1981 Ireland rugby union tour of South Africa

Matches

Scores and results list Ireland's points tally first.

Opposing Team	For	Against	Date	Venue
South African Gazelles	15	18	16/05/1981	Loftus Versfeld Loftus Versfeld Stadium Loftus Versfeld Stadium is a rugby and association football stadium situated in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. The stadium has a capacity of 51,762 for rugby union and hosted the 2009 Currie Cup final... , Pretoria Pretoria Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
South African Mining Invitation XV	46	7	20/05/1981	Olën Park, Potchefstroom Potchefstroom, North West Potchefstroom is an academic city in the North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University...
President's Trophy XV	54	3	23/05/1981	Kings Park Stadium Kings Park Stadium Kings Park , is a stadium in the Kings Park Sporting Precinct in Durban, South Africa, which was originally built in 1891 and extensively renovated in the 1990s... , Durban Durban Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
South African Country Districts 'B'	16	17	26/05/1981	Boland Stadium, Wellington Wellington, Western Cape Wellington is a town in the Western Cape Winelands 45 minutes from Cape Town, in South Africa with a population of approximately 58,300. Wellington's economy is centered around agriculture such as wine, table grapes, citrus fruit and a brandy industry. The town is located 75 km north-east of...
South Africa South Africa national rugby union team The South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental...	15	23	30/05/1981	Newlands Newlands Stadium Newlands Stadium, currently referred to as DHL Newlands for sponsorship reasons, is located in Cape Town, South Africa.The stadium currently has a capacity of 51,900 people, but is not an all seater venue.... , Cape Town Cape Town Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
Gold Cup XV	51	10	02/06/1981	Oudtshoorn
South Africa South Africa national rugby union team The South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental...	10	12	06/06/1981	Kings Park Stadium Kings Park Stadium Kings Park , is a stadium in the Kings Park Sporting Precinct in Durban, South Africa, which was originally built in 1891 and extensively renovated in the 1990s... , Durban Durban Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...

Ireland embarked on their first tour to South Africa after a twenty year absence on the back of a five nations championship which they were widely considered to be favourites to win but ended with four defeats having lost all their matches for the first time since 1977. Despite condemnation from political and ecclesiastical sources, the IRFU honoured their promise to undertake a seven match tour against multiracial sides and included twelve uncapped players as well as half a dozen former British and Irish Lions in the touring party. A number of players had resigned their posts when employers declined to grant leave of absence for the tour whilst others had no option but to simply declare their unavailability.

Of the seven matches played, the majority including both test matches were lost. Injuries to two key players proved difficult to overcome. John Robbie (later to become a non-capped Springbok) injured a shoulder in the first half of the opening fixture and only gained match fitness in the last few days of the tour whilst Ollie Campbell only played twice on tour, his replacement Mick Quinn having last played international rugby in March, 1977.

Ahead of the Gazelles fixture (the SA U-24 side), much had been made of the attacking potential of the Irish three quarters yet on the day the only points Ireland scored in front of a 35,000 crowd were through the boot of Kevin O'Brien

Kevin O'Brien (rugby union)

Kevin O'Brien is a former rugby union international who represented Ireland from 1980 to 1981.-Rugby union career:O'Brien played club rugby for Broughton Park and made his international debut on 19 January 1980 at Twickenham in the England vs Ireland match that was won by England 24-9. He later...

as the tourists were outplayed in the lineout through the work of lock Skinner. There was nothing particularly undersized about the under-24 side featuring a number of future Springboks in their ranks including Jannie Breedt, the 21 stone Flippie van der Merwe and Piet Kruger as props and 6'9" Vleis Visagie at lock. Future Springbok coach Carel du Plessis scored one try from the wing playing alongside SARFF's Wilfred Cupido, one of four coloured players included in the list of the sixty-four trialists ahead of the three test series in New Zealand later on in the year.

The second fixture played at Olen Park -scene of Mike Slemen's unforgettable try during the 1980 BIRUT tour, saw Ireland take on fairly underwhelming opposition in the guise of the Gold Mining Invitation XV. Solomon Mhlaba, a tourist to the UK with the 1979 SA Baa Baas started at full back for the GMI but he saw little of the ball to demonstrate his attacking prowess as Ireland ran in seven tries with John Murphy contributing a total of eighteen points via his boot from fullback.

Mhlaba's SARU co-tourists from 1979,Poro and Sonto both started in the President's XV in East London in a multiracial, invitational side who were somewhat overrun by an Irish side spearheaded by a rampant backrow with captain Slattery notching a hat-trick of tries. Murphy contributed another eighteen points through six conversions, a penalty and a drop goal as he put down a firm marker for the full back test position.

On the face of it, the Country Districts B XV side posed the most unlikely banana skin the tourists would encounter on the tour. The Districts' A side was itself on tour to Canada and a number of the Irish players had allegedly voiced their concerns over a lack of credible and serious opposition ahead of the forthcoming first test, which at best could be described as unfortunate given the 17-16 reversal recorded in an error strewn performance by the visitors.

There were first caps for Murphy,Paul Dean and Jerry Holland at Newlands, a game which Ireland could undoubtedly have won, matching the Springbok pack in all phases of the game but they were seriously undermined and derailed by injuries to both Murphy and Campbell, which ultimately ruled both players out for the remainder of the tour. The fixture was the 99th test match played by South Africa. They sported white shirts in deference to the Irish but it was the presence of Erroll George Tobias in a Springbok shirt, in a midfield pairing with Danie Gerber, making him the first coloured player to appear in an international for the republic rather than the scoreline which made the international headlines on the day rather than the closeness of the result.

The midweek fixture against a multi racial Gold Cup Invitation XV provided the opportunity for Mick Quinn to once again don the emerald shirt although he only goaled three of the nine tries scored. John Robbie also made a welcome return to action, celebrating the occasion with a brace of tries and a drop goal to boot.

The Irish pack simply surpassed themselves throughout the second test at Kings Park with the back row of O'Driscoll, Slattery and Duggan quite magnificent as the bigger Springbok pack were outplayed in every phase of the game. Holding a 7-6 half time lead courtesy of a searing try from full back O'Brien

Kevin O'Brien (rugby union)

and a Quinn penalty to a Botha drop goal and penalty, another Quinn penalty extended the lead out to 10-6. Yet a further two Botha drop goals were to deprive Ireland of their glory, as he became only the fourth player in history to drop three goals in a test, his final effort being only minutes from the end of the game.

Touring party

Manager: P. Madigan
Assistant Manager: Tom Kiernan
Tom Kiernan
Thomas Joseph Kiernan is a former Ireland international rugby union player. He won 54 caps for Ireland as a full-back between 1960 and 1973 and captained his country 24 times. At the time of his retirement he was Ireland's most-capped player, most experienced captain and record scorer in...
Medical Officer: M. Little
Captain: Fergus Slattery
Fergus Slattery
John Fergus Slattery is a former rugby union player who represented Ireland. He played schools rugby for Blackrock College and then moved on to play senior rugby for UCD, before earning a call up to the Ireland team in 1970. During his career Slattery earned 61 caps, 18 as captain, and scored 3...

(Blackrock College
Blackrock College RFC
Blackrock College Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club located in Blackrock, Dublin, Ireland. The club was founded in 1882 by former pupils of Blackrock College...

)

Full Backs

J J Murphy* (Greystones); K A O'Brien

Kevin O'Brien (rugby union)

(Broughton Park

Broughton Park RUFC

Broughton Park RUFC, is one of the oldest rugby union clubs in England and was established in 1882, just one year after the Lancashire County Rugby Union was founded and eleven years after the formation of the national Rugby Football Union.-History:...

);

Three-Quarters

A C McLennan (Wanderers);K D Crossan* (Instonians); D G Irwin (Queen's University); A W Irwin* (Queens' University): J A Hewitt*(NIFC); M J Kiernan*(Lansdowne); T J Kennedy (St. Mary's College);

Half-Backs

P M Dean*(St.Mary's College); S O Campbell(Old Belvedere) [rep: M A M Quinn(Lansdowne)]; J C Robbie (Greystones) [rep: J B O' Connor*(Palmerston)] R J M McGrath (Wanderers);

Forwards

P A Orr (Old Wesley); J L Cantrell(UCD); H T Harbison*(UCD); G A J McLoughlin (Shannon); D C Fitzgerald*(Lansdowne); B O Foley (Shannon); J J Holland*(Cork Constitution); G H Wallace*(Old Wesley); J B O'Driscoll (London Irish); J F Slattery (Blackrock College); R K Kearney*(Wanderers); W P Duggan (Blackrock College); A F O'Leary*(Cork Constitution)

= selected as a previously uncapped tourist

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