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.

Its a big loss for Ireland to lose POM, he was having another excellent game. Same for the Aussies though loosing Pocock.

Not a game of great quality.

CJ would have been able to bring POM down safely if Folau did not pull POM.

Landed on his back, not head/neck, so a yellow card was the right call.

Yeah, right call. It was a contest and the lifter offered feck all. Folau went for the ball. No intent to take player out.

Intent is irrelevant. Folau clearly pulled at the arm of POM.

Easy penalty. Easy yellow.

Yes, easy yellow

Did the ref not just tell Coleman he was on his last warning and then he pulls the maul down?

A final warning to the Aussies and yet no yellow card again. A Penalty Try and Yellow Card should have been issued to the Aussies there.

Finally the try though.

About time they got over the line but ref has let the Aussies off the hook in the red zone to many times now

These NH referees are absolute shiyte!

It was the same last week with the SH ref as well!

I know, NH and SH referees are crap

Quality try there from the Aussies, very good.

Hmm. I thought Australia might regret passing up those chances to take the three points but their ambition has been rewarded and now it's back to a one point game...

If the Aussies were more clinical they would be hammering Ireland now.

Bundee o’kee smoked

ebop wrote:

Geen sport voor watjes wrote:At least I haven’t been trapped alive along with five million people in the south seas. Help is on the way

Ease up on the LSD mate

Nah mate it’s the kiwi fruit. Too much if it gives you gas and it smells of Poopie when it goes off. Fush and chups mate fush and chups

Yeah same-same, Irish scrum done like a dinner twice

ebop wrote:Bundee o’kee smoked

No need for the lazy racism

Bundy o’kee, lol, Irish as, suck it up mate

Wallabies on the charge but Ireland will win this game

ebop wrote:Bundy o’kee, lol, Irish as, suck it up mate

It’s still racist I mean what would your wife say. Baaaa is what she would say

Mistake ridden game at the moment...

Ireland will be happy to get over the halfway line for about the first time since they scored the try

Can see the next penalty deciding this one way or the other ...could be either

That pass from the Aussie 9 was not forward, Murray's was though.

eirebilly wrote:That pass from the Aussie 9 was not forward, Murray's was though.

Forward passes are allowed in the Southern Hemisphere

Ireland just look very, very tired and they're really struggling to hold on.

Slap forward, why no Yellow Card?

eirebilly wrote:Slap forward, why no Yellow Card?

Far less likely, nowadays, to be a yellow unless it's in a potential try-scoring situation.

Ah Ireland have a penalty. Should be enough.

Duty281 wrote:Ireland just look very, very tired and they're really struggling to hold on.

Hanging on well though...

Chance to go four in front now ? Surely this is the game ?

Nerveless penalty

That was a dubious penalty given by the NH referee

That never touched Stockdale...

Ireland win the series

Ireland hang on! Great series win for them, solidifying their status as the premier NH team.

Australia really rushed it at the end. Patient phase play would have probably yielded a return.

Drama beyond the eighty minutes ! Is this a deliberate knock on ?

Not clear ...aah that is a rather unsatisfactory finish ...

Fair play to Ireland but a pity it should end with a slightly controversial non-decision

Well done Ireland, better team overall despite the yips

Hearty congratulations to Ireland ...they were looking nearly out on their feet that last twenty minutes but they've held on and taken a thoroughly engrossing series

Having a great year ! Enjoy

Its been a special year for Ireland that's for sure alfie. Best of luck to yiz against South Africa later

Very special, well done Ireland

alfie wrote:Drama beyond the eighty minutes !  Is this a deliberate knock on ?

Not clear ...aah that is a rather unsatisfactory finish ...

Fair play to Ireland but a pity it should end with a slightly controversial non-decision

Didn't think there was any controversy over it. Clearly didn't hit Stockdales hand. Poor pass from Foley.


Could see they were out on their feet at the end their after a long season. Great effort to hold on. Probably goes down as Ireland's best ever season.

ebop wrote:That was a dubious penalty given by the NH referee

It was but he was easily the fairest ref of the series overall.

eirebilly wrote:Its a big loss for Ireland to lose POM, he was having another excellent game. Same for the Aussies though loosing Pocock.

Not a game of great quality.

CJ would have been able to bring POM down safely if Folau did not pull POM.

j

Yes it was a loss, yes he was having a good game.

eirebilly wrote:The initial contest was fine but when Folau lost it he dragged POM down with his left hand, clear as day. What was Stander to do? Clear Red Card for me.

Think it is a decision made after the Red Card for the French 15 was over turned.

I don't think it was a red and probably only a yellow because it had happened a few times in the game already. Folau has some jump it's incredible.

Landed on his back was a fair yellow card. If he had landed on his head then maybe looking at a red. Like to know why its only Ireland that get cards for deliberate knock ons though Folau was a lucky boy not to get the 2nd yellow

Great to win a series down under. They had to dig in for that because the energy levels looked low this week and the Australians were coming in waves at one stage.

Congratulations to the Irish team and supporters. Ought to be a real confidence boost to face such a series of challenges and find enough answers.

Yep congrats Ireland, hard fought series win, got there in the end after a dodgy start, classy to overcome that to control the series in the end.

Collapse2005 wrote:

eirebilly wrote:Its a big loss for Ireland to lose POM, he was having another excellent game. Same for the Aussies though loosing Pocock.

Not a game of great quality.

CJ would have been able to bring POM down safely if Folau did not pull POM.

j

Yes it was a loss, yes he was having a good game.

Guns has heatstroke

Listened to Aussie commentary and the post match comments. Jeez whoever came up with whingeing poms got it wrong. Pocock excepted ( a class act) but then he isn’t an Aussie

When done Ireland

Best thing about the series is the squad did well

Still miles behind NZ we have the defence just not the attack

Enjoyed watching that, bar having to listen to Robson again. Very enjoyable series. Congratulations to Ireland.

RiscaGame wrote:Enjoyed watching that, bar having to listen to Robson again. Very enjoyable series. Congratulations to Ireland.

I think he's a great commentator if its a dour Pro14 affair in terrible conditions. But for a game like this you just want him to shut up. Especially when you can't hear a conversation between Sexton and the ref leading to the Folau yellow cause he is blabbering on. I say that as a fellow Ulster man to Robson. He needs to stop talking some of the time.