Ihave known Keith Wood for nearly 30 years and so it’s easy to talk about life and death long before we move on to rugby. But the game always provides context and, last Friday afternoon, the 54-year-old former Lions hooker and Irish captain drove to Cork to watch his youngest son, Tom, play for Ireland against Italy in the Under-20 Six Nations.
The previous weekend Tom made his first-team debut for Munster to match his dad and the grandfather he never met. Gordon Wood played for Munster, as well as Ireland and the Lions, before he died, aged 50, in 1982. Keith was only 10 when that first tragedy occurred but he went on to play for the same three teams as his dad.
Wood has three rugby-playing sons – Alexander and Gordon are his other boys – and he talks about how they gave him so much beautiful life after he had been besieged by death.
There is a third Gordon in this story. Gordon Wood was Keith’s big brother and, in September 2002, he suffered a massive heart attack and died at the age of 42. “It was two days before Alexander was born,” Wood remembers, “and our mother died about three months afterwards.”
Wood was 30 and had recently been named world rugby’s player of the year. We talk about grief and acceptance rather than personal achievement and Wood says: “I look back and don’t get maudlin at all. There were still some amazing things even though I missed the funeral and I missed the birth. Alexander was born at Chelsea & Westminster hospital and they’d been prompted that my brother had just died. When I walked into the atrium an orchestra was practising [Mozart’s] The Magic Flute. So that’s the music in my memory of that extraordinarily stressful time.”
All these years later Wood is just as balanced: “Someone said to me: ‘Your father played for Ireland, you played for Ireland and now Tom is playing. You must be very proud?’ I said: ‘Well, pride is the wrong word. My pride in my son does not rely on somebody else selecting him. We’re really happy for him, but I see how hard all my kids work.’
“I love what the game has given them. Alexander has had five operations and so he’s not going to achieve in the sport. But what rugby has given him at 23 in terms of courage and resilience is stunning. All three of them are at university and the other two are in the academy at Munster.
It’s difficult to do both at once because they leave at 6.30 most mornings and aren’t back until very late at night.” Wood didn’t fly to Glasgow to watch Tom’s Munster debut and he explains that “rugby was only one part of our house and never the be-all and end-all. That was drummed in by my mother who was very strong. So when it comes to my boys I only want them to play if they like it.
“I’ve been very keen on trying to alleviate any pressure. So I turn up to as many of their matches as I can without committing to going to all of them. I missed some big days when they started because I think that’s more appropriate. I’m not going to say it’s nothing to do with me, but it’s really nice for them to have their day without any mention of me.”
That healthy reflection means Wood is ideally placed to offer a measured insight into Irish rugby. He was Ireland’s talisman for most of his 58 Tests when, between 1994 and 2003, Irish rugby often struggled. Wood seemed to have enough fire and intelligence to shoulder the frailties of his entire team.
In contrast, for the last eight years, Ireland have been a force in the international game. As Wood considers their more uneven current form before facing England away on Saturday he says: “On any sine curve you’ll have peaks and troughs. I don’t believe we’re in a trough but people look at it with a sense of recency bias. I hate the idea of jumping on the bandwagon that pundits do after either a good performance or a poor performance.”
The Six Nations began with Ireland being thumped in Paris – as an imperious France swept into a 22-0 lead at half-time. Ireland showed more fight after the break but still lost 36-14. Wood recalls that, “after the game, [Ireland’s coach] Andy Farrell said Ireland lacked intent. That’s important. In the first 20 minutes, if you don’t match France’s passion, aggression and innate confidence, which is pretty jaw-dropping in Paris, the game drifts away. Our forwards didn’t get into the game quickly enough and we distanced ourselves from the physicality required to blunt their edge.
“Some of our players are getting old. Some have been coming back from injury. In the year after a Lions series, every player that went on that tour is wrecked [Ireland supplied 15 members of the 38-man squad]. It takes a huge amount out of you physically and mentally so Ireland look a bit jaded and flat.
“We are in a dip, without a shadow of doubt. We need to bring younger, more powerful players through. A few years ago people said Ireland’s system was the best-ever. I said the system was very good, but not the best-ever for the simple reason everybody catches up. Everything goes in cycles. I don’t think we’ll fall to the bottom of the barrel but we might have a few hard losses and we have to rebuild.”
This past Saturday Ireland beat Italy 20-13 in Dublin. Wood was thoroughly entertained and impressed by Italy. He dismisses the misconception that the Azzurri are easy to beat: “Italy did so much so well and, for the want of a drifting ball, could have beaten Ireland. That doesn’t mean Italy are near the top of the world but their curve is moving upward.”
Wood praises the players Ireland brought in against Italy – highlighting the impact of the Ulster centre Stuart McCloskey who threw a quarterback-style pass to set up Robert Baloucoune’s stunning try at a pivotal moment. “Ireland made lots of changes and there was a freshness to some of the players coming in. McCloskey is [33] and I’d retired at that age. With him you can talk about a freedom of spirit in his thinking. He’s had the disappointment of not being picked but he’ll take a risk and that’s brilliant. His out-of-the-box thinking led to an unbelievable Irish try.
“I’ve got a huge regard for what Joe Schmidt [Farrell’s predecessor] did with Ireland but it was incredibly manufactured and reliant on one or two people pulling every string. It’s great when you’re winning but, if people figure you out, you don’t have much to fall back on. Andy Farrell is trying to make changes to that style but he knows Ireland need wins at the same time. Italy played a far more interesting game, and we needed a couple of extra bits to get past them, but I’m happy with the way it all worked out.”
England were on a roll, having won 12 games before their visit to Edinburgh, and Wood thinks that some of the more adventurous elements of Premiership clubs such as Northampton were having a positive influence on Steve Borthwick’s often staid team. But Scotland were superb and England wilted amid a chastening 31-20 defeat.
“England went in saying we have a gameplan, which we know works, and we’re going to be able to beat them using it,” Wood argues. “I’m not going to call that arrogance. I’m going to call that a level of certainty from a pretty young team. But imagine how much they are hurting now and how beneficial that hurt is for them.
“They got knocked off their kilter and lost their way in the midst of it. I also thought they were complaining quite a lot and my recommendation would be to stop talking to the ref and leave it to the captain. But that’s just one part of the story. Scotland were exceptional. They were exhilarating and their level of aggression and discipline was a joy to watch.”
Turning to France, Wood says of their head coach, “I’m fascinated by Fabien Galthié. I know him pretty well and he’s unusual in his thinking. He picked a squad with second-rows that were back-row players. [Against Ireland] he picked a pack that were really good scrummagers and they didn’t scrum in the game. They just held the scrum. They didn’t go up in a lineout once. They didn’t play like they traditionally do in the Pro 14 and grind it out. They tried to run the Irish players around the field with ball in hand and got into the game incredibly quickly.
“Galthié surprised everybody by dropping some great players. But then you look at the performance of the players he’s picked instead and it’s been extraordinary. We’ll see whether he sticks with that or whether they go back to some of the heavy guys for heavy matches. I would say there’s a requirement to do both.”
Could France become the second northern hemisphere country to win the World Cup next year? “Absolutely. France have the ability to beat anybody. They also have an ability to beat themselves. It looks as if Galthié is saying: ‘We know we have great experience, great power and unbelievable gas.’ They’re my favourite team to watch. I obviously want Ireland to win but France play the best rugby.”
We spend a couple of hours talking about Wood’s life and his enduring delight in rugby. Just before we end I ask how it was to watch Tom, playing at fly-half, as he scored 10 points and helped steer Ireland Under-20s to a thrilling 30-27 victory over Italy last Friday night. “It was bloody freezing in Cork,” he says with a smile. “But I thought Italy were unbelievably good. Their handling and their physicality is extraordinary. It was a seesaw game.
“Under-20s rugby is fantastic to watch. A lot of mistakes are made but players try things that a senior team wouldn’t. There’s joy and a freedom to it. Sport is tough, and you never know where it’s going to end. This could be their high-water mark as players and, if it is, my God you have to enjoy it.”
It was Tom’s birthday this past Saturday and, as Wood pauses, I think of all the words he has shared about life and death. He’s no longer a dad to any teenagers and Wood sounds suitably reflective when he tells me that “there’s a Muhammad Ali quote which is one of my favourites: ‘A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.’”
Wood also says: “I really loved my career, but I wish I’d enjoyed it more and soaked it up a little more.” But he sounds as proud as he is wise when, thinking of his 20-year-old son, Wood suggests, “there’s one thing I would say for Tom, and it’s pretty much the only thing I’d say for him. His feet are firmly on the ground. He’s appreciating every minute of rugby and life.”
