Doncaster rugby legend Sir Ian McGeechan says cancer is "all gone"

The 78-year-old, currently consultant director of rugby at the Championship club, has backed calls for a national screening programme to be introduced.

McGeechan shared his diagnosis in May and, following treatment, which included a six-week course of radiotherapy, has provided a positive update.

"I finished the treatment at the end of April and then had a follow-up test at the end of May - and the PSA (prostate-specific antigen) was down to 0.8, which effectively said it's gone," McGeechan told Sky News.

"So, when you hear that, after having heard somebody say to you, 'you have got cancer', it's quite special. The prostate cancer is all gone and under control, so delighted."

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, with figures from Prostate Cancer UK showing more than 63,000 men are diagnosed every year and 12,000 of those will die.

There have been growing calls for annual tests, with the UK National Screening Committee currently assessing whether a prostate cancer screening programme should be set up.

"It needs that support from government," McGeechan said. "There has to be a screening programme because prostate cancer is recoverable.

"And it would be a great shame if people miss that opportunity to have a scan and not just be able to have it there rather than be asking, 'can you, can't you'?"

He added: "If you have got cancer in the family then it just makes sense to be able to offer that screening and just educate people and make them aware of what some of the symptoms are, because I didn't feel ill, I felt fine."

Earlier this year, he said: “I told our players to make sure they get themselves tested.

"I have an opportunity here at Doncaster and I have a good family, and I just don't think any differently. I am trying to do all the right things for my health and fitness."

The former centre and fly-half won 32 Scotland caps, captaining them nine times, and toured with the Lions in 1974, winning the series in South Africa, and in 1977.

He coached Scotland to the Five Nations Grand Slam in 1990 and led the Lions to series victories as coach in 1989 and 1997.

McGeechan triumphed on his first tour as Lions head coach, overseeing the side's 2-1 series victory in Australia in 1989.

He was at the helm for the 2-1 series defeat in New Zealand four years later, before masterminding an against-the-odds series win over world champions South Africa in 1997.

That tour was later immortalised in the 'Living with Lions' film which included footage of stirring pre-match speeches to his players.

Appointed Scotland coach in 1988, McGeechan led his side to their most Grand Slam two years later, courtesy of an iconic 13-7 victory over England.

As a coach at club level, he won the European Cup with Wasps in 2007 and the English Premiership in 2008.

He also returned for a fourth Lions tour as head coach in 2009, a 2-1 defeat in South Africa, and worked as an assistant on the 2005 tour to New Zealand.

McGeechan first arrived at the Armthorpe Road club in 2024.