GERRY THORNLEYshares the manager's memories of beating the world's top team to claim Ireland's only Test series win in the Southern Hemisphere

PAUL McNAUGHTON has had great fun dining out on Ireland’s 2-0 Test series win here in Australia in 1979, and perhaps is giving the squad ammunition to end the 31-year wait for another one – if only to shut him up.

“He touched the ball twice,” declared an exasperated Alan Gaffney, as the Ireland manager went about reliving Ireland’s wins in Brisbane and Sydney.

Admittedly, tours weren’t as commonplace in those days, but even so Ireland have played 23 Tests against Australia, South Africa and New Zealand in the Southern Hemisphere since then and have lost the lot.

There hasn’t even been any respite in Argentina, where Ireland also two lost Tests in 2007, as well as one in 2000, not to mention two defeats in Namibia in 1991 prior to the World Cup.

McNaughton played in seven of the eight matches on that ’79 tour, and reckons Fergus Slattery and Mike Gibson played all eight.

“You have this impression that amateur rugby in those days was just going from one pub to another, and then the match was kind of a weekend addendum. I’ve talked to a lot of guys about this and I’ve certainly never experienced it like that, on this (1979) trip especially.”

Ireland began their tour with wins over Western Australia in Perth, ACT in Canberra and Queensland in Brisbane. Gibson had played in the previous Southern Hemisphere win, in Sydney 12 years before, and would win his last caps alongside McNaughton in the Ireland midfield in the two Tests of ’79.

Freddie McLennan was injured for the first Test and Johnny Moloney, normally a scrumhalf, was pressed into service on the wing, and was retained there for the second Test.

“Maybe a bit like this Saturday, nobody gave us a chance, really, going into that first Test,” he recalls, “because it was a very strong Australian team. They had just beaten the All Blacks in a Test series and were regarded at the time as number one.

“We had injuries going out there as well. I think Willie Duggan was brought in at the last moment because Donal Spring and Mike Gibson, the tall Mike Gibson, were injured, as was Harry McKibbin the centre.”

Completing the backdrop to the Tests were the decisions to prefer Ollie Campbell over Tony Ward at outhalf, and, though less publicised, Ciarán Fitzgerald for his debut ahead of Pat Whelan. There was, as McNaughton puts it, “a firestorm in the media generally” about Ward’s demotion.

Ward had been voted player of the year that season in Europe but Campbell had been playing very well on tour and the decision, effectively made by a three-man selection panel Murphy, Fergus Slattery as captain, and the late Bob Coffey of Lansdowne, as manager, was entirely vindicated.

“Whether people agree with the decision or not, I think most people accept it’s an extremely brave decision for a small management team to make. And it wasn’t that Wardie was playing badly either,” says McNaughton, who reckons Campbell’s performance in the win over Queensland “who had at least seven or eight of the Aussie team” on the previous Tuesday had swung their minds.

When it came to the Tests, Campbell was sensational, converting both Colin Paterson’s two tries and landing four penalties and a drop goal in Ireland’s 27-12 win in the first Test at Ballymore.

“Ollie played brilliantly in the two Tests and the team played brilliantly,” admits McNaughton.

“Colin Paterson scored a couple of tries, Ollie kicked very well and we defended very well and it was a huge surprise. I always remember the news commentator back home had to say it twice because a lot of people might have thought he’d got the scores wrong.”

Motivation for the second Test came in part from an unlikely source, though then again, maybe not. “After that, for the guys who were on the Test team, or in the Test 21, in many ways it became a more serious tour than all tours because the Aussie media had written us off but after beating the Aussies their media dismissed it as a complete fluke.

“So that really got guys emboldened to say ‘we better win the second Test here and we better make sure we have a good tour here because if we don’t win the second Test, and we’re hammered or whatever, they will have grounds to say that the first Test was a fluke result.’

“It became a very serious mission then to win the second Test, which was the last game of the tour.”

Ireland carried on winning, by adding the scalp of New South Wales, after beating New South Wales Country, before losing the penultimate game of the tour to a Sydney selection. Losing that game, agrees McNaughton, was perhaps no bad thing in advance of the second Test and tour finale at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

“It was a very tense game, not as open as the first game,” says McNaughton of the 9-3 win, with Campbell scoring all the points.

“To be fair we defended like mad men. It wasn’t 66-28, that’s for sure,” he laughs, in ironic reference to the Test result in New Plymouth last Saturday week.

It would be McNaughton’s first and last trip. In 1981 Ireland went to South Africa but because McNaughton was one of those employed by a state organisation (IDA), he wasn’t allowed travel. He was 28.

The years haven’t dimmed Ireland’s achievement in 1979. Indeed, they have merely enhanced it.

1979 FIRST TEST TEAMS

AUSTRALIA:B Cooke; L Monaghan, B McKid, T Melrose, B Moon; P McLean, R Hauser; J Meadows B Ross S Pilecki P McLean G Fay,T Shaw (capt), G Cornelsen, M Loane. Replacements: P Carson, P Crowe, R Graham, D Hall, P Horton, M Ella

IRELAND:R O'Donnell; J Moloney,M Gibson, P McNaughton, T Kennedy; O Campbell, C Patterson; P Orr, C Fitzgerald, G McLoughlin, M Keane, H Steele, F Slattery (capt), J O'Driscoll, W Duggan.

Ireland's southern hemisphere drought since 1979

Sat, May 30th, 81 – South Africa 23-15 Ireland, Newlands.

Sat, Jun 6th, 81 – South Africa 12-10 Ireland, ABSA Stadium.

Sun, Jun 7th, 87 – RWC-QF Australia 33-15 Ireland, Concord Oval.

Sat, May 30th, 92 – New Zealand 24-21 Ireland, Carisbrook.

Sat, Jun 6th, 92 – New Zealand 59-6 Ireland, Athletic Park.

Sun, Jun 5th, 94 – Australia 33-13 Ireland, Ballymore.

Sat, Jun 11th, 94 – Australia 32-18 Ireland, Aussie Stadium.

Sat, May 27th, 95 – RWC New Zealand 43-19 Ireland, Ellis Park.

Sat, Jun 13th, 98 – South Africa 37-13 Ireland, Vodacom Park.

Sat, Jun 20th, 98 – South Africa 33-0 Ireland, Loftus Versfeld.

Sat, Jun 12th, 99 – Australia 46-10 Ireland, Ballymore.

Sat, Jun 19th, 99 – Australia 32-26 Ireland, Subiaco Oval.

Sat, Jun 15th, 02 – New Zealand 15-6 Ireland, Carisbrook.

Sat, Jun 22nd, 02 – New Zealand 40-8 Ireland, Eden Park.

Sat, Jun 7th, 03 – Australia 45-16 Ireland, Subiaco Oval.

Sat, Jun 1st, 03 – RWC Australia 17-16 Ireland, Telstra Dome.

Sat, Jun 12th 04 – South Africa 31-17 Ireland, Vodacom Park.

Sat, Jun 19th 04 – South Africa 26-17 Ireland, Newlands.

Sat, Jun 10th, 06 – New Zealand 34-23 Ireland, Waikato Stadium.

Sat, Jun 17th 06 – New Zealand 27-17 Ireland, Eden Park.

Sat, Jun 24th 06 – Australia 37-15 Ireland, Subiaco Oval.

Sat, Jun 7th, 08 – New Zealand 21-11 Ireland, Westpac Stadium.

Sat, Jun 14th 08 – Australia 18-12 Ireland, Telstra Dome.