This was peak Franno at time of Moss Keane!s death
2 Likes
Ollie Campbell was coming too, but he was going to the World Spoofing Championships.
There was something Shakespearian about our plight. The thunderstorm got worse. I fully expected to see Lear out on the heath. What did become very apparent amid the extraordinary power of the lightening and its intermittent illumination was the vast swathes of crosses meandering through the bocage. “Where the hell is this place?” I enquired to Vasco de Gama in the front seat. For once the Kerryman was stumped. The vast reservoir of encyclopaedic knowledge could not respond. The font of deductive reasoning was devoid of an answer. He could usually trot off a five minute explanation of his circumstances at will. It really irked him. He was quiet for about fifteen minutes in which time Jacques had followed a van from the local boulangerie which was delivering pastry to our chateau for breakfast. We got out, bid adieu to Jacques and went to bed. It was sometime in the afternoon before I blinked daylight. The phone went. There was a little boy downstairs who had things to tell me.
wow
That is outstanding
Moss Keane was the special guest when my oul’ fella won a heat of the first series of Know Your Sport in December 1987
Brendan Mullin was the special guest in his quarter-final
I can still remember the big grin on Moss’s face when he passed me in the opposite direction on a walkway in front of the long terrace at Dr. Cullen Park in Carlow at half time in the 2003 All-Ireland minor football final replay
Franno delivered a performance for the ages during the Ireland tour of France in 1988 in the non-capped test match in Auch.
As all eyes turn to Paris, please forgive your venerable contributor a small dollop of indulgence. The cold stats speak for themselves, so let’s not go there in any great depth. Putting it mildly, our record in the French capital is not good. There’s been the odd moral victory built around one Brian O’Driscoll-inspired win in 38 years.
There was one other success, which for some extraordinary reason best known to the IRFU, never registered in the official cap-counting records. It came in 1988 in the course of a four-match May tour to France under then coach Jimmy Davidson.
For a myriad of reasons, most of the big guns were unavailable for that tour embracing matches in Biarritz (v a Basque regional XV), Auch (v France), Lorient (v France) and finally in La Rochelle against the French Barbarians, led by All Black World Cup-winning captain David Kirk.
Of the Five Nations first-choice XV, only Phil Danaher, Willie Anderson, Tom Clancy, Mike Gibson and Denis McBride were available to travel. No Hugo McNeill, Trevor Ringland, Brendan Mullin, Michael Kiernan, Keith Crossan, Paul Dean, Michael Bradley, Terry Kingston, Donal Lenihan or Philip Matthews.
It was, for fairly obvious reasons, deemed mission impossible. Ken Reid was tour manager to a group for whom the advance image of lambs to the slaughter undeniably came to mind. In the absence of Lenihan, Anderson was made captain and an inspirational leader he proved to be.
Despite losing in Biarritz (33-23), the Auch game in the home town of then French coach Jacques Fouroux was seen as the one to make or break the tour. It was a full international against France in all but name.
To cut a long story short, we dug deep, ran at the French, upset their rhythm and basically got in amongst them. It could be best described rugby ‘du fond du coeur’ – from the heart. The match had a late Saturday evening kick-off to facilitate French TV. We led 7-6 at the break and held that narrow margin to take it 19-18 at the death.
Given the back-drop of such adversity, I can honestly say (and I know I speak on behalf of almost every other Irish squad member that day) it represented my proudest moment in a green shirt.
Reid (sadly since departed) said in his post-match summing: “I have never in my life been as proud of Irish rugby as on this occasion.”
IRFU president Paddy Madigan described it as “the best performance I have ever seen from an Irish team, bearing in mind the circumstances” while for Davidson (another no longer with us) it was a case of “drawing strength from adversity”.
The game has moved on and changed almost beyond recognition since then but in that fundamental respect it remains the same as ever – drawing strength from adversity.
For the record the teams that day in a match where Neil Francis stood head and shoulders – literally and metaphorically – above every other, read:
Ireland – P Danaher (Lansdowne); J Sexton (Trinity), V Cunningham (St Mary’s), P Clinch (Lansdowne), P Purcell (Lansdowne); T Ward (Greystones), F Aherne (Dolphin); T Clancy (Lansdowne), S Smith (Ballymena), J McCoy (Ballymena); N Francis (Blackrock), W Anderson, (Dungannon, capt); D Whittle (Bangor), D McBride (Malone), M Gibson (London Irish). Replacement – P O’Hara (Sunday’s Well) for Whittle (45 min).
France – JB Lafond; D Camberabero, S Blanco (capt), F Veri, P Lagisquet; F Mesnel, A Hueber; L Armary, P Marrocco, P Ondarts; A Lorieux, J Berot; M Cecillon, A Carminati, L Rodriguez.
3 Likes
Phil Danagher listed as Lansdown there ?
Correct. He was living in Dublin and playing for Lansdowne when first capped.
2 Likes
He also played minor football for Kerry and limerick & duagh and father casey’s
A classic abbeyfaler so
1 Like
He played full back at Lansdowne but played as a centre after move to Garryowen
Joe has rung the changes.
Coach Joes selection for Wales a sign of panic or careful rotation getting all the squad minutes on the pitch
The challenge is out there to those with the mental fortitude to cause a last-minute rethink or late confirmation to the coaches.
For sure, it is a lot better to have some element of control over the final decision by playing than to sit, stir and stew over what Schmidt will do.
Rotation. Weakened welsh side as well. They will both go with perceived strongest teams in cardiff next week
Difficult decision for Joe next week in squad. Three out halves injured at minute. With these niggles he needs to bring plenty cover to Japan so will have to bring 3. One of them probably only fully fit (Carty).
@Sidney
were there “test” matches played in preparation for the inaugural world cup in 1987? , or was it more of a British Lions style affair where the dirt trackers from the touring party played a Wednesday afternoon fixture against the likes of Otago or Bay of Plenty on location?
i cant recall if there was a Probables V Possibles game played that year as there would have been before the start of the 5 nations
if you had the lineups in the appropriate format which i know well that you adhere to of that fixture i would love to see it
thanks a lot
I’m sure I either read or heard quite recently that the players were effectively wrapped up in cotton wool and didn’t play a game between the final Five Nations game against Wales in Cardiff on April 4th until they played them in the first World Cup game in Wellington on I think it was May 25th
Unsurprisingly they were a bit like the food in the Dunedin hotel - undercooked, and it wouldn’t be the last time it happened to an Ireland team in a World Cup
That obviously didn’t apply to the lads who were blown up by the IRA bomb which killed Judge Maurice Gibson and his wife
1 Like
Is Sexton concussed again? Not a minute of game time so far and Saturday will be the same.