Heroes of 1982 draw parallels with last victory

Published on Monday 23 November 2009 01:05

ONLY seven members of the Scotland team which started Saturday's match were alive the last time their country defeated Australia. Of them, only Nathan Hines – who was five years old at the time – is old enough to remember the occasion, and he would have been rooting for the opposition that day.

That match was in Australia. The previous year, Scotland beat Australia at Murrayfield. At the time, the results were not earth-shattering. How the rugby world has changed since then.

A lot of great Scottish players, and some exceptional Scottish teams, have come and gone during the intervening years without being able to emulate those successes. Until now.

The date of Scotland's last win over Australia, up until Saturday's triumph at Murrayfield, was 4 July 1982. The venue was Ballymore Stadium in Brisbane. The Scotland team that day was: A.R. Irvine (Heriot's FP); K.W. Robertson (Melrose), R.J. Gordon (London Scottish), D.I. Johnston (Watsonians), G.R.T. Baird (Kelso); J.Y. Rutherford (Selkirk), R.J. Laidlaw (Jedforest); I.G. Milne (Heriot's), C.T. Deans (Hawick), G.M. McGuinness (West of Scotland), A.J. Tomes (Hawick), W. Cuthbertson (Kilmarnock), J.H. Calder (Stewart's-Melville), D.B. White (Gala), I.A.M. Paxton (Selkirk).

None of those involved could have realised how long it would be before Scotland would once again breathe in the sweet scent of success over Australia.

"That was a Scottish side that achieved a number of great things – earlier in 1982 we won in Cardiff for the first time in 20 years, we drew with New Zealand in 1983, we won the Grand Slam in 1984, eight of us toured with the Lions in 1983 – and I'm not sure we appreciated at the time just how special those successes were," reflects flanker Jim Calder, who played 27 times for Scotland between 1981 and 1986.

"Of course, there were no world rankings in those days so you didn't have this idea that you were the ninth-rated team taking on the third-rated team; and in any case, Scotland and Australia were much of a muchness in those days, so while we were obviously delighted to win over there we didn't feel as if we had turned the world on its head."

There are obvious comparisons between that victory and Saturday's success, not least the fact that Scotland were let off the hook by some wayward Australian goal-kicking. On Saturday it was Matt Giteau who passed up some vital chances to keep the scoreboard ticking over, whereas back in 1982 Michael Hawker slotted only one of his five attempts at goal. But don't try to dismiss either team's achievement as a fluke.

"On both occasions Scotland made their own luck," insists Roger Baird, who was on the left wing back in 1982, and had made his international debut in Scotland's home victory over the same opponents seven months earlier. "I would imagine that a big factor in those kicks being missed was the pressure that kicker was under – and that was down to Scotland's good work.

"There was outrage in Australia after we beat them because they had dropped Roger Gould and Paul McLean, who had been two stalwarts of their team for a long time, to bring in the Ella brothers – Glen and Mark – at stand-off and full-back respectively. They brought those old-stagers back for the second Test in Sydney a week later and absolutely stuffed us (33-9)."

Gould scored two tries in the rematch while McLean kicked five penalties and three conversions. The only other scorer for Australia that day was Michael O'Connor.

"He was another great player," says Baird. "That was his last game for Australia before he switched to rugby league and he went on to become a major star in that sport as well, which was a huge achievement in those days because rugby league players looked upon guys from union as big softies.

"That defeat was perhaps a bit of a turning point for Australia because it forced them to have a long hard look at themselves. Certainly, when they came to Britain in 1984 and achieved the Grand Slam, they were magical. I was lucky enough to be in the South side which beat them at Mansfield Park the week before the Scotland Test and they clearly didn't fancy it in the mud that day – but when they got up to Murrayfield they were on a whole different level. Mark Ella was back at stand-off, Michael Lynagh was at inside centre, Andrew Slack at outside centre, David Campese on the wing, and Gould still at full-back."

Keith Robertson was on the other wing in both the 1982 games, and scored Scotland's only try in the victory.

"To be honest, the fact that we had won down there was a bigger thing than the fact that we had beaten Australia. No Scottish team had ever won in the southern hemisphere, but we had beaten Australia before at home, so that was something new," he says.

"Strangely, the match we won was in near perfect conditions, but the second game, when they got their own back on us, was played in a gale, which you would have thought would have suited Scotland better. But it was the end of a long tour; players were carrying knocks, and we didn't have enough strength in depth to back up that first result."