Barry Coughlan
He was the villain of the piece in the dying seconds of a World Cup quarter-final against Ireland at the old Lansdowne Road, but Michael Lynagh has always remained an iconic figure in the world of rugby, even particularly in Ireland.
It was 1991 and a decent Irish team scored a late try from Gordon Hamilton, a conversion from Ralph Keyes, and Ireland were on their way to a semi final against New Zealand.
Unfortunately, they lost the plot in the closing stages when all they had to do was plant the ball at the back of the east stand to finish the game. Instead, Australia launched a counter attack and Lynagh grabbed the winning try before helping the Wallabies to further success over New Zealand in the semi final and then England in the decider.
Remarkably, a week after Australia had dumped Ireland out of the competition the Irish fans gathered in force for a Lansdowne Road semi-final and cheered the Wallabies all the way to the final.
Some said it was because if they couldn’t win they wanted to have it be known that they were beaten by the eventual champions.
Actually, it was a little bit more complicated than that. That was back in the amateur days and both of these southern hemisphere giants were domiciled in different parts of Dublin.
New Zealand, that particular New Zealand squad, were a dour lot that had little or no interest in socialising with Irish supporters and stayed out, somewhere I think, in north County Dublin away from the gaze of everyone as they prepared to defend the William Webb Ellis trophy they had won four years before on home soil.
Their indifference to the locals was to turn out to be a public relations nightmare and the underestimation of a quality Wallaby side was an even greater crime.
Australia won the Lansdowne Road semi-final easily and still managed to have something in reserve to beat a good enough England team at Twickenham.
What was apparent right throughout the competition was how well prepared Australia as a group and Australia as individuals were.
They pitched tent, I believe, in the Westbury Hotel during their time in Dublin and were out and about the streets mixing with the kids for the duration.
Even after beating Ireland, when other visiting teams might have taken themselves away from the limelight, they retained a very positive PR stance.
The Irish people, hurt and all that they might have felt, didn’t forget a week later when they came out to support the Wallabies who were at that stage in the same position as Ireland had been seven days earlier – underdogs!
That team was a quality team, but it was also packed with nice guys. I’ve written two history tribute books to the Irish members of the British and Irish Lions (The Irish Lions 1896 -1983 and 1896-2001), and managed to have the second written with the help of a foreword by Wallaby legend Tim Horan, who refused point blank an offer of fees from the publishers.
His idea of payment was being allowed space to make his own personal tribute to some of the great Irish Northern Hemisphere players he watched growing up and others against whom he played.
Money didn’t come into the equation and, I suppose, that’s part of the reason why rugby, even in a professional era, can stand apart from other sports.
But that Wallaby squad of 1991, almost to a man, were of that ilk.
The first I heard about Michael Lynagh’s current predicament was when looking at a tweet from Irish rugby legend Ronan O’Gara, who would have known the Wallaby off the field rather than on it.
I won’t repeat the message O’Gara tweeted, but it was, suffice to say, a heartfelt wish that a man who must have been one of his heroes makes a quick recovery from what has now – almost certainly – been diagnosed as a stroke.
Rog is just one of hundreds of thousands who will wish Lynagh , and his family, the same good wishes.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/C0ea1eCiBrY/post.aspx
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