1984 Australia rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland
1984 Australia rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland | |||||
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Summary |
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Total |
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Test match |
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Opponent |
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England |
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Wales |
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Ireland |
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Scotland |
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The 1984 Australia rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland was a series of eighteen matches played by the Australia national rugby union team (the Wallabies) in Britain and Ireland between 17 October and 15 December 1984. The Australian team won thirteen matches, drew one and lost four but notably won all four of their international matches.
The 1984 Wallabies were the first and only Australian side to achieve a Grand Slam doing so in four Tests against the Home Nations. This feat had been achieved five times previously, by the 1978 New Zealand All Blacks and by the South African Springboks during their tours of 1912–13, 1931–32, 1951–52 and 1960–61. Australia's classy five-eighth Mark Ella managed to score a try in every Test. The tour confirmed Australia's coming of age as a world-class rugby nation, marking the end of three difficult decades of inconsistent international performances from 1950 onwards.
The squad's leadership
Alan Jones was widely experienced as a schoolboy coach but had had only one season coaching first-grade before his rise to the national position. He steered Manly to a surprise victory in the 1983 Sydney 1st Grade Premiership over the strong Randwick club. He was practically unknown in Australian rugby at point but set his sights on the national representative coaching job at a time when the incumbent Bob Dwyer was becoming increasingly vulnerable.[1] Under Dwyer in 1983 the Wallabies lost a two Test series against the French, tipping Dwyer's career record to the negative with six losses, five wins and a draw. Jones publicly announced his intentions to stand against Dwyer in early 1984 and ran a media campaign that befitted his experience as a former Prime Ministerial speech writer. In February 1984 he was installed as the national coach and he set out from that point to select, train, guide and strategise Australian rugby to the summit of international success.
After failing to wrestle the
Mark Ella had captained Australia in ten Tests prior to 1984, including the eleven match 1983 Australia rugby union tour of Italy and France. However Jones had resolved that whichever side won the 1984 interstate series would provide the captain and so Andrew Slack took up the tour captaincy[4] Howell reports that he was a popular captain, a calm organiser both on and off the field. Quiet thoughtful and intelligent but also able to pull out his guitar and bring everyone together with a few songs.[4] Ella is also quoted "Slacky was probably the only person who could have handled the captaincy in the British Isles. Every team needs a cornerstone and Slacky was it. We all had lots of respect for him....[on-field] his role was to settle the play down, be the link man. Not be happy-go-lucky or adventurous. Slack did it to perfection and always seemed to be there when he was wanted."'[5]
Jones also made a thoughtful choice in appointing his
Tour itinerary
By 1984 the nine-month-long Wallaby tours of Britain, France and North America were a thing of the past. Quick and cheap air-travel meant that a Test tour of the four
Tradition was also maintained with a visit by the touring party to
Matches of the tour
- Scores and results list Australia's points tally first.
Date | Opponent | Location | Result | Score | |
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Match 1 | 17 October | London Division | Twickenham, London | Won | 22–3 |
Match 2 | 20 October | South and South West Division | County Ground, Exeter | Drew | 12–12 |
Match 3 | 24 October | Cardiff | Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff | Lost | 12–26 |
Match 4 | 27 October | Combined Services | Aldershot Military Stadium, Aldershot | Won | 44–9 |
Match 5 | 30 October | Swansea | St Helen's , Swansea
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Won | 17–7 |
Match 6 | 3 November | ENGLAND | Twickenham, London | Won | 19–3 |
Match 7 | 6 November | Midlands Division | Welford Road, Leicester | Won | 21–8 |
Match 8 | 10 November | IRELAND[8] | Lansdowne Road, Dublin | Won | 16–9 |
Match 9 | 14 November | Ulster[9] | Ravenhill, Belfast | Lost | 13–15 |
Match 10 | 17 November | Munster | Thomond Park, Limerick | Won | 31–19 |
Match 11 | 20 November | Llanelli | Stradey Park, Llanelli | Lost | 16–19 |
Match 12 | 24 November | WALES | Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff | Won | 28–9 |
Match 13 | 28 November | Northern Division | St Anthony's Road, Blundellsands | Won | 19–12 |
Match 14 | 1 December | South of Scotland
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Mansfield Park, Hawick | Lost | 6–9 |
Match 15[1] | 4 December | Glasgow | Hughenden, Glasgow | Won | 26–12 |
Match 16 | 8 December | SCOTLAND | Murrayfield, Edinburgh | Won | 37–12 |
Match 17 | 12 December | Pontypool | Pontypool Park, Pontypool | Won | 24–18 |
Match 18 | 15 December | Barbarians | Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff | Won | 37–30 |
The match against Swansea was abandoned after 60 minutes due to floodlight failure.
Test matches
England
3 November 1984 |
NZRFU ) |
By half-time the score was 3–0 to Australia from a Michael Lynagh penalty goal but soon after the break came the first try of the match. Twenty-five metres from the English line, Ella received the ball from the scrum base and began to drift across the field with the ball in hand. Lynagh, Gould and David Campese all ran decoys off Ella at varying angles and the English defence were indecisive. Ella himself then changed pace and slid through the tiniest of openings for a try under the posts.[10] Lynagh converted and later scored a try himself. The final try was a brilliant team effort. Farr-Jones had received the ball from the line-out and passed to Gould who threw a long wayward pass which Ella salvaged in safe hands while running and leaning forward at the same time. Finding the English defence lacking in numbers, Ella passed to Campese who took off to out-sprint English winger Rory Underwood. Ella was in support but marked by English debutant Stuart Barnes. Running out of space and about to be bundled into touch, Campese lofted a pass to Simon Poidevin, who scored the final try.
AUSTRALIA:
ENGLAND:
Ireland
10 November 1984 |
NZRFU ) |
Lynagh's dropped goal was only the score in the first half and a second dropped goal, this time by Ella, put Australia 6–0 up shortly after half-time. Kiernan hit back with three successive penalties to give Ireland a 6–9 lead with seventeen minutes to go. Ella's second dropped goal of the game equalised at 9–9 and late in the game Ella delivered a try, appearing inside Campese to score after an Australian move and put Australia 13–9 ahead. Lynagh's penalty completed the scoring and Australia won 16–9.[12][13]
IRELAND:
AUSTRALIA:
Wales
24 November 1984 |
Bishop (4 – 1t) Wyatt (5 – 1g, 1pg) | (4 – 1t) Tuynman (4 – 1t) Lawton (4 – 1t) Ella (4 – 1t) Lynagh (12 – 3c, 2pg) Gould |
Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff Attendance: 63,000 Referee: Owen Doyle (IRFU) |
The Test match venue was a wet and muddy Cardiff Arms, with the game played close among the forwards. Lawton's first try was scored within seven minutes resulting from a rehearsed move practised many times in training. Cutler won the jump in a short line-out, Poidevin set up the maul and Nick Farr-Jones made a blind-side run, putting Gould through a gap who passed to Peter Grigg. When Grigg was cornered he tossed a pass infield to Lawton who plunged over for the try.[14]
Lyngah made it 13–0 when he scored between the posts after Farr-Jones again escaped up the short side from a scrum to set up a dazzling break by Campese. Poidevin, as ever was trailing Campo on the inside and took a pass then put Lynagh in for the try.[15]
Halfway through the second-half a Wallaby scrum was set five metres out from the Welsh line. The Wallaby call "Samson" was made for an eight-man pushover and the Australian pack driven by its giant locks
However, Wales was not finished. Following a line-out close to the Australian line, Welsh halfback David Bishop leapt acrobatically to score a try, the only try scored against the Australians during the four grandslam tests. The rumour in Australia at the time was that Bishop had been released from gaol in the previous week, to play in this match. Subsequently, Australia 'ran away' with it when Ella scored a final intercept try, to take the final score to 28–9.
AUSTRALIA:
WALES:
Scotland
8 December 1984 |
Scotland | 12–37 | Australia |
Dods (12 – 4pg) | (4 – 1t) Farr-Jones (4 – 1t) Ella (8 – 2t) Campese (21 – 3c, 5pg) Lynagh |
Murrayfield, Edinburgh Attendance: 52,314 Referee: Stephen Hilditch (IRFU) |
The prodigiously talent Ella starred in the fourth test of the tour. He threw a cut-out pass fifteen minutes into the match which led to Campese's first try and then in the second-half he executed a run-around with Roger Gould which got him over the line for his fourth try in as many matches. With fifteen minutes to go from a planned move off a two-man line-out Farr-Jones darted into the line-out to take the ball, scurry down the touchline and score in the corner.[17]
AUSTRALIA:
SCOTLAND:
Touring party
- Coach : Alan Jones
- Assistant coach: Alec Evans
- Tour Manager: Chilla Wilson
- Captain: Andrew Slack
- Vice-captain : Steve Williams
Squad
Tour appearances include appearances as a replacement, which are shown in brackets e.g. (1R)
References
- ^ Fitzsimmons Nick Farr-Jones p74
- ^ Howell p164
- ^ Ella Path to Victory quoted in Howell p165
- ^ a b Howell p220
- ^ Ella Path to Victory quoted in Howell
- ^ Ella Path to Victory quoted in Howell p227
- ^ Fitzsimmons p102
- ^ "Great Wallaby Tries: 84 Grand Slam v Ireland". www.greenandgoldrugby.com. 12 November 2009. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
- ^ "Down Memory Lane: Ulster heroes of 84 are reunited one more time". www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk. 11 November 2009. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
- ^ FitzSimons p105
- ^ "AUSTRALIA TOUR - Lansdowne Road, 10 November 1984". espnscrum. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
- ^ Fitzsimmons p108
- ^ Rothmans p36
- ^ Prenter/Smithp45
- ^ Prenter/Smithp46
- ^ Fitzsimmons p110
- ^ Fitzsimmons p114
Sources
- Collection (1995) Gordon Bray presents The Spirit of Rugby, Harper Collins Publishers Sydney
- Howell, Max (2005) Born to Lead – Wallaby Test Captains, Celebrity Books, Auckland NZ
- FitzSimons, Peter (1993) Nick Farr-Jones, The Authorised Biography Random House Sydney
- Ella, Mark & Smith, Terry (1987) Path to Victory: Wallaby Power in the 1980s ABC Books Sydney
- Prenter, Geoff (editor) (1997) The Greatest Games We Ever Played, Ironbark Press, Sydney – this essay Smith, Terry Australia v Wales 1984
- Stephen Jones, ed. (1985). Rothmans Rugby Yearbook 1985–86. Rothmans Publications Ltd. ISBN 0-356-10942-9.