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.

POM is an absolute monster at the breakdown, what a penalty to win

Huge step up in intensity from Ireland from last week

James Ryan really is a superstar, he has all the skills.

eirebilly wrote:James Ryan really is a superstar, he has all the skills.

Something just freakish about him, he should not be this good at that age

Fantastic match this, both teams giving it their all. Healy in the bin may hurt Ireland there.

How is Ryan being taken out off the ball not a yellow card?

SH Ref to the rescue once again!

Australian discipline has been awful

Huh, how can he call 'ball was out, no offside' then punish CJ for offside?

POM again a monster at the breakdown winning another penalty.

Why take a quick tap on halfway with no one near you??

Love seeing a prop in open space! His support runner really didn't help him out

I think that the scrum should have taken place there, the knock on happened before the half time hooter.

Great test match so far!

Very good half of rugby, Ireland certainly much better than last week and Ryan is showing just what a superb player he is.

POM has been my player of the match so far though, he has been excellent in the lineout and at the breakdown.

Yeah good test. Ireland’s ability to hold the ball is impressive.

Lots of hits off the ball by the Aussies.

Earls with a beautiful run

How can the ref issue a yellow card and penalty try in the first half to Australia when Healy deliberately infringed but when Australia deliberately infringe on the line it is only a penalty?

That's got to be a yellow so close to the line

What an effort from earls!

I think that is a try myself, harsh on Earlsy.

If he goes back to the penalty from Foley then surely that should be a yellow card? Far too many from Australia in the red zone.

Agreed they need a yellow. Not even a warning!

Furlong with the try but the Aussies were offside again. Just because Ireland score should not mean that the Aussies get off scot free again...

Finally a warning

Different rules down south, that was a try

eirebilly wrote:Furlong with the try but the Aussies were offside again. Just because Ireland score should not mean that the Aussies get off scot free again...

Sometimes I wonder in those situations if teams should just milk the penalty to ensure a yellow! Was crucial they scored though

Not sure I agree with the officials take on what does not constitute an Irish try

RDW_Scotland wrote:

eirebilly wrote:Furlong with the try but the Aussies were offside again. Just because Ireland score should not mean that the Aussies get off scot free again...

Sometimes I wonder in those situations if teams should just milk the penalty to ensure a yellow! Was crucial they scored though

Look at Conway's try, the Aussie winger made no attempt to tackle and went in with his knees, that led to Conway going off injured. That should not go unpunished for me.


POM again, what a player he is.

Think PoM got away with that one - wasn't on his feet for very long!

Toner has been epic this game

14 penalties since the yellow and already had a warning. What do they need to do to get another?

The ref is certainly trying to keep the Aussies in this, some very favourable decisions going their way. They really should have had a second yellow by now.

Healy again... If he goes to the bin then this will be ridiculous.

Can see Ireland getting a yellow here which will be massive inconsistency

Sorry McGrath it was.

Very cynical from Ireland there

Unfeckingbelievable... The inconsistency from the ref is appalling. It was a yellow card but so were many Aussie infringements.

It is a definite yellow but the point is a lack of consistency

Two deliberate knock ons for Australia = No card.
One for Ireland = Yellow.

Also the same thing that happened at the end of last week's game. Knock on given. SH favouritism in refereeing is in full flow today.

That happens every game, but how dare a nh team do it against a sh team!

RDW_Scotland wrote:It is a definite yellow but the point is a lack of consistency

Only just turned this on, so while that was an easy YC to give, what happened earlier to bring about calls of inconsistencies.

I am not really a ref basher but this has been shocking today. Clear bias has been shown to the home team.

ebop wrote:Very cynical from Ireland there

Kieran reid did the same v Scotland last November and got away with it!

Well Ireland won in the end but my god they had it against them...

LondonTiger wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:It is a definite yellow but the point is a lack of consistency

Only just turned this on, so while that was an easy YC to give, what happened earlier to bring about calls of inconsistencies.

Australia gave away a penalty that the ref said was deliberate knock on, no yellow.

They also gave away 3 penalties on their own line.

Sh teams always get away with it. World rugby is s joke, clearly two sets of rules being played

Another cynical play by Ireland in the last play of the game. Irish player on the ground plays the ball with his hand and the ball spills out of the ruck. Got away with it though. Good on them.

Ireland scrape home

Delighted with that win. Much better performance. Australia weren't nearly as good as last week especially under the high ball. A word for the officials-inconsistent.

Good lad ebop don't let it completely ruin your weekend!

RDW_Scotland wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:It is a definite yellow but the point is a lack of consistency

Only just turned this on, so while that was an easy YC to give, what happened earlier to bring about calls of inconsistencies.

Australia gave away a penalty that the ref said was deliberate knock on, no yellow.

They also gave away 3 penalties on their own line.

The ref was absolutely bang on with his calls against Ireland. Both were cynical and deserved of Yellow Cards so I have no qualms about them. It was just that he did not apply the same to Australia.

Here's a criticism of a ref I've never had to give before. He took far too long to call use it at the maul. The maul could be rooted in place for 10-15 seconds and he would reluctantly whisper "stationary", then give it the same amount of time to start moving again! Amateurish stuff.

Anyway, Ireland were the better team and deserved the victory. Fair play to O'Mahony who was much more prominent in the breakdown today than last week.