Ireland welcome Australia to the Aviva Stadium this Saturday as Joe Schmidt’s men aim to finish the Guinness Series with a 100 per cent record and add some more great memories to a rivalry that has given us its fair share of magical moments.
Here is SportsJOE’s five favourite pieces of green versus gold action…
1. ‘Has he got the pace to get there… YES!’
One of my earliest rugby memories is also one of the great heartbreaks in Irish rugby history. Trailing 15-12 entering the closing stages of a World Cup quarter-final at Lansdowne Road, winger Jack Clarke collects a grubber kick through and pops the ball up, seemingly to no-one. Then, as if shot from a cannon, flanker Gordon Hamilton hits the ball at pace and gets all the way to the corner, sparking a mini pitch invasion and general delirium. Unfortunately, the Aussies weren’t flustered and an even later Michael Lynagh try brought Ireland back to earth.
2. Stephen Ferris takes Will Genia for a ride
It’s clips like this that make us all wonder what might have been if Ulster totem Ferris had not been so cruelly struck down with injuries.In between his many knee and ankle problems, however, Ferris was a beast in Ireland’s back row, his signature moment coming at Eden Park in the 2011 World Cup, picking up and carrying Will Genia back ten yards from the base of a Wallaby scrum and setting the tone for a historic 15-6 win.
3. BOD leaves it late
Having been on the end of more than a few painful finishes to big matches (see clip 1 above and last year’s defeat by the All Blacks), it was sweet to be on the other side of things when Australia visited Croke Park in 2009. Seven points behind with time running down, it looked like all was lost when Tommy Bowe was held up in the corner. But Ireland held their nerve and, with the final play of the game, skipper Brian O’Driscoll scythed through to touch down for a deserved draw.
4. The Claw reaches for the line
It’s fair to say Ireland weren’t known for their lightning counter attacks back in the day, so this try in the first test of the 1994 tour Down Under was something of a collector’s item. Backs and forwards combined in perfect harmony as Ireland covered 80 metres against the world champions, with prop Peter Clohessy putting the exclamation point on the score by trucking over the last defender for the first of four international tries.
5. Hickie shows off his fancy footwork
Ireland went into the November 2006 visit of Wallabies in a very similar situation to the one Joe Schmidt’s squad face this weekend. Off the back of a strong Six Nations, Ireland were looking to back up a huge win over South Africa the previous week. Denis Hickie was by now in the autumn of his career, but showed he still had those dancing feet when he collected Ronan O’Gara’s cross-kick and jinked and spun his way over the line to give Ireland the lead en route to a 21-6 victory.
