An Irishman's Diary

Today the Ireland rugby team meets England in the Six Nations tournament at Twickenham

Today the Ireland rugby team meets England in the Six Nations tournament at Twickenham. Irish supporters, north and south, view the England match as the big one - a chance to defeat "the old enemy"!

There is no exact meaning to these last three words; but there is perhaps an illustration. In 1972, Scotland and Wales did not travel to Dublin because of the Northern "Troubles". Early in 1973, Col Hunter Dunn was asked about England. After a short, unemotional pause he replied simply, "England will come".

When the familiar white shirts took the field at Lansdowne Road on February 10th, 1973 there was an emotional standing ovation that lasted for over five minutes.

Out of the very many encounters with England at Lansdowne Road, every Irish rugby follower will have a different match to recall. I myself, go back a long, long way - to 1936, the year of the "Prince". I refer, of course, to Prince Alexander Obolensky, the Oxford University and England right wing who came to Dublin in February 1936 to meet the men in green.

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"Obo", as he was nicknamed in England, was a son of Prince Serge Obolensky, an officer in the Czar's Imperial Horse Guards. He and his wife, Luba, fled Russia for England after the 1917 revolution and settled in Muswell Hill, London. Alexander was educated at Trent College in Nottinghamshire and then went to Brasenose College, Oxford, where he gained two "Blues" for playing rugby at wing three-quarter. Later he played for Leicester Tigers. He was the man who introduced lightweight boots to rugby.

I first saw Obolensky play in the autumn of 1935 when Oxford University played Trinity in the annual Colours match. He was blond, tall and strong and ran with a forceful "knees up" style. As well as being exceptionally fast, his great asset was his deceptive change of speed in full flight and his ability to accelerate past an opponent as if he had suddenly slipped into top gear.

A New Zealand touring team led by J.E. Manchester played Ireland at Lansdowne Road in December, 1935, the score being 17-9 for the All Blacks - a respectable performance by the host country. In January 1936, England took on New Zealand at Twickenham and Obelensky played as right wing. His performance was not just brilliant, it was dazzling.

After 20 minutes, a back-line movement saw him race away from near halfway and elude one tackle before swerving past Gilbert, the full back, to ground the ball near the posts. Not long afterwards Obolensky scored again. In the movement he handled twice. He started on the right wing, but raced inside; and after a tremendous diagonal run right through the New Zealand defence, he scored in the left-hand corner. England got another try and a drop goal to win the match by 13 points to nil. It was England's first ever win against the All Blacks.

Overnight, and aided by the earliest television coverage, Obolensky became a household name in world rugby and England's visit to Dublin in February, 1936, was awaited with some trepidation, especially as a story spread around that it was his regular habit to consume a dozen oysters before kick-off.

"Cometh the hour, cometh the man" - and luckily Ireland had the right one in the hour of need: Charles Vesey Boyle, a product of the High School, Dublin, and a law student at Trinity. He was fast, tenacious and skilled at closing in on his opponent. A scrum-half at school, he later became a very effective left wing.

On February 8th, 1936, England took the field wearing black armbands as a tribute to King George V, who had just died. Ireland did the same. One can easily guess the instructions given to Boyle: he clung to Obolensky on the right wing like a limpet and never allowed him time or space to get into his stride. Not only that, but Boyle scored one of Ireland's two tries. England crossed the line only once, so it was a famous victory.

Obolensky gained a total of four caps, all in 1936; but doubt crept in about his qualification to play for England and he never appeared on the international rugby

scene again.

He joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve in 1938 and trained as a pilot. In March 1940 he was killed during training when his Hawker Hurricane fighter crashed on landing at Martlesham Heath, Suffolk. Aged only 24, he was buried with full military honours in Ipswich war cemetery.

Vesey Boyle also became an RAF pilot in the second World War. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for air operations over Italy and came through the war safely. He has lived happily in Devon for many years. His nephew, Peter Boyle, will be the next president of the Irish Rugby Football Union.