Michael Patrick Thomas Lynagh, AM (born 25 October 1963) is an Australian former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player who played mainly as a

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

. Lynagh represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

from 1984 to 1995, playing at both inside centre and fly half. Lynagh was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

72 times for Australia, and was captain from 1993 to 1995. He was the world points scoring record holder when he retired, with 911 points. Lynagh was a member of the 1984

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

-winning team and was vice-captain when Australia won the 1991 World Cup. Until

Marty Roebuck Marty Roebuck (born 10 January 1965 in Lithgow, New South Wales) is an Australian former rugby union footballer who represented New South Wales Waratahs and the Australian Wallabies as a fullback. Early life and education Roebuck was educated ...

took over the kicking duties, he scored in every test he played in, including a try against Wales in 1984 when he was temporarily relieved of kicking responsibilities. He retired from international rugby after Australia's loss to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the quarter-final of the

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in Sou ...

Early years

Lynagh attended

St. Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace , motto_translation = To serve God is to be wise , address = 285 Gregory Terrace , city = Brisbane , state = Queensland , postcode = 4000 , country = Australia , ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

and played fly-half in the school's first XV from Year 10 to Year 12 (1979–1981). Terrace won the GPS premiership five years straight from 1977 to 1981 with Lynagh playing in the final 3 years and was captain in his last year. Lynagh also played First XI Cricket from Year 9 to Year 12 and was captain in his final year. During his studies at Queensland University, Lynagh worked as a boarding master at Nudgee College Brisbane together with another union great Michael O'Connor who at that time made the decision to opt for the League game.

Personal

Lynagh's son

Louis Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

is also a professional rugby player, having signed with Harlequins in 2019 and made his premiership debut in October 2020. In November 2020, Lynagh's youngest son Tom signed with his home club Queensland from 2021 to 2023.

Career

After school he played first grade for University of Queensland and represented

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

from 1982 to 1995. Lynagh was a member of Queensland's Super 6 and

Super 10 The Super 10 was a rugby union football tournament featuring ten teams from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Tonga, and Western Samoa. The competition ran for three years from 1993 to 1995 and was the predecessor of Super 12 and Super 14, ...

-winning sides. On 9 June 1984, at the age of 20, Lynagh made his debut for Australia against

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

Suva Suva () is the capital and largest city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rewa Province, Central Divi ...

. Early in his career he played at inside centre as

Mark Ella Mark Gordon Ella, AM (born 5 June 1959) is an indigenous Australian former rugby union footballer. Ella played at flyhalf/five-eighth and was capped by the Wallabies 25 times, captaining Australia on 10 occasions. Ella made his debut tour wit ...

was the fly-half; when Ella retired after the 1984 Grand Slam, Lynagh took over as fly-half. In 1991, he joined Italian club Benetton Treviso. He played for five years with the club and won the Italian championship at 1991–92 season. In 1996, Lynagh joined

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

of England at the advent of professionalism, after retiring from a glittering 12-year international career with

as the world record points scorer with 911 and a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

winner (1991). Lynagh's arrival at the club was the first major signing after

Nigel Wray Nigel ( ) is an English masculine given name. The English ''Nigel'' is commonly found in records dating from the Middle Ages; however, it was not used much before being revived by 19th-century antiquarians. For instance, Walter Scott published ...

took control of the club and he acted as a beacon to attract other players and fans alike. Lynagh helped Saracens to have their most successful season to date. In the 1997/98 season Saracens battled it out with

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

for almost the whole season for top spot in the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

and when the two sides met in front of a crowd of nearly 20,000 Lynagh slotted a match winning

drop goal A drop goal, field goal, or dropped goal is a method of scoring points in rugby union and rugby league and also, rarely, in American football and Canadian football. A drop goal is scored by drop kicking the ball (dropping the ball and then kicki ...

in the dying minutes to send Vicarage Road into raptures. A month later he was on hand to steer Saracens to their famous

Tetley's Bitter Cup The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...

48–18 victory over

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. T ...

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

, bringing the curtain down on a season to remember.

Retirement

Lynagh is now managing director, Dow Jones Corporate EMEA. He is also a TV rugby analyst for Sky Sports UK. On 18 April 2012 Lynagh was admitted to the

Royal Brisbane Hospital The Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH) is a tertiary public hospital located in Herston, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is operated by Metro North Health, part of the Queensland Health network. The hospital has 929 be ...

after experiencing sudden onset of headache, dizziness and visual disturbance after a coughing fit. There it was diagnosed that he had suffered a life-threatening stroke due to

vertebral artery dissection Vertebral artery dissection (VAD) is a flap-like tear of the inner lining of the vertebral artery, which is located in the neck and supplies blood to the brain. After the tear, blood enters the arterial wall and forms a blood clot, thickening t ...

. Lynagh was released from hospital on 2 May 2012, having largely recovered apart from a left

hemianopsia Hemianopsia, or hemianopia, is a loss of vision or blindness (anopsia) in half the visual field, usually on one side of the vertical midline. The most common causes of this damage are stroke, brain tumor, and trauma. This article deals only wi ...

(loss of the left half of the vision in both eyes). Lynagh was made a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in 1996, inducted into the

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and Dawn Fraser th ...

in 1999, and received an

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, offi ...

in 2000. He was inducted into the

International Rugby Hall of Fame The International Rugby Hall of Fame (IRHOF) was a hall of fame for rugby union. It was created in 1997 in New Zealand and is run as a charitable trust with an address at Chiswick in London. Most of the trustees are also inductees. IRHOF acc ...

in 2001 and the Wallaby Hall of Fame in 2013.

Accolades

Bob Dwyer Bob Dwyer AM (born 29 November 1940) is an Australian rugby union coach. Early life Educated at Sydney Boys High School, graduating in 1957, where he played 2nd XV for the school where he played alongside former Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs a ...

, former Australian rugby coach, in his first autobiography ''The Winning Way'', claimed Michael Lynagh to be one of the five most accomplished Australian

players he had ever seen. Dwyer ranked Lynagh number one "for his range of point-scoring skills..." In 2007

Will Carling William David Charles Carling (born 12 December 1965) is an English former rugby union player. He was England's youngest captain, aged 22, and won 72 caps from 1988 to 1996, captaining England 59 times. Under his captaincy, England won Five ...

, former captain of

, listed Lynagh as one of the 50 greatest

players of all-time. Carling ranked Lynagh at number 41 writing that he was a "Great tactician, great kicker, very underrated runner, ndpivot of 1991 World Cup-winning side." In 2003, News Limited Newspapers the

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and the

Courier-Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner norther ...

ranked the top 100 Australian rugby players of all-time.The list was decided by a panel consisting of former Wallabies flanker and coach Dave Brockhoff; former Test back-rower and captain Tony Shaw, World Cup-winning coach

; former Wallabies forward, assistant Test coach and former Queensland administrator and head coach Jeff Miller; former Australian Rugby Union president, former NSW coach and ex-Test forward Peter Crittle;

rugby writer Jim Tucker and

rugby writer Peter Jenkins. Michael Lynagh was ranked among the top 10 greatest Australian rugby union players of all-time.

References

External links

*
Sporting Heroes profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynagh, Michael 1963 births Living people Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Australian rugby union captains Barbarian F.C. players Australian people of Irish descent Rugby union fly-halves Saracens F.C. players Members of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal World Rugby Hall of Fame inductees Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Rugby union players from Brisbane