The 1979 Ireland rugby union tour of Australia was a series of eight matches played by the

Ireland national rugby union team The Ireland national rugby union team is the men's representative national team for the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland competes in the annual Six Nations Cha ...

in Australia in May and June 1979. The tour was one of Ireland's most successful to date. Ireland won seven of the eight matches they played, including both tests against Australia. The only defeat came against Sydney. The tour also marked a notable episode in the rivalry between the two Ireland fly halves, Tony Ward and

Ollie Campbell Seamus Oliver Campbell (born 5 March 1954) is an Irish former rugby union player. He played flyhalf for Ireland from 1976 to 1984. He is most well known for his role in orchestrating Ireland's Triple Crown victory at the 1982 Five Nations Champi ...

. Ward had been an ever present during both the

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 – ...

and

1979 Five Nations Championship The 1979 Five Nations Championship was the fiftieth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the eighty-fifth series of the northern hemisphere rugby u ...

s and he also played in the early games during this tour. However he was then dropped before the first test in favour of Campbell. Campbell subsequently emerged as man of the tour, setting an Irish record when he scored 60 points during the remaining games. On 3 June in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

he scored 19 points, helping Ireland to a 27–12 victory. Campbell scored four penalties, one drop goal and converted two Colin Patterson tries. In the second test on 16 June Campbell scored two drop goals and a penalty as Ireland won 9–3. These two tests also marked the beginning and the end of the careers of two Ireland rugby legends. The first test saw the debut of Ciaran Fitzgerald while the second saw Mike Gibson make his final Ireland appearance. This test series remains Ireland's only winning tour of the southern hemisphere "big 3" countries and the last time Ireland won a test in either Australia, South Africa or New Zealand
www.irishrugby.ie
/ref> While on this tour Ned Byrne was the victim of a hit and run road accident which left his leg broken in three places.

Matches

:''Scores and results list Ireland's points tally first.''

Test matches

Touring party

*Manager: J. Coffey *Assistant Manager: Noel Murphy *Medical Officer: T.C.J. O’Connell *Captain: Fergus Slattery

Backs

Forwards

References