'Like gladiator stuff in Rome' - 30 years on from the day the Wallabies were mauled at Musgrave

Munster's reputation for putting manners on touring sides was well established by 1992. That didn't stop the world champions walking into an ambush

RED STORM: Terry Kingston and teammates celebrate during Munster's famous victory over Australia at Musgrave Park in 1992. Picture: Irish Examiner Archive

The pitch is an artificial playing surface these days, the main stand upgraded and a McDonald’s drive-thru restaurant occupies one of the corners of the land that used to constitute Musgrave Park. Yet 30 years to the day since Munster defeated world champions Australia 21-19 there, the old Cork stadium still reverberates to the cacophony of spectators hammering the metal advertising hoardings in support of their underdog province.

Munster’s reputation of putting manners on touring sides had been set in motion in 1967 when Noel Murphy’s side defeated the Wallabies 11-8 at Musgrave Park and cemented when the All Blacks were beaten at Thomond Park 11 years later. The Australians lost again at Musgrave Park in 1981 yet the 1992 tourists had not paid heed to the history lessons as they return to Cork after another 11-year gap.

Bob Dwyer’s team was full of household names having lifted the World Cup the previous year and had nailed down their status as the game’s best by going undefeated on their tour of South Africa in August 1992. They beat three provincial sides and then the Springboks in Cape Town with a side at Newlands containing the likes of John Eales and Phil Kearns in their pack and a stellar backline featuring skipper Nick Farr-Jones and Michael Lynagh at half-back, Tim Horan and Jason Little in midfield and David Campese on the wing.

The gang, except for the now-retired Farr-Jones, was all back together again for their end-of-season tour to Europe and most of that Test side was chosen to open their bid for a 13-game clean sweep when the schedule got underway with a routine 38-11 win over Leinster at Lansdowne Road four days earlier.

When Dwyer sent out a second string captained by David Nucifora in Cork, the Munster players detected a certain cockiness in the Australian mindset and they had a coach in Garrett Fitzgerald with an astute grasp of the situation.

“Garrett was my coach for a lot of my senior years, in UCC and he became Irish Universities coach and then coached us for Munster-Australia,” full back Charlie Haly told the Irish Examiner earlier this month. “Looking back on it now, everything was so well organised for us, we didn’t have to think about anything and all the moves and plays we had were straightforward so we did everything well but nothing fancy, no crazy moves or anything like that.

“Most Australians are self-assured, shall we say, some of them I think were more individuals and we were more like a team but rugby isn’t about individuals, it’s such a team game and anybody can beat anybody on the day.

“We were very much galvanised, one being from Munster, two having good leaders on the pitch and we had very good leaders that day, Terry (Kingston, the captain), Mick Galwey, (Philip) Danaher, they were great guys to have when things weren’t going so well.” 

Things certainly were not going well for Munster when the Wallabies went into an early 6-0 lead through the boot of Haly’s opposite number Tim Kelaher, and then saw Garryowen fly-half Dan Larkin helped from the field as the tourists showed their nasty side, rucking over a prone Larkin after he had been tackled around the neck by flanker Sam Scott-Young.

HEROES OF THE DAY: The Munster Team which beat Australia at Musgrave Park in 1992. Picture: Irish Examiner Archive

“It was an attitude they had about them. Don’t forget they were coming in as world champions and they were having to play in Musgrave Park which wasn’t as good as it is nowadays and they were probably looking at us as like country bumpkins,” Haly said.

“But when they nearly killed Dan Larkin, that was the biggest turning point for us. They were the world champions, never been beaten and I think maybe at the start of the game we let them play a bit.

“But after that we got a sniff of it and tore into them. Their wing forward high tackled him, he went down and their pack rucked over him. He was a potential neck injury and they went flying over him, rucking.

“The referee blew the whistle, penalty to us and that huddle that we had then changed everything really. All the lads said, ‘fuck this, we’re not taking this shit’ and the pack especially, we had an unbelievable pack – an international front row, an international second row and then the back row. Ger Earls was the hardest guy you could ever come across, Ger Clohessy the other wing forward was an absolute colossus of a man who would never take a step backwards and then Ben Cronin, who would have been tough but was a silky smooth ball player and a great lineout guy.

“So in that huddle Terry (Kingston) and Galwey were the leaders of that pack and they were fabulous. We had probably been standing back a bit from them before then and we were losing (15-6) but when that happened it changed our perspective on the game. We had maybe been naïve but psychologically then we felt we had to take this on.

“And that’s what happened in that game. In certain matches there’s a moment that changes things and that was definitely a moment and then all hell broke loose, I can tell you. We also had Philip Danaher in the back, who was an Irish captain as well and he was a tough bit of stuff and Danaher was driving it as well. He made a few tackles that were top-drawer stuff, inspirational and that just drove everybody on.

“Everybody’s game suddenly went to a new level. I kicked a couple of penalties after that and we just kept knocking on the door. We scored a pushover try and kept clawing away at them, got closer and closer and we got another penalty and it was going bananas. They had those metal advertising hoardings around the ground and the supporters were all hitting them so there was this cacophony as we drew closer to Australia and everyone sensed there was a potential win.

“We fed off each other, really, we were hitting every tackle 10 times as hard and with the crowd behind you, you drove in harder, you rucked harder and I think Australia were just shellshocked then.” 

The rough stuff intensified as the game wore on and the Wallabies’ 19-10 half-time lead was eroded through full-back Haly’s four penalties and his conversion of the penalty try award after a third-successive collapsed scrum.

With 10 minutes ago, “all hell broke loose” according to Haly. 

“We had committed to never taking a step back at that stage and there was a lineout and I don’t know if there was a 99 call or something like that but all hell broke loose in the lineout. There was a massive fight, the poor old referee was a French fella and I’d say he picked Galwey and Garrick Morgan out as just two of the guys who were throwing… it was just handbags stuff really rather than serious boxing going on. But they got sent off.

“It really lifted the crowd. I’ve never seen a crowd like that day, it was like gladiator stuff in Rome, they were great.” 

Musgrave went bananas again when Larkin’s replacement Jim Galvin sent over an injury-time drop goal to seal a famous victory that Galwey would describe as “one of my proudest moments in a Munster jersey, even though I was sent off!” It paved the way for a night of celebration Haly still remembers fondly as captain Kingston and their coach, the late Garrett Fitzgerald took charge once more.

“We had a great time afterwards, brilliant. The meal had gone on over in Jury’s and in fairness, Terence Kingston and Garrett took us all off to a quiet bar afterwards opposite the Mercy Hospital. It was just the team and they said to us, ‘look, you’ve created history, keep your heads, let’s just be together’. It was a lovely time.

“Thirty years ago! That’s mad,” Haly exclaimed. “As far as I know there’s no plans for a reunion. If the likes of Garrett Fitzgerald was still around there probably would be. He was a great organiser and a very good coach, he managed everything so well. Back when we were playing he was fantastic that way, a very good organiser and I’d say if he was still around today we probably would be doing something but I’d forgotten it was 30 years. It seems to have gone in a blink of the eye.”

MUNSTER 21 AUSTRALIA 19 

MUNSTER: Charlie Haly (Cork Constitution); Richard Wallace (Garryowen), Brian Walsh (Cork Constitution), Philip Danaher (Garryowen), Jack Clarke (Dolphin); Dan Larkin (Garryowen), Derek Tobin (Young Munster); Paul McCarthy (Cork Constitution), Terry Kingston (Dolphin) - captain, Peter Clohessy (Young Munster), Richard Costelloe (Garryowen); Mick Galwey (Shannon); Ger Clohessy (Young Munster), Ben Cronin (Garryowen), Ger Earls (Young Munster).

Replacements used: Jim Galvin (Shannon) for Larkin, Eoin O'Sullivan (Crescent) for Costelloe.

AUSTRALIA: Tim Kelaher (Randwick); Damian Smith (Southern District), Anthony Herbert (GPS Queensland), Richard Tombs (Suburbs), Darren Junee (Randwick); Paul Kahl (Eastern District), Anthony Ekert (Gordon); Cameron Lillicrap (Queensland Univ), David Nucifora (Queensland Univ, capt), Dan Crowley (Southern District); Garrick Morgan (Southern District), Warwick Waugh (Randwick); Michael Brial (Eastern Suburbs), Sam Scott-Young (Southern District), Troy Coker (Southern District).

Replacement: Ewen McKenzie (Randwick) for Crowley.

Referee: Marc Desclaux (France).