The 1984 Wallaby grand slam tour

Thanks frank - will do ASAP!

Yep, you just have to buy the Delux Edition of the ABC documentary 'The Rise and Rise of Australian Rugby - The Gand Slam'. You can get it at any ABC shop. If the shop doesn't stock it, then they can order it in for you. I got my copy off eBay.

Can you still get those games on DVD?? It was those games that sparked my interest in rugby, that and watching Auntie ABC televise a few Randwick games before that where I was astounded by the Ella magic! Getting up at some inhuman hour to watch the games, those were the greatest days...84-99 when there was no team that took the Wallabys lightly.

Harry, I'm mostly day-dreaming above with my "would've, could've, should've" musings. I agree Alan Jones was a genius, & not always given fair credit. As Spiro suggests, Jones was a great selector of men & motivator of their deeds, not necessarily tactically astute. Anyway, 1984 was a wonderful trip down memory lane.

Jason I agree splitting the Wales 84 game and the RWC 91 semi is difficult - and also the 92 SA reunfication test. Sheek I will bow to your inside account of Topo's coming to Australia, I will only say that he although he may have thought his internationl days were over, Australian rugby sure as heck didn't see him as past it. Fortuantely for everybody they were right. Sheek you are right about McLean's normally reliable toepoint goalkicking going bad were a major reason for the 81 disappointments, but its also fair to say we had nowhere near the forward dominance we had in 84 - in fact Wales, Scotland and England all noticeably got on top of our forwards in the 2nd half of those 81 tests. The other huge miss I can remember McLean making was in a mid 70's Bledisloe Cup game at Ballymore when he had a kick to in it after a great fightback by the Wallabies had drawn us level. Very gettable and went the wrong side of the post by a whisker. Argghhh ! Sheek I agree all of these players were great and may well have made a psotive difference, but again I think this is where Jones deserves the greatest credit for his achievement of finding and building the side he did. he got the best out of players like Gould and Ella (where before there had been some conflict over Ella's brother in Gould's position) and playing Lynagh at 12 instead of Hawker, and deliberately went and nvested in players like Codey and Cutler. To say that all Jones did was inherit schoolboy talent (as someone does above) is untrue - in fact from the famous 77 Schoolboys side only Mark Ella and Chris Roche (one test only, v Ireland) were in the 84 grand slam test sides!

I reckon British rugby (at both league and union) must've been sick of the sight of Australia thrashing them in both codes of rugby in their country, because remember that the 1984 Wallabies Grand Slam Tour came 2 years after the 1982 Kangaroos 'Invincibles' went through Britain (and France) undefeated. Also bear in mind that the Welsh team that faced the Wallabies at Cardiff Arms Park on the '84 tour was a far cry from the great teams Wales had in the mid '70s, when players such as Gareth Edwards, JPR Williams, Barry John were supreme. You could say that the 1984 Wales-Australia Test was the start of the decline of Wales as a rugby superpower.

Rugby played purely for the love of the game by amatures,amplifies the eras irreplaceable memories.

i was lucky enough to go to all of the games with a group of mates. We were the same age and knew several of the players. let me tell you there was more action off the field for players and supporters than their wonderful play on the field. Well, except in Cardiff. The Taffies were not happy, not happy at all, and as a result, very inhospitable. Ha, We still enjoyed ourselves.

The '84 team was so undervalued that, before they arrived, a game against British United Services was scheduled at the Army ground at Aldershot. Services' pack was comprised of large Colonel Blimps who thought they'd show the colonials a thing or two. The Ws destroyed them. They'd never seen anything like Campo, and Poido consistently ran through their ranks There were a lot of red faces in the stands that day, and not all of it from port wine in the mess. However, in the test, the English team successfully contained Campo and kept the Ws out for the entire first half.

Three things I recall most vividly from the Grand Slam tour- 11 years old at the time; Dad got me up in the middle ofthe night to watch every game. God I love my Dad. 1. Gordon Bray exclaiming - "CampEEEESEEE" as he hurtled down the sideline 2. Nick Farr Jones with no sideburns- I am thinking they were shaved off as part of some late night booze fueled prank - walking out of the dressing room with a Number 9 on his back "Is he the halfback dad?"He was a monster of a man. Dad - "Yes mate, and he is a bloody good player." 3. Mark Ella laughing with joy after scoring his try against the Scots. Rugby,the way it should be played and enjoyed.

Boys, the other game that stands out for me was the Syd.test against England in '91 (was it?). Although from memory an understrength England side , still a top performance from The Wallabies. You know, I've no real evidence etc just a feeling that the '99 World Cup was built from '95 onwards and that despite Rugby in Aust. being partly the province of the big end of town our performance as a professional sport doesnt stack up too well when we have supposedly astute people running the game. If anything I think it is going backwards.

Harry, Just to clarify on some of those players who might have made a difference in 1984. 1. Bill Ross was the number one Wallabies hooker to the end of the 1983 domestic season. However, a chronic back injury saw him pull out of the France tour, which was the first for both McBain & Lawton. By 1984, with his size & power, Lawton may have overtaken Ross anyway, but we'll never know for sure. 2. Tony D'Arcy was a bull of a man, & Australian rugby's great prop hope, when he inadvisedly defected to league in 1982, a game he was totally unsuited to. D'Arcy was selected for the Argentina tour in 1979 at just 20, an exceptionally young age for a prop. He had his 21st on tour. He would have been a great backup in 1984. 3. David Hillhouse played for the Wallabies 1975-78 before retiring to concentrate on a commercial pilot's license. In 1983 HillHouse decided to have one more crack at the big time, & played in every one of the 8 Wallabies tests in 1983. He was exceptionally spring-heeled despite being 6'4". 4. According to Alan Jones himself, Mark Loane often regretted retiring early, & would have loved playing under Jones in the UK in 1984. Had Loane still been around, there is little doubt he would have been captain. However, Loane was an incredibly dogmatic man, & true believer of conservative rugby. So, how would he have gelled with Ella? 5. Michael O'Connor was a footballing freak, & it is my greatest regret I never saw Ella-O'Connor-Campese all play together in the same test team. O'Connor's defection to league in 1982 was a sporting tragedy. However, I must say Slack is one of the finest captains Australia has had, so O'Connor's presence would have muddled things! 6. Mitchell Cox was another huge loss to the Wallabies. He could play the entire three-quarter line (as could O'Connor). He would have been an invalubale backup on the 1984 tour. Maybe it's better in some ways these players weren't round in 1984. Sometimes having too many choices can be as bad as having not enough choices! We certainly wouldn't have wanted a repeat of 1981/82.

Harry, You're right about 1981/82. However, to blame the loss say entirely on the lack of height & bulk in the tight five, glosses over other problems occurring at the time. All the problems of 1981/82 might have been glossed over if only Paul McLean kicked his goals. Australia 'out-tryed' each of their 4 home nations opponents on scraps of decent possession, but came up with only one win.McLean had an appallingly unusual collapse of confidence with his kicking. The other problem was a crisis of styles, which wasn't necessarily along Qld-NSW fissures. Skipper Tony Shaw & coach Bob Templeton had both seen how effective the young NSW dominated backline was against the ABs in 1980. On the conservative side were Mark Loane, who had been in South Africa in 1980, & Paul McLean, who had missed the entire 1980 series through injury. Shaw & templeton were torn by loyalty & friendship with Loane & McLean on the one hand, & the extraordinary talents of the Ellas, O'Connor & Hawker on the other. In attempting a compromise in their playing style, they ended up with something that was basically "neither here nor there". Consequently, the team struggled with inconsistent selections, poor strategy & tactics. I was at Ballymore in 1983 when the Puma scrum dismantled the Wallabies. I can only tell the following story because it is first-hand. I have met & know Topo Rodriguez. I asked him about emigrating to Australia. Topo was a tourist to Australia in 1983, & loved what he saw of our country. He had a young family, & Argentina had been ravaged by the Falklands war, & years of totalitarian rule by military junta. Consequently, Topo decided to bring his family to Australia to start a new life. Nearly 32, he accepted that his international career was probably over. He emphasized to me, playing for the Wallabies hadn't been an original motivating factor. When I expressed surprise that he chose Warringah as his district club, he replied that of the half a dozen Sydney clubs he had written to (expressing an interest to play rugby), Warringah was the only club to respond with an offer to play! Once Alan Jones knew Topo was coming to Australia, he & the ARU actively set out to recruit him, so you're right from that moment. Topo tells me he was off with the Wallabies to Fiji barely a month after arriving in Australia in early 1984. And that is the basis of my earlier comments. Re your final para, I recall Bob Dwyer saying that if you married the first half of the 1991 WC semi-finalagainst the ABs, & the second half of the reunification test against the Boks in 1992, you would have the perfect Wallabies game.

Harry, Sorry mate I was talking about the game against Wales in 1984. In hindsight my post was somewhat obtuse. But yeah I consider the first half against Wales in 1984 to be superior to the Aussies first half against New Zealand in 1991. Even if Wales were probably the weaker side. Gosh the Aussie side was great back then. Way better than what we've seen from 2003 onwards.

The 77 and 78 Oz schoolboy teams were breathtaking despite the silly school politics of the time (as were the league teams of that era and a little later). I'd suggest the 84 national side owes nothing to the national coach, but a huge debt to the natural talent at his/her disposal.

Sheek, Not sure whether I agree with you on your assertion that the 84 side would have been strengthened by the players you mentioned - and some of them like Loane and O'Conner were great players and favourites of mine. The fact is 3 years previously (Dec 81 and Jan 82) we had toured the UK and recorded bitterly disappointing losses to Wales, Scotland and England, and in 1976/77 likewise in the UK. The players you mentioned as missing in 84 were on at least one of those tours, and as unpalatable as it is to concede, came up short in these UK tests, and in France. They did achieve fabulous wins at home and against NZ however. Jones' achievements was to find new forwards like Cutler, Tyneman, Topo, Tommy Lawton and Codey and raise their standard together to conquer this mountain. The 84 side dominated up front like no other Australian side before or since (with the possible exception of 91, which had also been rebuilt following a failure 2 years previously). Would Loane and Hillhouse been able toa dapt to the Jones regime? Probably not in my view but we'll never know and the players who did have the glory. Can't also let the Topo was "suprised to be picked for Aus " line pass through. He was very clearly recruited by senior ARU figures to buttress our front row stocks, following the Pumas demolition of the Australian scrum at Ballymore in 1983. Trust me, I am on the inside on this one. Frank O'Keefe, i was lucky enough to be at both games in the 91 RWC (Aus V Wales and Aus v NZ semi) and its my view that tthe first half was Australia's finest rugby union performance.

As I've said in other threads, I was recently watching the 1991 world cup semi final between Australia and New Zealand. A lot of Aussies point towards the first half as being the best Australia has ever played. Australia were great in those first 20-30 minutes, but I have to say I was more impressed with the first 20 minutes against Wales. The Aussies owned the breakdown in the New Zealand game, but their line-out was horrendous. And while there certainly was nothing wrong with the Aussie backs in the '91 game, I was more impressed with what they did against Wales. To me the Welsh game was a more complete performance, while the 1991 game was better in terms of the forwards smashing everybody out of the way. I suppose since 1991 was against New Zealand it's more memorable. The Welsh perhaps weren't as good as New Zealand, but you can only play what's in front of you and who's to say Australia couldn't have played the same way against a better side. I love the story before the game when the Welsh coach (who was it?) said Wales could beat Australia 9 times out of 10 if they played to their full capability. All the Aussie players were in their rooms and watching this on TV and suddenly they heard someone outside. It was Alan Jones running up and down the hallway knocking on all the doors and screaming, "Can you bloody hear it?" He sounded quite mad.

I'd venture to say the beginning of Australia winning their first World Cup began in 1972 when they were comprehensively thumped by New Zealand. Then in 1973 they lost a Test to Tonga. That shocked the Australian rugby establishment into action and forced them to implement new strategies. A special report was conducted showing that players just didn't stay around long in rugby, whether it be a defection to league or work commitments. By comparison, when a player like Colin Meads would play overseas there were people who'd help him out on his farm. That and rise of Queensland rugby under Bob Templeton as well as the 77/78 Invincible Schoolboys really set Australia up for an exciting 80s. It's all brilliantly captured in the book 'The Rise and Rise of Australian Rugby' by Phillip Derriman - one of my five favourite rugby books on Australian rugby.

I said in my opening to the article that the 1984 Grand Slam Wallabies tour not only was a significant moment in the long history of Australian rugby, the gensis of our first Rugby World Cup win in 1991 can also be traced back to that '84 tour by the Wallabies.

1984 was the first year I played rugby, having spent my childhood (to that stage) playing Association Football. The Grand Slam tour took place after that year's school comp had finished (ie after my season was over). I can still recall watching in amazement, thinking to myself: "THAT'S HOW RUGBY IS PLAYED!!!!!!!" 'Twas a crucial period for me. Went from being a kid who played rugby at school (and played poorly despite making the 1st XV) to someone with a rusted-on life long love of the game. I kept playing poorly though, for University and for Regiment! Great team indeed.