Gallant Italians. All they lacked was a bit guile. Playing with heart admirable but costly
Not sure if Peter Brown was Scotland captain in 1972 but he would have been on the team. The 1972 championship was unfinished as Scotland and Wales wouldn’t travel to Dublin because of the security situation.
They were a great sporting family. Brother, Gordon Brown (Broon frae Troon) was in the engine room with Willie John McBride on the victorious British Lions tours of 1971 to New Zeland and 1974 to South Africa. He was the only player to play in test matches on all three British Lions tours of the 1970’s as he played in 3 tests in New Zealand in 1977.
Their tather Jock Brown was capped for Scotland as a goalkeeper, won a league medal with Hibernian in 1948 and a Scottish Cup with Clyde in 1939. An uncle, (brother of Jock) played for USA in the first World Cup in Uruguary in 1930.
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Triple Crown against Scotland 2004, the year they put D’Arcy and Driscoll together in the centre was when it all changed. Was like playing with 5 backrows and both could also leave their man for dead.
February 19th, 2000 was when it changed. Ireland had lost 106-6 to England at Twickenham. Gatty made about 8 or 9 changes for Scotland at Lansdowne. O’Gara, Stringer, Horgan and The BULL Hayes were all NEW CAPS. Galwey and Hickie were brought back after being inexplicably out in the cold. Scotland took a 0-10 lead and were inevitably grinding their way to their annual victory over Ireland.
Ireland then scored 44 points without reply. The next 24 years started right there and then.
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That was the genesis of the team alright, I suppose I was talking more about when they were ready to contend
Depends what you mean by contend. Ireland’s graph shot up in 2000. But there was a very, very, very good England team coming the boil from that point on.
England winning the World Cup was the end of a process (cc: of @peddlerscross).
Ireland beat that England team in 2001, granted England were missing a few key cogs and two right beatings followed in 2002 and 2003.
Ireland didn’t massively improve for 2004. They were well beaten in Paris the first day out.
The main thing that changed for 2004 was England were done. That and D’Arcy I suppose. I don’t know why D’Arcy wasn’t brought in until then as it seemed obvious to me in 2001 that he should be in or around the team.
There’s been a common theme since 2000. Ireland could always beat England because Ireland always think they have a chance against England and indeed Ireland have beaten England more often than not since 2000. They could beat France when France weren’t bothered, which was most of the time, especially at Lansdowne Road. But when France were bothered, they’d still thrash us. Ireland always had a bigger hang up about France than about England. And we’ve contended at more or less the same level at every World Cup since 2000.
The try David Humphreys got against Scotland in 2000, I think it was the last try Ireland got which made it 44-10, it came from either a charged down kick or a misplaced pass up the other end. Humphries kicked it ahead and nearly ran the length of the pitch without ever picking up the ball. The only player challenging him was Denis Hickie. Either of them could scored it. In the camera shot you could see Hickie slightly behind Humphreys as Humphreys goes in to fall on the ball for the try, and Hickie wheels around back towards the camera and looks up to the heavens like some miracle has happened. That moment symbolised the change in attitude. The crowd were going bananas. Ireland hadn’t had a victory like it in years. The next game was against Italy and the crowd were ON IT and Keith Wood was like a man possessed and Ireland demolished them. Then Drico performed his miracle in Paris. Then Munster went to Bordeaux and walked all over Toulouse.
After Lens Irish rugby was a national joke. Within a few months there a complete and sudden sea change.
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Bring up your posts about Munster in landsdowne in 04 and 06.
@Cheasty i read the first line of your post and was thinking about Darcy.
That’s one of my earlier Irish rugby memories. Him being played at 12. He was a winger or fullback originally wasn’t he?
Actually my earliest Irish rugby memory was watching the game with my grand uncle and my dad who had no interest on a Sunday against England. We got absolutely
hammered. It must have been 2003.
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It’s sort of feels right from 2000 which was the Celtic tiger to 2027 in Australia where so many young Irish live will probably be life cycle.
Looks like we lost these posts
Welcome back @mickee321
They were days of days and it felt like the were days of days at the time. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Dublin look sexier than on those days.
You knew for the '06 semi-final that this was a never to be repeated day because the stadium was about to be knocked down. It was like the Hungary game in '89 in terms of atmosphere. I know this and I wasn’t even at it. I was in a nearby pub however and you could nearly feel the ground shaking under you. Munster made people behave in feral and primal ways.
You could never get it now for a few reasons but 90% of the reason is because the stadium is gone. That stadium was ripe to be turned into a feral cauldron. 70% of the people in it were standing. You can’t get that in the new stadium. It’s sterile.
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D’Arcy made his name at 14 for Leinster. Horgan played for Leinster in the centre, at 12. Then eventually for Ireland D’Arcy would play 12 while Horgan continued at 14.
I recall talking to a fella from Westmeath on the train back from one of the weekly Na Fianna matches in Newbridge at the end of '01. This fella had also gone down on the train for the match. It must have been the day after the Celtic League final against Munster when Eric Miller was sent off but Leinster still won. “Leinster have the best backs I’ve ever seen, honestly, I’ve seen anything like them, they’re unreal.” This fella was raving about D’Arcy in particular. He knew.
I think it was Niall “Bressie” Breslin actually.
This is the day it all changes …winning in Paris backing up the two home wins against Scotland and Italy…salad days
He was a brilliant full back at schools level so much so he was picked to go to South Africa on tour his leaving cert summer …he didn’t go he did his leaving instead !
He was v advanced physically compared to most schools players in those days
When Dorce made the break in the lead up to Girvinator’s iconic try at Twickenham the knowledgeable George Hook was salivating at the prospect of him eventually getting to play full back for Ireland
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Ian reckons Ireland players need to learn how to run
Ireland’s rugby players need to run better. And it’s never too late to learn
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What time are the team of us up today?
2.10
4.40 for England - Scotland
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