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Michael Lynagh: 'I got emotional in the dressing room. I found it very difficult'
By Chris Jones
The towns of Treviso and Townsville are separated by 9,293 miles but linked by their emotional importance to one of the most famous players to pick up a rugby ball.
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Michael Lynagh, the 1991 World Cup winning Australian outside half, played for Queensland 100 times scoring 1166 points and also helped Benneton Treviso become champions of Italy where he remains a rugby legend.
Lynagh enjoyed many highs and lows in a 72-cap Wallaby career that saw him rack up 911 test points but nothing prepared him for the emotions he experienced marking the debuts of two of his sons at the clubs that played such significant roles in his rugby life.
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Tom Lynagh made the brave decision to leave London, his parents and siblings Louis and Nick at just 18 years old to try and break into the Queensland squad that his Dad used to captain.
Tom achieved that ambition and on hand to mark the moment with a tearful speech and present him with his cap was Dad, who flew in from London to be at that first game in Townsville last year.
Fast forward to last weekend and in the same Benetton Treviso changing room that Lynagh used during his championship-winning time with the Italian club in the 1990s came another emotional ceremony. After a short pre-match speech in Italian, which began to crack with emotion near its conclusion, a very proud Dad presented Louis with the green and white hooped jersey he now wears having left Harlequins to launch his career in Italy.
“Louis didn’t know I was going to present the jersey and it was emotional because you are proud of what your son is doing,” explained Lynagh, who has shown remarkable powers of recovery to bounce back from the stroke he suffered in 2012.
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“I had done a speech for Tom when he played his first game for Queensland in Townsville against the Hurricanes. It is a tradition that after your first game someone who means something to you presents the old-fashioned cap. Tom knew I was tired having flown from London straight to the game – that’s my excuse – because I got emotional in the dressing room.
“I found it very difficult to get through my speech and that was in English not Italian! I said “sorry” for getting emotional to the coach Brad Thorn and he said it was perfect because it showed to the players that it really means something and he’s right.”
The much shorter journey to Treviso was timed for the opening URC match of the season at home to Scarlets which ended in a 20-20 draw and Lynagh held his emotions in check better this time although the video of the jersey presentation shows it was a close thing.
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“I went out to Treviso and Louis asked why I was going to the game against Scarlets so early and I said it was to show a friend the training facilities. That was my excuse and no one knew so when I walked into the dressing room it was a real surprise for Louis. The coach told me that this year they want to emphasise the ties between the past at Treviso and the future and it fitted in really well. I sent a video to Tom and said I hadn’t got as emotional with this one.”
Michael’s connection to Treviso is far more than just rugby as he met his wife Isabella after helping the club to beat Rovigo, who had Springbok Naas Botha at No10, in the league final. Lynagh scored two tries including the winner which finished off a remarkable move he kept alive while stopping the ball going into touch despite collecting Botha’s knees in his back for his courage.
The Lynagh’s returned to Italy for the births of Louis in Treviso in 2000 who spent the first five years of his life there and Tom, who was born in 2003 in the nearby town of Montebelluna near the foothills of the Dolomites.
“Louis’s first language was Italian and when we came to England there was a gradual change to English. Louis understands everything that is said in Italy and tries really hard while Tom doesn’t use it often while our youngest Nick, who is 17, is good with his languages.”
Remarkably, both Louis and Tom are now international players for Italy and Australia – with 17-year-old Nick part of the England U18 development squad this weekend – proving that carrying a famous rugby name isn’t always a burden if you have the talent and ambition to carve out your own path.
Louis scored on his international debut against Scotland in the 2024 Six Nations before claiming a second consecutive win in the tournament against Wales a round later. In July, this year Tom made his Wallaby debut off the bench in the 25-16 victory over Wales in Sydney to start Joe Schmidt’s tenure as head coach.
They have chosen a professional rugby career but it was the chance to play all year round as an amateur that brought Lynagh to Italy and a career with a club backed by the Benneton company.
Rugby was just one part of the sporting landscape for Benetton and while Lynagh was with the rugby club the company’s F1 racing team was headed by Michael Schumacher, while the basketball and volleyball squad contained more big names.
Unlike his sons, Lynagh could not speak Italian when he arrived but with All-Black wing John Kirwan in the squad and French coach Pierre Villepreux in charge, the common language of rugby helped him settle in.
“When I started with Treviso there were a lot of South Africans in the Italian league because they were, at that point, cut off from the rugby world, plus Kiwis and some Australians,” added Lynagh. “Rovigo was a very good team and there were probably four or five Italian teams at that time that would have done pretty well in other competitions.
“In the Italian league you would beat a team like Catania from Sicily or L’Aquila at home by 40 points then you would go to their grounds and lose. Guys didn’t really want to travel and visa versa and I couldn’t really understand it. David Campese was in Italy for a long time and John (Kirwan) was with us in Treviso and was really good.
“We were all amateurs and because of the different seasons you could cross over the hemispheres and I had travelled to Italy quite a few times with the Wallabies and Queensland. In 1986 I was in Treviso for the first time, it was a lovely place, and they mentioned that any time I was interested in coming over to let them know.
“In 1990 they said they would like me to come after the Rugby World Cup in England in 1991 and I took leave from my work and spent four or five months there. I was there on my own, didn’t speak the language but took lessons every day and gradually the fog lifted. It was a great experience and went back the following year and I met Isabella in 1992 after we won the final but I left the next day. She came to a farewell BBQ for me and we chatted, then I went home and we wrote letters and faxes to each other.
“I went back to Treviso and in 1996 we got married and we were going to move to Australia but then the opportunity came to join Saracens after rugby went professional. We thought that wouldn’t be a bad idea for two or three years and here we are with three boys having lived in London ever since.”
So all these years later, has the Treviso club changed? “They have made changes to parts of the same stadium and rebuilt the changing rooms. The club always had pretty good training facilities and they sell out most of the home games and it’s a lovely town to visit for fans.
“The crowds were a little smaller when I played but the local fans are just as passionate. There is this piazza San Vito and it was called the ‘university of rugby’ because the older fans used to gather there on a Monday and dissect the game. I used to live nearby and if you won they would take you for a coffee and then a couple of glasses of red wine but if you lost you didn’t go near the place.
“The way the Italian national team is going means there is a lot of positivity at the moment and that filters down to Benetton and Zebre. Louis has made good friends and it’s been easier being able to speak the language and knowing the area.”
With Italy and Australia playing November test matches if Tom gains a place in the Wallaby squad and Louis continues his Azzurri career, travelling to see the boys will be much easier for the family. “It is a bit weird and keeping track of them with the time zones can be challenging as Tom was in Argentina and Louis in Samoa at one point.
“If Tom gets picked for Australia and Louis for Italy there are games where they could be playing in different countries on the same day. Nick is in the Harlequins academy and was selected in the England U18 back three training camp and he goal kicks well and plays 15, wing and also 13.”
With three Barrett brothers playing for New Zealand it really would complete a remarkable rugby love story if the Lynagh boys can pull on three different international rugby jerseys.
Chris Jones’ story is a beauty & really interesting. Oddly enough, I understand Michael himself grew up in my old family home in Ascot, Brisbane. Anyway keep up the good work, Chris - and good luck to the Treviso club in the United Rugby Comp.