student at Loughborough Colleges.  He said: “He was the first top-class coach I worked with and he had a fantastic way of simplifying the game.
“His book ‘Total Rugby’ showed that he was ahead of his time.  He was a great inspiration for us as first year students at Loughborough where he lectured us, challenged us and made us think about the game.”
Born in Fife, James Thomas Greenwood was educated at Dunfermline High School and Edinburgh University and went on to play his club rugby for Dunfermline, Perthshire Accies and a brief spell with Harlequins.
As an openside flanker of tremendous pace, Greenwood won his first cap against France at Murrayfield in 1952, one of eight new caps in the Scotland team that day.
He was dropped after France won at Murrayfield for the first time and it was three years before he returned to international duty – once again against the French – this time as Scotland captain.
The following match Scotland defeated Wales 14-8 to end a run of 17 successive defeats with Greenwood’s rugby brain stamped large on proceedings.
His finest hour as a player probably came on the 1955 Lions tour to South Africa.  He scored tries in the first and fourth Tests and newspaper reports of the period hailed his courage. He was “without equal among his contemporaries for a combination of skill, perception and deadly physical pace.”
Greenwood would have made a second Lions tour to New Zealand in 1959 had he not suffered a shoulder injury against Ireland – the last of his 20 caps in 1959.
One of the game’s greatest thinkers Greenwood embarked on a coaching career which saw him write two of the seminal works on the game – Total Rugby and Think Rugby.
Greenwood, whether at Loughborough Colleges or through those publications, was an inspiration to a generation of rugby coaches and players among them Andy Robinson, Sir Ian McGeechan and Sir Clive Woodward.
McGeechan told www.scottishrugby.org: “Jim Greenwood’s thinking was on a different level.  As a student I read his books and it was clear he was an outstanding rugby thinker.  He was way ahead of his time.”
McGeechan was honoured when Greenwood wrote to him to congratulate him both on Scotland’s 1990 Grand Slam and on his 1997 Lions series victory in South Africa.
On retirement from Loughborough, Greenwood and his wife Margot retired to the village of Crossmichael near Castle Douglas in Dumfriesshire though he still remained in demand as a rugby consultant worldwide.
Jim Greenwood passed away at Dumfries Royal Infirmary on Sunday and Scottish Rugby extends sincere sympathies to Margot and all his many friends.

This article was originally posted on 13-Sep-2010, 20:24 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 13-Sep-2010, 20:31.