He was pitted against the urbane Phil Hardcastle for the national captaincy honours in 1947. Hardcastle was a medical doctor who got on well with all but didn't lead from the front as was the confrontational style of McLean. McLean again led The Rest in a selection bout against an Australian XV, won the match and was confirmed again as the seventh Queenslander to lead Australia. The nine-month tour involved a circumnavigation of the globe and leadership of a mixture of battle hardened war veterans and young rugby stars. It was a singular honour on one of the world's great sporting tours. For McLean a return to the British Isles was in some ways a completion of unfinished business from 1939 and an opportunity to play on Twickenham's hallowed turf as his father and brother had before.