This footage is of the last minute of the 1991 Rugby World Cup Quarter-Final match at Lansdowne Road between Ireland and Australia. It’s interesting to hear how understated the commentary was back then. A far cry from the histrionics of today’s crop. Let us know your recollections of this gripping finale.
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Spiro Zavos said | August 15th 2007 @ 11:08am | Report comment
This was Michael Lynagh’s finest moment as a Wallaby, among a host of fine moments. Nick Farr-Jones was off the field injured, so Lynagh assumed the captaincy. He told his players that he would kick long after Ireland’s bolt-from-the-blue try which gave them the lead with four minutes to play. He anticipated that Ireland would kick for touch and that the Wallabies would have good field position to launch a final attack. As it happened, Ireland muffed the kickoff and the Wallabies forced a scrum through David Campese of all people driving relentlessly in a maul to ensure forward momentum and the put-in (as the laws stood then.
Lynagh then called a backline move which had worked all afternoon. He declined to try and drop-goal and go into extra time. The moved worked because of a fine pass from Tim Horan and a half-break by David Campese, the player of the tournament. Lynagh doubled around outside Campese, picked up a pass on his finger-tips and crashed across for the winning try.
Simon Poidevin says that this escape-from-death try gave him a premonition that the Wallabies were a team of destiny in 1991. I must say that writing about this match for The Sydney Morning Herald I said the same thing, even though it was only later that I heard Simon Poidevin’s comment.
BM said | August 15th 2007 @ 11:27am | Report comment
I was up in the dead of night watching that game as a school kid. I thought Gordon Hamilton the Irish flanker had harpooned the Wallabies tournament when he scored with 5 minutes to go. Great character shown that day by the boys in gold!!
Why can’t the current Wallaby jersey be gold in colour instead of yellow…?!?!
Chris Beck said | August 15th 2007 @ 11:32am | Report comment
I never saw the game, but listening to it I agree that the commentary stands out for being relaxed.
In that regard, out of the current crop of commentators, I’d rather listen to Grant Nisbett.
Hopovski said | August 15th 2007 @ 12:20pm | Report comment
I wasn’t a fan of rugby back then but the highlights of the match make the hair stand up on the back of my neck.
I agree with the gold jersey comment – Aussie uniforms should be like the Wallabies wore then and like the football team wears now. Gold shirts, bottle green shorts. The combo looked great for years on the rugby field and has looked great in Germany/Asia over the last couple of years.
Farmer said | August 15th 2007 @ 1:14pm | Report comment
I had the good fortune of being at the match that day. The Irish were in good spirits and went beserk when the Irish flanker went over in the corner. I remember there was a small cottage in the background of the corner of Landsdown Road. The crowd spilled onto the ground when Hamilton scored.
They and and everyone else at the ground thought the match was won.
We were in the stand on the opposite side of the field on the 22 at the other end of the ground. When Hamilton scored, the Irish all around us got so excited they threw their small whisky bottles in the air and started dancing in the aisles.
The rest is history, the Wallabies worked their way back to the corner in front of us, fed the scrum and put it over in the far corner.
We were going crazy, but the silence was deafening from the Irish. They couldn’t believe their greatest moment had been snatched from them. When the full time whistle blew, the Irish around us , good sports that they are, congratulated us, wished us well for the rest of the Cup and said they were now right behind us in knocking over the All Blacks in the semi the following week.
Later that night, we bumped into John Connolly ( who was there as Assistant Coach) at Kitty O’Sheas’s pub – and had more than a a few Guinness .
Longy said | August 15th 2007 @ 1:40pm | Report comment
It’s not the same without Gordon Bray’s commentary where he went NUTS!
“CAMPESE! – LYNAH! – TRY !!! – YOU BEAUTY!!!”
Josh said | August 15th 2007 @ 3:42pm | Report comment
Agreed – far and away Lynagh’s greatest moment in Wallaby colours. To gather the troops with such a clear head in a moment verging on chaos, then to execute with such aplomb was magnificent.
Whilst the after the bell goals from Eales, Burke & Mortlock showed nerves of steel I believe the decision from the Wallabies to run the ball in the ultimate death or glory call showed incredible fortitude. It is no wonder that after that match they felt invincible.
Re the commentary – the moments after that try are rightly considered some of the best commentary of all time for the total lack of comments from the commentary team as they soaked up the amazing feeling and let the viewers do the same.
Was this match the catalyst of the Wallaby belief that they can win every match they play, no matter what the situation or their recent form? Whilst the Wallabies may go through rough patches, this underlying belief is something that other sides, in particualr the All Blacks, do fear.
DaniE said | August 15th 2007 @ 4:13pm | Report comment
This was the game that made me a rugby fan – I was allowed at 11 years of age to stay up and watch. My little heart nearly stopped during Gordy’s try, and nearly stopped again with Lynagh’s. My poor mum wouldn’t watch, she was trembling in her room. These are the games I live for in World Cups – the to-the-death matches, where the players give it their all and leadership stands up and makes a difference.
This was also the game where Willie O first threw a punch on the field I think? Where the Irish captain punched Willie a few seconds after kick-off, before the ball even landed. What a start to the game!
jools-usa said | August 15th 2007 @ 10:20pm | Report comment
I had followed all the games and remember the coverage that RWC was magnificent.
Who could forget watching those immaculate bandsmen leading teams through streets then into stadiums, even at the minor games in remote venues?
Wallabies always looked composed & threatening even after Farr-Jones injury. So when Hamilton scored (another 2 metres & he was caught), I had a good feel that Gold would come back……..and they did!.
Question to Spiros: Was it in the Final that Guscott was about 20 metres out and almost free when Eales just managed to grab his jersey from behind & stop him?
That would have been Pom’s try & was before OZ scored from back of lineout.
Jools-USA
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sheek said | August 16th 2007 @ 10:46am | Report comment
Memories…..
When Gordon Hamilton scored the try for Ireland, I sat stupified, alone, in the wee hours watching the match on TV in Sydney. How, oh how, could such a talented team have let it all crash about them, I wailed?
Then the match winner. I was too drained emotionally to cheer. Relief was an understatement. I appreciated that the Wallabies’ get out of jail trick was a once in ten or twenty achievement.
I believe many people felt the premonition that the Wallabies were now destined to win the 1991 WC. What would be the point of such a dramatic quarter-final win, only to blow it in one of the next two games?
Michael Lynagh was a terrific captain. Quiter & less dramatic than Farr-Jones. Led by example. That’s not to critiscize Farr-Jones, who was inspiring in his own way. It’s one of those delicious questions – had Farr-Jones remained on the field, would he have made the same call Lynagh made?
Gordon Bray, great commentator of his day. “The Taranaki pig farmer”, & as he so descriptively & informatively referred to All Blacks scrumhalf Dave Loveridge. I had a crush at the time on ABC newsreader Angela Pearman, with her permed, tousled hair. The broadcast was of course, on the ABC then, & she would give her nightly updates.
The wattle gold & bottle green. Great colour combo. For some reason, the gold went orange, then spew, before returning close to normality. The 1991 Wallaby outfit was great. Simple. Apart from adding the southern cross, it’s the best jersey we’ve had, I reckon.
What I love about the 1991 Wallabies, is that they won the WC with style, playing attractively. The 1999 Wallabies, by comparison, were probably a better team across the board, but didn’t play anywhere near as attractively, the laws of the day preventing this.