So nearly a legendary victory

Over a decade ago, Ireland almost pulled off a remarkable victory over the mighty All Blacks. Barry Coughlan recalls the day Ronny Carey almost became a national hero.

IT seems light years away now. The date was May 29, 1992, the venue was Carisbrook, Dunedin — the ground known as the House of Pain, because the New Zealand All Blacks had never lost there.

Ronny Carey, a then RUC officer, felt the pain more than most. Fourteen years on, he is still grieving that Ireland failed in their gallant bid to beat their southern hemisphere opponents. It ended in a 24-21 victory for the All Blacks, but Carey came agonisingly close to securing a sensational Irish win.

A minute from the end of that closely contested game, Carey lunged to take an intercept; the ball dropped from his grasp, but it went backwards and he re-gathered to set off towards the New Zealand line.

Then he heard the shrill sound of a whistle from Australian referee Sandy MacNeill, and knew the dream was over. MacNeill, hardly an ally of Ireland in either of the two Test games, ruled Carey had knocked the ball on.

Minutes later, victory went to the All Blacks, a victory they certainly didn’t deserve on one of Ireland’s proudest rugby days.

A week later, New Zealand inflicted a devastating defeat on an Irish side ravaged by injury. Carey played that day, didn’t enjoy a minute of it, and was never seen again at international level. Two caps, one that ended in drama, another in tragedy as Ireland slumped to a 6-59 defeat.

But Carey has happy memories of that tour and is thankful for the opportunity given to him to wear the green jersey of Ireland.

As a relatively unknown speedster in the Dungannon colours, everything changed for him in the winter of 1991 when he was called into the Ulster squad. He went on to help the province to their tenth successive Interprovincial title with wins over Leinster and Munster along with a draw with Connacht.

Next up, he was in the Ireland A team and from there he earned selection on the Irish tour to New Zealand.

He recalled: “When the breakthrough came, it came quickly, and I was delighted because I had confidence in my own ability; I wasn’t the type of guy who got injured very much and, though I had ambition, I never had any notions about myself. So, when the chance came, I was delighted.”

That New Zealand tour was particularly demanding, with eight games in six weeks. “In that era, provincial teams went out to soften you up in advance of Test matches, and we were not shocked by the intensity of the rugby.

“Teams now fly in, play a couple of Tests, and don’t play any provincial games. It’s much easier, but then again it takes a lot away from the touring aspect. They don’t go outside the main population areas, so at the time I was more than happy. I had never been to New Zealand, so it was an adventure,” he said.

Carey was not a first choice international winger, but was grateful for the opportunities he got, and was delighted specifically with words of support from then coach Ciaran Fitzgerald.

“Ciaran came to me after I was left out of the first two games. He told me I would get my opportunity. I accepted that he wanted to put his strongest side on the pitch — Richard Wallace and Jack Clarke would have been ahead of me — but I appreciated the words of comfort and honestly believed I would be given a fair hearing for a place in the Test side.

It was just reassuring.

Ironically, both Wallace and Clarke were to be injured. Wallace was short arm tackled by Andy Earls in the Canterbury game and broke his cheekbone. In essence, that’s how I got my opportunity, but as Noisy (Noel Murphy, the then Manager) used to say: ‘you’re only an injury away, boy.’

“I played against Bay of Plenty in Rotorua, didn’t play in the Auckland game the following Saturday, a game that was a bit of a low point in the tour because it was like a game of chess, with Auckland three moves ahead of us, but I still made the cut.”

Ireland headed for Carisbrook with a huge amount of trepidation, yet they played brilliantly as they threw down the gauntlet to an All Blacks side built around the Canterbury team. Carey recalled that Ireland were positive about their chances in the Test, even though they had been humiliated by Auckland.

“I certainly was. At that stage of my life I didn’t care about putting my body on the line once the chance came to wear the jersey. Maybe I was a bit reckless, but this was the chance to grasp an opportunity that I didn’t expect to get only a short few months before. And in that era, I don’t think any international player could pray for a better debut than to take on the All Blacks in their own backyard.

“I wasn’t the biggest guy ever to play international rugby, but I was totally focused and I backed myself with the certain skills and the determination I had,” he said.

“Look at Peter Stringer, who is even smaller and lighter, and see what he has achieved in a professional era. In my day, my role model was actually Keith Crossan. Still, it’s ironic that I was in the frame to win a third cap in the Five Nations the following year, but the selectors recalled Keith, who hadn’t played an international for a couple of years. That won him his 41st cap and he promptly announced his retirement afterwards. That’s gratitude for you, given all the glory I would have given him before that!”

Carey still feels hard done by the actions of Mr MacNeill.

“The referee called me back very late, maybe five seconds late. I think the ball did go behind me because I felt I reached back to collect. I was gone, and I would have backed myself to score. John Kirwan and Matt Cooper were chasing me, but I reckoned they were well behind me. I saw the line, and I figured I would have made it. Then, only late on, the whistle went. I was halfway there, and for a 10.9 second 100 metre runner, yes, I thought I could not be caught.”