''Alone It Stands'' is a play by John Breen that tells the story of the 1978

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

match at

Thomond Park Thomond Park is a stadium in Limerick in the Irish province of Munster. The stadium is owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union and has Munster Rugby, Shannon RFC and UL Bohemian RFC as tenants. Limerick FC played home games in Thomond Park fr ...

between Irish provincial side

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

and the New Zealand national team, the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

. The title, borrowed from the Shannon club's anthem, There Is An Isle, derives from the fact that Munster's 12-0 victory in the match remained the only time any Irish team, national or otherwise, had ever beaten the All Blacks before 2016. A multitude of different fictional made up fairy tales interlink to convey the hype and, indeed, pashun running up to and during the big match. Stories of birth, tragedy and building bonfires prevail, as the play charts the personal stories of various characters and their whereabouts on the momentous day. In the play six actors play 62 roles including the Munster team, the New Zealanders playing on the All Blacks team, the two coaches, the ref, the crowd, the press, a pregnant woman, Bunratty singers, several children, a dog and even the ball itself.

References

{{New Zealand national rugby union team 2002 plays Irish plays Munster Rugby New Zealand national rugby union team 1978 in New Zealand rugby union 1978–79 in Irish rugby union