The only one that didn't get away

Ireland v New Zealand: In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king - or so they say - and so it is that the Ireland team that held New Zealand to a 10-10 draw on January 20th, 1973, at Lansdowne Road retains a place in the pantheon of Irish achievement. It's a modest building.

Ireland and New Zealand have met on 17 occasions, the All Blacks winning on 16, and the only blip from a Kiwi perspective came on that occasion 22 years ago. It's not as if there weren't decent Irish performances both before and afterwards in matches between the countries, it's just Irish rugby couldn't produce anything tangible other than the draw.

In 1963 Ireland came within a point, losing 6-5 at Lansdowne Road to an outstanding All Blacks side that included Wilson Whineray and Don Clarke, whose late penalty broke Irish hearts. A decade later, three Irish players - Ray McLoughlin, Willie John McBride and Tom Kiernan - would come agonisingly close yet again.

Invited to reminisce about the 1973 match, McLoughlin, acknowledged during his playing days as a keen student of the game, smiled: "I recall more about the game in 63 maybe because I was younger and perhaps because Ireland arguably played better that day against a superb New Zealand team that contained so many brilliant players.

"The game in 1973 was a battle of attrition and will be remembered for Tom Grace's try. It was a great score, coming a couple of minutes from the end.

"My memories of the match itself are quite sketchy but I do recall joining Ian Kirkpatrick and Kent Lambert for a drink on the Sunday morning after the match and witnessing Lambert performing a kind of sheep-shearing exercise on one of the other players.

"I love New Zealand as a country and the earthy nature of the people. You couldn't but greatly respect what they achieved on the pitch.

"I don't remember feeling any great sense of achievement after the draw. Most of us were around long enough not to get too excited when we won or too depressed when we lost. It was much the same as any other international night after the match."

It is a view shared by Ireland's try scorer that day, Tom Grace.

"I was relatively new on the team at the time but for players like Tom (Kiernan), Willie John (McBride) and Ray (McLoughlin), who had been on the national side for a long time, it probably would have been a little disappointing," he said.

"They might have viewed it as an opportunity lost. There certainly wasn't any additional celebrating because we had managed a draw. The standing joke after the match and on each occasion that I run into Barry McGann is his declaration that he had the chance to make me famous by converting that try, but missed. He apologises every time we meet.

"The try came in the last minute and for about three seconds as the conversion was on its way it looked like we could have snatched a win. It just slid by the left-hand upright.

"I only saw the try for the first time about three years ago when someone sent me a video. It was a three-way race between myself, Johnny Moloney and the New Zealand outhalf Bob Burgess.

"The biggest concern was that the ball went perilously close to the dead-ball line, but a photograph in a newspaper shows that I did manage to ground it in time. Johnny probably could have got there ahead of me. There was a mini-pitch-invasion.

"It was such a hard, physical match. If you had to make a tackle you couldn't afford to fall off it even slightly, while if you were tackled you felt it.

"It's a bit embarrassing to still be getting calls about the match - I'd love to see Ireland win on Saturday and create their own bit of history."

New Zealand started quickly that day and dominated the early exchanges, recording tries through scrumhalf Sid Going and flanker Alex "Grizz" Wylie, with fullback Joe Karam tagging on a conversion. Ireland's points initially came through the boot of outhalf Barry McGann with two penalties, prior to Grace's intervention.

One man who, by his own account, had a hand in two tries that afternoon was scrumhalf Johnny Moloney.

"Gracer's try I think began from a scrum on the halfway line. I think I made a bit of a break and kicked ahead. Tom was faster so he got there first, plus the fact that I'd been working my ass off all day while he'd been lolling around on the wing," he laughed.

"For Sid Going's try, I had the ball initially but backed into someone and then tried to slip it to Slats (Fergus Slattery). Going got in between the two of us and nicked the ball. I suppose that one would have to be classed as an OG.

"It was a bloody hard game. They were like concrete, so strong. Many of their team were farmers and they had that physical hardness. I came off battered, black and blue but it wasn't down to dirty play. If you fell on the wrong side it was up to you to get out of the way. I was struck by their different and very effective style of rucking."

Moloney never realised at the time the significance of the draw or that it would last so long in the consciousness of Irish rugby.

"It was no big deal as there wasn't much hype about the result. In some respects (and on the balance of play) we were lucky to draw but could have won it. If we had lost it would not have been daylight robbery."

On Saturday, McLoughlin, Grace and Moloney will be in the sanctuary of the stand, united as in their playing days by a common wish: that Ireland can beat the All Blacks. They have no desire to commandeer the spotlight any longer in this particular fixture.

IRELAND: T Kiernan; T Grace, M Gibson, K Flynn, W McMaster; B McGann, J Moloney; R McLoughlin, K Kennedy, S Lynch; W J McBride, K Mays; J Davidson, F Slattery, T Moore.

NEW ZEALAND: J Karam; B Williams, B Robertson, I Hurst, G Batty; B Burgess, S Going; G Whiting, T Norton, K Lambert; P Whiting, H Macdonald; A Wylie, I Kirkpatrick, A Sutherland.

Referee: M Joseph (Wales).