Savouring Lansdowne’s last stand on a day to remember

SO, yes, we honour the players, the teams, but we must come back to this grand old stadium. She went in style, blowing up a storm of the kind that had befuddled the best kickers rugby has ever known, all down the decades.

The rain eased about an hour before kick-off, sparing us the worst of what Lansdowne Road has to offer on her meanest days. But the wind blew in hard from the Havelock Square end – or was it coming from the Lansdowne Road side? Or was it coming from both ends simultaneously, meeting in a maelstrom in the middle so that even the touchline flags were confused.

No matter, it created havoc. Which is one of the reasons this old ground has to go, and even the Lansdowne Road veterans accept the inevitable. Here’s Seán Diffley: “My first time here was a schools’ match in 1943, and I’ve been coming here every year since. I have so many great memories of the place, hard to pick the best, but it was probably 1947, when Ireland beat England 22-0, a record win that still stands. Both wingers scored two tries each, at a time when wingers didn’t see very much of the ball, Bertie O’Hanlon and Barney Mullen. There’s no doubt though, this was a most fitting send-off. A very emotional occasion, full marks to both teams, they served up a really hard tussle, and the crowd rose to it, matched the occasion.

“You’d be sad to see the end of it, but it has served its cause and hopefully now the bulldozers will move in quickly and we’ll have the new stadium in place within a few years.”

Ditto the doyen of Irish rugby writers, Ned van Esbeck: “The first match I ever saw here was in 1947, Ireland against Australia. I came up from Cork on the train, and I’ll never forget the excitement. Ireland were well beaten, 16-3, there was great despondency, but four months later we won the Grand Slam. The first match I reported was over 40 years ago, fantastic memories. I feel very sad about it, really.

“I know it’s a bit decrepit now, but there’s huge romance out there in that stadium. I can go back to all the great schools’ cup matches, matches against the touring teams, winning the Triple Crown in ‘82 and ‘85, beating England here in 2001, Munster and Leinster last year – the memories just keep rolling in. I just hope the future generations get the same pleasure from this stadium as I got in the last half century.

“It’s great to get Croke Park while this is being re-developed, but this is the home of Irish rugby – we’ll be back.”

Ah, yes, you can try to create all the atmosphere you like, all the noise you like, but Lansdowne Road was always about the rugby. And as it always was, so it always shall be. Amen.