Ian McLauchlan

Who is Ian McLauchlan?

John "Ian" McLauchlan is a former Scottish rugby union player. Nicknamed Mighty Mouse, he represented Scotland at loosehead prop from 1969 to 1979.

His scrummaging and loose play were both of a high standard. Gordon Brown rated him the best prop he had played alongside. He was capped 43 times for Scotland, and was captain of the national side nineteen times.

He had to wait until second half of his twenties for a cap, and played for another ten years, before being dropped in 1979.

His nickname "Mighty Mouse" was from the fact that he was relatively small for a prop, but powerful for his size, like the cartoon character of the same name:

Richard Bath writes:

On the Lions tour to New Zealand in 1971 he replaced another Scottish loosehead prop Sandy Carmichael who was unlucky to be punched and suffer damage to the cheekbone in Canterbury.

He played in eight tests for the British Lions on the 1971 tour to New Zealand and the 1974 tour to South Africa, only once finishing on the losing side.

He became a Scotland captain, and even led them in the Calcutta Cup match of 1973, despite breaking a bone in his leg two weeks before against Ireland, according to Massie "it says much for the persuasive power of his character that he convinced the selectors he was able to play."