From the archives: Andy Irvine main architect of famous Brisbane win

THE Scotsman ran the following report on 5 July 1982, after Scotland had defeated Australia 12-7 in Brisbane.

Scotland beat Australia 12-7 in Brisbane, with the forwards taking the honours in what was a hard game played under a cloudless sky before a capacity crowd at Ballymore. Scotland broke through the barrier of never having won any international in the southern hemisphere and a capacity crowd was stunned.

The main architect of the win was skipper Andy Irvine. He remained cool and confident from start to finish. In a game where the pressure was on the Scots for a while and then on the Australians, it was Irvine’s steadiness that won the day.

The Scotland forwards were immense and well led by big Bill Cuthbertson, the Kilmarnock lock. Two clean balls from the first three scrums left Scotland in a happy mood. Scrum-half Roy Laidlaw gave stand-off John Rutherford the nod from about 25 metres out and put the ball back. Rutherford had all the time in the world to drop a goal.

Scotland went close in the 11th minute when Jim Calder, Derek White and Iain Paxton chased a hoisted kick by Rutherford to sweep play to the Wallabies line. Australia cleared through kicks by stand-off Gary Ella and another by scrum-half Cox.

The clever kicking of Rutherford forced the Australians back time and again as they went for scores. After 22 minutes the Scots forwards were soaking up all the Wallabies threw at them.

Australia squared the score at 3-3 with a penalty by Hawker. Just before the interval, Jim Calder was held on the line and then it was the turn of Laidlaw to be pulled back, by Tony Shaw. The second half got off to a great start for Scotland with Deans chasing hard after the bouncing ball and being on the spot to charge down the clearance of Glen Ella. It was a near thing for a score but O’Connor came back to save the day for the Aussies.

Laidlaw was the man behind Scotland’s second score. He timed his move to the left to perfection when the scrum was about 20 metres out. He swung out a long pass to Keith Robertson and the Melrose man raced clear to score at the corner. Irvine converted from the touchline.

There was little consolation for the Scots when Australia launched an attack and Roche ran clear. Hawker got the ball on the touchline but looked as if he had been taken by Irvine and Gordon. It was a real slip up when Gordon pushed Hawker and thought he had landed him, but Hawker was clear and still running as he went for the corner to score a try. Hawker missed the conversion but Australia were back in the game at 9-7.

In the closing stages of the game, Tony Shaw punched Colin Deans right in front of the stand. Referee Dick Byers saw it and, from 40 metres out, Irvine kicked the goal that put Scotland 12-7 ahead.

Australia: G Ella, M Hawker, A Slack, M O’Connor, B Moon, M Ella, P Cox, T D’Arcy, W Ross, S Polecki, D Hall, P McLean, C Roche, T Shaw, M Loane.

Scotland: A Irvine, K Robertson, R Gordon, D Johnston, R Baird, J Rutherford, R Laidlaw, G McGuinness, C Deans, I Milne, W Cuthbertson,

A Tomes, D White, I Paxton, J Calder.