Ireland Winning Tours of Australia 1967, 1979 AND 2018

First topic message reminder :

Here’s an easy one. Who was the first European rugby union to win all tests in a tour series in the Southern Hemisphere?

Whilst Ireland's playing history - home and away - against South Africa and New Zealand was littered with one failure after another in the amateur days, surprisingly their record against Australia is pockmarked with wins at home and on the road, albeit matches were held less frequently in the BSE - Baggy Shorts Era.

Not many people might know this, but Ireland has had 4 proper rugby tours of Australia - in 1967, 1979, 1994, and 1999. By proper, I mean old-style tours involving matches against provincial union or state teams as well as one or two test matches against the Wallabies. And rather surprisingly, Ireland have won two tours and lost two.

Ireland’s fifth tour of Australia begins with the first of three tests on 9 June and it promises to settle a few scores, mark the overall ledger up in favour of one, and probably create a few bragging and bagging rights along the way for fans and commentators.

Australia won the first two tests between the countries in 1927 and 1947 in Lansdowne Road in Dublin. On the Australian tour of Britain, Ireland and France in 1958, Ireland got their first test win on the board. Over the next 20 years, the teams met 7 times, with Ireland winning six of them, including their first-ever away test in Sydney as part of their first 6-game tour of Australia in 1967.

Ireland's last two test wins in Australia were those of the famous 1979 tour when the Irish team had their most successful winning patch, playing 8 games, including two tests, and losing just once against local representative team, Sydney.

Ollie Campbell, Mike Gibson, Terry Kennedy, Paul McNaughton, Tony Ward, Willie Duggan, Moss Keane, Fergus Slattery were some of the more well-known names on that tour. Tony Ward was the star name playing outhalf for Ireland. He had been named European Player of the Year for the second year running. All the running assumptions were that he’d play in a few of the run-up games and start the first test at the helm. A few days beforehand, the Irish manager and coach thought different and, inexplicably to nearly everyone, picked Campbell to start.

Across the two tests, Ireland scored 36 points with Campbell kicking 28 of them bringing his total to 60 points for the tour. He was named player of the tour. Ward, by his own admission in his autobiography, never played as well again and laid blame squarely at the manager and coach’s door for how they handled what became known in Irish rugby as ‘The Decision’.

Campbell returned home the hero of the hour by helping to claim the first individual tour victory in all tests by a northern team in the Southern Hemisphere. (France had won a test match but drawn the other test on tours of SA in 1958 and Oz 1972.) After the tour, Ireland’s overall win record stood at 6 wins to Australia’s 3.

Campbell and the team were cheered to the rafters. Ireland went on to win the Five Nations in 1982, shared it with France in 1983 and won it outright again in 1985. And then the curtain came down. And the roof started to fall in.

Two further 2-test tours against Australia followed in 1994 and 1999 - Ireland lost all the test matches and most of the midweek games against ACT, Sydney, and New South Wales amongst others.

Those two tours formed part of what is probably the lowest period in Irish rugby. Ireland played 11 tests against Australia, 8 versus New Zealand and 6 against South Africa between 1980 and 2002 - they lost every game. Despite their initial successes in the 1980s, their record in that period against Five/Six Nations opponents was not much better - 3 wins from 24 against France, 7 from 24 vs both England and Scotland, and even losing 3 from 8 against Italy.

From 2001 onwards, when professionalism finally took hold, and Irish provinces entered the Celtic League, the fortunes of the Irish provinces and test side changed - first under Eddie O'Sullivan, winning a test again against Australia in 2002 and for the first time against South Africa (2004). They moved from being regular wooden spooners in the 90's to competing at the top in the new Six Nations. Then they finally achieved a second Grand Slam in 2009 with Declan Kidney, 61 years after their first. They remained unbeaten that year finishing with a 15-10 win against Lions victors and the reigning Tri-Nations champions, South Africa.

Of course, after Ireland finally won again in 2002, Australia promptly won the next four tests. Another Irish win in 2006 was followed by two Wallaby wins and a draw. Then came the RWC pool match in 2011 with both teams meeting on neutral NZ territory. Australia ran into Stephen Ferris and Sean O’Brien for the first time and Will Genia found himself being picked up and carried backwards whilst his team-mates were held up time and again in the famous choke tackle and eventually out of the game. Australia won the next test in 2013, and Ireland won the next one a year later, and the next one again in 2016.

Nonetheless, Australia continue to have the upper hand - 21 wins to Ireland’s 11 (and a sister-smooching draw). But Ireland is determined to close the gap further.

So now it’s the turn of Joe Schmidt to bring the Ireland squad down-under for a three-test series in June. Expectations are high with Ireland’s recent Grand Slam win and recent record against the Wallabies.

Except they haven’t won in Oz for 39 years.

Their last away loss was in Brisbane in June 2010 as part of a NZ/Aus Tour. On that day, newcomer outhalf, Johnny Sexton, kicked all of Ireland’s 15 points in the first half, to Australia’s 16 points. But the Declan Kidney-coached team, off the back of a 97-point shellacking from the All Blacks and NZ Maori in the previous weeks, and down a few key players, couldn’t overtake the Wallabies as Giteau notched another couple of penalties to finish them off - 22-15.

Eight years on from Brisbane, both teams are in different places and ranking. Cheika is hoping to fashion a team that can compete and win in the Rugby Championship. He needs a decent scalp on his belt going into that battle. Schmidt has the 6N in his back pocket and a team that is beginning to hum nicely with a mix of old heads and young hearts running a new 12-match streak. Ireland are the current holders of the Lansdowne Cup - the trophy fought between the two sides since 1999.

England, Scotland & Wales have announced squads with development and player rest on their minds as coaches seek to add depth to their squads for RWC 2019. Irish pundits and fans have been making similar noises querying whether players such as Sexton, Murray, Furlong, Stander should rest up on their summer hols and let the younger Turks get more time and experience. Schmidt has faced this before, imposed through injury rather than selection by choice, when he brought a relatively raw squad to South Africa and gave much needed game time to some new faces including Furlong, Henderson, Roux, Stander, and Marmion.

Schmidt will want to win the series, but he needs to give more time to the newbies. He’s got a few injuries such as Henderson, O’Brien, Farrell, Best but still has plenty of choice this time around and all of them hungry for some tasty wallaby.

Ireland Squad (Summer Tour 2018, Australia)

FORWARDS (18)

Tadhg Beirne (Scarlets) uncapped
Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 7 caps
Sean Cronin (St Mary's College/Leinster) 61 caps
Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 23 caps
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 78 caps
Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 38 caps
Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 3 caps
Dan Leavy (UCD/Leinster) 9 caps
Jack McGrath (St Mary's College/Leinster) 47 caps
Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Leinster) 20 caps
Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 47 caps
Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 7 caps
Quinn Roux (Galwegians/Connacht) 5 caps
James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 8 caps
John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 13 caps
Niall Scannell (Munster) 4 caps
CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 23 caps
Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 58 caps

BACKS (14)
Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 7 caps
Ross Byrne (UCD/Leinster) uncapped
Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Leinster) 10 caps
Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster) 6 caps
John Cooney (Terenure College RFC/Ulster) 1 cap
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 67 caps
Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 33 caps
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 83 caps
Jordan Larmour (St Mary's College/Leinster) 3 caps
Kieran Marmion (Corinthians/Connacht) 21 caps
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 64 caps
Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 13 caps
Johnny Sexton (St Mary's College/Leinster) 73 caps
Jacob Stockdale (Ballynahnch/Ulster) 9 caps

IRELAND SUMMER TOUR 2018 FIXTURES

Saturday 9th June, 2018
Australia v IRELAND
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, KO 20.05 local (11.05 IRL)

Saturday 16th June, 2018
Australia v IRELAND
AAMI Park, Melbourne, KO 20.05 local (11.05 IRL)

Saturday 23rd June, 2018
Australia v IRELAND
Allianz Park, Sydney KO 20.05 local (11.05 IRL)


Ireland win the series 2-1 with the final test in Sydney ending 20-16.

For this series he is a great bench opinion as he covers so many positions. He hasn't played 7 (I don't think) but he can get a turnover as good as the next.
Anyone know how many games he played this season. Scarlets had 24 Pro14 and 8CC so 32 in total (excluding friendlies and AW cup)

I'm pretty sure Joe said 30 something games last week when discussing him

marty2086 wrote:I'm pretty sure Joe said 30 something games last week when discussing him

That is a lot for any player. This tour is as much about getting him up to speed and the set-up.

marty2086 wrote:

Sin é wrote:

marty2086 wrote:You're assuming he'll play lock though, did most of his games not come in the backrow this season for Scarlets?

He did actually (both 6 & 8). He probably will feature there first of all (though he will have to learn all the lineout calls as well no matter where he plays).

It'll be interesting to see where he ends up, it gives a great option. He could really push POM for the 6 shirt in my opinion but doubt Munster will play him there

It's an exciting dilemma ahead

Not a hope he will push POM out of the 6 jersey in Munster or Ireland. He is coming to Munster as a lock as that is where he is needed.

Really interested to see how Carbery goes today. Think he has been very good when playing for Ireland before, seems to have a lot of composure.

Very odd introduction to the game here...

Jaysus Kearney... Taking a player out in the air, very lucky that is only a penalty. I have seen Red cards given for those.

Welcome to Country does tend to drag on a bit.

Huge hits early on from the Aussies, could be a very bruising game.

What a tackle by Kearney with Henshaw coming in to win the penalty. Quality stuff.

BS call, the Irish didn’t roll away there

May be a low scoring game but this is a very good game to watch. Beale is an absolute monster, he has made some crunching hits and great breaks.

Henshaw rushes the line again and misses the tackle, this time Stockdale was not there to cover his mistake and Australia score in the corner.

Henshaw you toolbag.

Brilliant try by the wallabies but poor defensively by the Irish. Really good match thus far

Henshaw with his second big defensive error. I blame the beard.

Well, it's pretty boring, as expected.....Kearney not having a good game so far. Ryan certainly is though, cracking player.

Henshaw again all at sea defensively, very unlike him.

Half time and the Aussies worthy of their lead. Lots of individual errors from the Irish, need to tighten up in the second half.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Well, it's pretty boring, as expected.....Kearney not having a good game so far. Ryan certainly is though, cracking player.

Boring? I think it has been very exciting myself, low scoring but some excellent rugby.

Maybe for an Irish fan Billy. I was nodding off until that bit of spark from Aus.

The error rate is very high from Ireland but still a 2 point game. They need to tighten it up in the second half but I'm sure they'll know that very well by now. The Schmidt hairdrier will be on the high setting.

Fair dues Pooly.

Ireland seem to lack a bit of composure. I think Beale's early onslaught really put Ireland on the back foot. He was amazing defensively and in attack for the first 30mins.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Maybe for an Irish fan Billy. I was nodding off until that bit of spark from Aus.

You can always just not watch if it’s that boring for you. In other words no one is interested in your opinion

So close from CJ there, great break from him.

Was that exciting enough for you

Geen sport voor watjes wrote:

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Maybe for an Irish fan Billy. I was nodding off until that bit of spark from Aus.

You can always just not watch if it’s that boring for you. In other words no one is interested in your opinion

Interesting enough for you to comment though......

Ireland have to score soon, they've had almost 10mins in the Aus half.

Sexton on for Carbery now. Thought Carbery had a decent enough game but he is still a way off challenging Sexton for the 10 shirt.

I do not care what people say, Aki is NOT international standard.

eirebilly wrote:Sexton on for Carbery now. Thought Carbery had a decent enough game but he is still a way off challenging Sexton for the 10 shirt.

Clever move to give him a start in the 1st test though, will do his confidence wonders, he certainly didn't let anyone down.

Breakaway try from Aus, they're always capable with that. Big 20mins for Ireland now.

Edit: Bad times!

Very lucky for Ireland there, that really should have been a try.

Aki did a fantastic job fixing the man with the inside dummy to open up the space outside, and then... He threw a second inside dummy to nobody and got tackled and turned over. He doesn't have the vision.

Yeah you can’t give that referee, something happened half a minute before he went over.

Foul play over rides everything. Big thick Aussie

Well played Australia

Murray, whoops, too much yakkity yak

Stupid play from Aus in the Irish half, all they had to do was go through the phases.

Ireland are a sound enough team but they’re a bit low on ideas. Defence, 3pts and opportunistic tries is their forte.

Good win for Australia, built on strong defence. Ireland couldn't convert their territorial dominance into enough points.

Two-nil to the Southern Hemisphere.

Clear knock on

Clear knock on

Immediate reaction is we would have won that with Sexton and Ringrose. Carbery offered nothing more than a shovel onwards and was clueless facing the Aussie rush defense. Henshaw was lost defending the 13 channel.

The TMO loves himself.

Well done Oz seemed to have their homework done.

We were poor and it didn't help with Kearney having a poor first half.

Didn't do much with the lineout.

Aus seemed to do really well and Scrum.

JmD wrote:Immediate reaction is we would have won that with Sexton and Ringrose. Carbery offered nothing more than a shovel onwards and was clueless facing the Aussie rush defense. Henshaw was lost defending the 13 channel.

The TMO loves himself.

To be fair to Henshaw he is back after a layoff. He will be fine next week with Ringrose.

Our player running out of the line maybe worked once and lost us a lot of cover. Again could be down to Henshaw not being up to speed. I am trying to think the last time we missed so many tackles and ground in tackles.

Things of note.

- Ireland's attack was very blunt. Nothing new there. The Aussies have a big backline so they put up a wall of defenders and ganged up on Stockdale which results in a clueless looking Ireland. It resembled the Fiji match last year. Ireland don't make defence think so stack the defence with big men.
- The Aussies dominated in the air especially Folau.
- Irelands bench made a negative impact.
- Pocock dominated the breakdown. Next match I'd bring in Leavy and play Beirne at 8 since Stander made no impact.
- Ireland made some bizarre mistakes. When Murray kicked the ball out on the full I said to the person next to me that they're pressing the self destruct button.


Next match I'd like to see Leavy, Ringrose, Beirne, Conway (for Kearney). Murray needs to improve too especially with his speed.

I have to disagree with you re Murray prof. Thought he was one of Irelands better players, his work in defence was tireless and he took many hits today which is probably why he made the odd mistake.

Kearney had a very mixed bag, he did some very good things but equally some very average things but agree with giving either Conway or Larmour a start at 15 next game. Kearney should stay on the bench as cover though.

I thought Carbery was decent, not an amazing attacking threat but he did have Aki outside him who again proved to me that he is not International standard.

However bad it feels to lose today can we all just take a moment to think how it must feel to be French or English right now

eirebilly wrote:I have to disagree with you re Murray prof. Thought he was one of Irelands better players, his work in defence was tireless and he took many hits today which is probably why he made the odd mistake.

Kearney had a very mixed bag, he did some very good things but equally some very average things but agree with giving either Conway or Larmour a start at 15 next game. Kearney should stay on the bench as cover though.

I thought Carbery was decent, not an amazing attacking threat but he did have Aki outside him who again proved to me that he is not International standard.

I'd give Larmour a start at 15 for the next game. Australia are going to have aerial dominance over whoever is picked so we might as well pick a dangerous runner.


Agree about Aki. He did one or two good things but his usually 2-3 errors a game were costly in this match. I presume Ringrose will come in and that will be a major boost to our attack and defence.


Stander was quiet again and butchered the try. He hasn't looked himself for months now. Jordi was a bit underpowered too and I think Leavy will make a difference there. Though Herring played well, Scannell offers more physicality.

Forgot to tape the game. Anyone know where I may find a recording?

carpet baboon wrote:Forgot to tape the game. Anyone know where I may find a recording?

Back in 2001?

I will load it onto YouTube and send ye a link

Unlucky Ireland, but that's a huge win for Australia!

Hey Billy, are you able to record all matches and upload them to YouTube?

Unlucky Ireland, a fantastic game by both sides Australia 2 tries Ireland nil.

cannot remember a game when Ireland did not score at least 1 try.

A great win for Australia, a great show of dominance across the field.

Well played Australia and a very unlucky Ireland.