Six Nations: Gerry Thornley reminds us of a famous Irish away victory

Ireland are possibly due a win at Twickenham next Saturday, even if we have to apply some fairly quaint Irish logic to give some kind of substance to the hope. It's based on the premise that Irish wins at the English citadel come along roughly ever decade or so and it's been 10 years and a couple of weeks since the last one.

Ireland's 13-12 win that day was even more unlikely than the possibility of beating the newly crowned world champions next Saturday on their first, valedictory return to Twickers since Jonny Wilkinson nailed the match-winning drop goal with the penultimate play of the World Cup final in November.

England, admittedly, haven't lost to a home nations side at the venue in the intervening decade, and they have won 21 games in succession at Twickenham since their last defeat there, to the All Blacks in 1999.

Nevertheless it had become quite a fortress back in 1994 as well, England having beaten South Africa and New Zealand there in the preceding autumn campaigns as well as all-comers from the then Five Nations, and their last defeat at Twickenham had been the World Cup final of 1991. Indeed, Will Carling had never lost there as captain of England beforehand.

Ireland went into that game on the back of defeats to France and Wales, when Elwood hit the post with a penalty to win the match, and without a win at Twickenham since Ginger McLoughlin's try and all that a dozen years previously.

However, after twice falling behind to first-half Jonathan Callard penalties, Ireland were never headed again. The turning point and decisive moment of the match was one of the few true highlights of a stop-start setpiece encounter, namely Simon Geoghegan's famous try in the left corner toward the end of the first half.

On about the only occasion Ireland spread the ball wide, debutant Maurice Field made a decoy switch inside Elwood and O'Shea ran straight on his outside in another dummy run to check the drift as the outhalf skip-passed to Philip Danaher. Richard Wallace came around from his wing and gave Geoghegan sufficient space to beat Tony Underwood on his outside and then check the covering Callard before swaying outside him to take the tackle and score. Crucially, Elwood landed the touchline conversion.

Geoghegan joked on television that it was his first pass of the season, and reminded of that this week commented: "I'd say it was my only pass of the season."

"It was a move called Sullivan's, as Eddie O'Sullivan did some back play with us at London Irish, but actually it was a move used by Bath - whose back coach was Brian Ashton - in the first game of the season against us."

Geoghegan was also the key figure in earning the match-winning penalty, when turning defence into attack and chasing down his own kick ahead to tackle Rob Andrew before he got to his feet, and earned a penalty against the English outhalf for not releasing.

The architects of the win were many. There was the largely unfussy and unheralded contribution of head coach Gerry Murphy. "Gerry was a quiet, unassuming coach," says Elwood. "He was a good man manager. He wasn't a ranter and raver. He did his homework, put a gameplan in place but gave us a free reign as well. Gerry gave me my chance and I always had great respect for him."

The English juggernaut pack, which attempted to use their rolling maul extensively but with limited success, featured a relatively youthful Jason Leonard alongside Brian Moore and Victor Ubogu in the frontrow, a relatively callow Martin Johnson alongside Martin Bayfield in the secondrow, and a somewhat inexperienced Neil Back alongside debutant number eight Steve Ojomoh in the backrow.

But it was the latter's inexperience along with an injury cloud over Tim Rodber which gave Neil Francis real hope going into the game.

"I knew we were going to win. We'd lost to Wales two weeks before and I suppose if we'd won that we wouldn't have had a chance at Twickenham. That was the Noughty Nineties, and to even mention the Triple Crown would have been the end of us. But they had no Deano (Dean Richards), Clarkey (Ben Clarke) was on fire but was out injured and Rodber wasn't fit."

It was also back in the days before lineouts had been cleaned up with the legalisation of lifting. Francis was immense there, and at restarts, but though England won a higher percentage of their own ball, much of it was worthless as Francis led the charge through on Kyron Bracken, the Skerries-born English scrumhalf having been targeted ruthlessly.

Willie Anderson was a key architect in both those back-to-back wins as coach, although as a paid IRFU Regional development Officer he was very much the unofficial Irish forwards' coach.

"Funny, it was on a TV screen at a "do" I was at recently," recalls Anderson. "It was a great pack of forwards and they were really up for it. We had identified Bracken, who was quite slow, as someone who could be pressurised from lineouts rucks and scrums. The pack poured through on him and he crumbled."

Literally from Elwood's kick-off, Francis led the Irish charge and simply clattered into Bayfield. Ireland had readily conceded the opening penalty and retreated to the half-way having, as Anderson puts it, "laid down a marker. That was the plan, clear anything in front of you."

Elwood, the one Irishman from that day still playing, is now coached by his halfback partner and captain that day Michael Bradley. "We ground out a win, to be honest. It was all hands to the pump. We defended like demons. They were coming at us in waves, but we took our chances. I remember there were a series of scrums near the end on half-way, and Brads said to the forwards, 'just stay here lads, don't move', and then we got a penalty and I hoofed it into Row Z. The best kick of the day."

As a relatively new kid on the block, winning his fourth cap, Conor O'Shea admits he couldn't appreciate the full impact of what had been achieved, nor that he would only play at Twickenham again once six years later, the last and lowest point of his career.

"I know which memory I'd rather take to my grave with me," he says. Helping him recall that day is a picture he took of everyone in a victorious Irish dressing-room.

"That is the most special photograph I have from my career."

He'll also never forget the almost mystical drive into the old Twickenham West Stand car-park. "There were two things I remember," says Francis. "I might have been pack leader and I remember talking in a huddle without about 10 minutes to go. The usual waffle: 'we can win this, just keep tackling'. But nobody was listening, and two or three of them were actually crying. There were a goodly amount of paddies there and "Cockles and Muscles" was reverberating around the stadium."

In theory, Ireland's celebrated 17-3 win over England the year before at Lansdowne Road should have given Will Carling's team the greater motivation, but the Irish players were spurred on by what they felt was the lack of respect afforded them after that win. And the memory of England having 17 players picked on the Lions the next day compared to two Irish players (and a further two replacements)."Almost an exact reversal of the scoreline," says Mick Galwey, "and some of the lads felt they had a point to prove."

None was more unfairly treated by the Lions selectors, most agree, than Geoghegan, whom Bradley reckons gave one of the most influential displays by a winger of that era. The cameras cutting to Mrs Underwood applauding one of her son's tries was a common feature of the time and when Geoghegan tackled Tony Underwood into one of the advertising hoardings he whispered: "Wave to your mother now."

"They (England) were sick; it's great to beat them at Twickenham," admits Elwood. "It's the Cheltenham of rugby. Year after year Irish supporters make the pilgrimage to Twickenham. Irish people always travel there in hope; it's the highlight of the rugby calendar."

Indeed, of all the memories evoked by recounting that win, none quite matches a memory which Francis will never forget. "Myself and Geoghegan were two of the last out and were heading across to the Rose Room for the post-match reception. There were a group of about 15 or 16 Kilburnites, with the red hair and the sideburns. They came over and got down on their knees. It was really embarrassing. We asked them to stop but they said 'no, you don't know what this means to us'. It was quite a poignant moment. They'd lived in England for 30 years or whatever, and were just glad to put one over England."

That night, Bradley recalls virtually the entire squad heading into Piccadilly Square. "It was about half one, or two, after the dinner. We were starving and headed into Burger King. Every drop out seemed to be there and then we got a standing ovation when we walked in. We had a great night in Burger King, singing songs. The common touch."

Bradley is mildly optimistic about Ireland's chances next Saturday, primarily on the basis that no team, not even the World champions, can be the same force without Martin Johnson and Jonny Wilkinson. O'Shea cites their absence in even more upbeat tones when looking ahead to next Saturday's game.

"I do believe Ireland have their best chance in a good while of winning there. My one fear is if England start making them defend through phases. That's the one area Ireland have struggled with in recent years. If England create mismatches out wide Ireland could be in trouble. But I think they have a great chance." And, eh, Ireland are due one.

ENGLAND (1994): Jonathon Callard; Tony Underwood, Will Carling, Phil de Glanville, Rory Underwood; Rob Andrew, Kyron Bracken; Jason Leonard, Brian Moore, Victor Ubogu, Martin Johnson, Martin Bayfield, Tim Rodber, Steve Ojomoh, Neil Back.