via telegraph.co.uk
McLaren was not just the best commentator the game has known, he was also the sport’s finest advert – a man of infinite humour, compassion, enviable professionalism, fairness and common sense. For many McLaren, who died in his beloved town of Hawick, in the Scottish borders, provided the ultimate rugby template. The standards of behaviour and sportsmanship that he expected from a game that can occasionally tread on the wild side, are the standards to which we should all aspire.
His was the friendly, schoolmasterly voice that became synonymous with toasted crumpets and Sunday evening around the coal fire watching Rugby Special. We have badly missed him since he retired in 2002 and that loss will only be accentuated now.
McLaren’s genius was both as a brilliant, intuitive wordsmith and an individual who, through tragic circumstance, had learnt to put life in proportion.
