Beautiful days: six famous Ireland wins against England at Twickenham

From the ‘mad octopus’ to the prawn sandwich brigade, some of Ireland’s best wins on English soil remembered

BRIDGING A 12-YEAR GAP: Ireland's Simon Geoghegan runs off celebrating after beating England 13-12 in the Five Nations in 1994. Pic: David Rogers, Allsport

1974: England 21 Ireland 26.

Back in the mid 1970s, as now, Ireland were the dominant team in this fixture. They racked up five Five Nations wins over England on the bounce and their team sheets were decorated with legendary names: Mike Gibson, Willie-John McBride, Fergus Slattery, Ray McLoughlin, Moss Keane et al. At wintry, splintery old Twickenham exactly half a century ago it was Gibson’s understated brilliance that captivated this wide-eyed nine-year-old as Ireland scored four tries to one, with Gibson scoring twice and the visiting pack turning the screw. Johnny Moloney, the alert visiting scrum-half, capitalised on a couple of English errors to break the game open in the second half before Gibson scored twice himself, quietly popping up at just the right moment on both occasions.