Over 50 sets of brothers have played for their country andmany more for Leinster, Connacht, Ulster and Munster. Who can forget the sight of the two Fogarty brothers scrumaging down against each other in the 2008 Heineken Cup Semi-Final between Leinster and Munster?
Where does all that brotherly competitiveness come from? What
The Wallaces The Kearneys
The Easterbys The Heaslips
The Bests The Springs
The Doyles The Fogartys
The Mclaughlins The O'Callaghans
To find out more about Charlie Mulqueen, click here.
ISBN 9781856358262
Reviews:
Meath Chronicle - '... provides an insight into the highs and lows of some of Ireland's best known players.'
Sunday Business Post - 'An insight into some of the most famous sibling connections in Irish rugby.'
EXTRACT
Brothers in Sport: RUGBY
Charlie Mulqueen
Mercier Press, Cork
FOREWORD
There has always been a sense of family in rugby. Indeed, I suspect in many ways it has been the sport’s biggest recruiting tool. And even though I followed my father in wearing the green jersey of Ireland and the red jersey of the Lions, his was not the biggest influence on my career. The dulcet tones of Bill McLaren commentaries in the late seventies always led to very competitive games in the garden with my older brothers. Gordon and John were my heroes, the people I always wanted to emulate. There was never going to be any doubt that I was going to make the trek to St Munchin’s to follow in their footsteps and to play rugby. I even joined Bohemians as a scrawny twelve-year-old scrum half before I bulked up and made the transition to a totally different area of the rugby pitch! But it was in the games in the back garden where their influence found fertile soil. Skills were honed, mental games enacted. I was toughened up. My first injury was a chip and chase that ended up with a dive and a dislocated jaw in the rockery. A quick trip to the doctor and then back out for a rematch after dinner. As if I had a choice! I am reminded of those times when I see my own three sons kick the lard out of each other in the garden. Their drive and determination are something to see and give me an insight into my own development as a brother and as a rugby player. For some brothers, this early competition leads to extraordinary results. From those early days back in the 1920s when the many brothers who represented their country first came to prominence, to the unparalleled modern achievements of the Wallaces, Charlie has, with his usual skill, brought these stories to life. Each chapter is a story in itself and each story is part and parcel of what we are all part of – the rugby family.
Keith Wood
Former Ireland captain, twice Lions tourist and IRB World Player of the Year 2001
JIM AND TOM KIERNAN
'Some of the matches we saw in our day, they were more like a funeral than a rugby match.'Jim Kiernan
Captain of Ireland, captain of the Lions, prolific points scorer, proud possessor of fifty-four Irish caps and seven Munster Senior Cup medals, IRFU president … these are only some of the honours that have come Tom Kiernan’s way since he first kicked a rugby ball in the Mardyke in Cork as a child of little more than five or six years. But the family honours aren’t confined to Tom alone … his older brother, Jim, was also a rugby player of the highest calibre, picking up three Munster Cup medals in his own right, representing Munster on numerous occasions and later having the great distinction of watching his son, Michael, drop the goal that clinched the 1985 Triple Crown for Ireland as well as following in the footsteps of Uncle Tom by touring with the Lions.
Nor does the Kiernan dynasty stop there. Jim and Tom are also closely related to the Murphy clan – their mother was a Murphy. She was a first cousin of Noel F. Murphy, who played for Ireland, as did his son, Noel junior, and grandson Kenny, three different generations of Irish international rugby players, Lions tourists and a coach and two presidents of the IRFU. And lest we forget, Jim’s brothers-in-law Gerald Reidy and Mick Lane were both capped by Ireland and Gerald was elected president of the Union as well! As rugby pedigrees go, it would be difficult to find any better.
* * *
The Kiernan family grew up on Cork’s Western Road, in the 1940–50s, literally within a few seconds walk of the famed Mardyke grounds, home of countless memorable Munster Cup matches and several famous encounters with major overseas touring teams. Not only that, but Presentation Brothers College (or PBC or even more simply, Pres) was 300 yards away. An early introduction to sport became inevitable and not only did Jim go on to display undisputed class as a footballer of the highest quality, but he also performed so well on the cricket pitch that he was picked by Ireland, an honour that also fell to his close neighbour, Noel Cantwell, the renowned Ireland, West Ham United and Manchester United footballer.
A love of rugby and Cork Constitution coursed through the Kiernan veins. Typical of arguably the most meticulously run club in the country, Con were ahead of their time in that they catered for what in more recent times has become known as ‘mini rugby’ long before it became fashionable. A well-known photograph of the ‘Connettes’ taken in the 1940s featured a number of famous players, including Marney Cunningham, Tom Kiernan and Noel Murphy, second cousins who were to go on to achieve legendary status in the game. Also in the photo are Jim Kiernan and a certain Edmund van Esbeck, who later enjoyed an unparalleled reputation as one of rugby’s finest scribes and wrote the definitive history of the IRFU, the Constitution club and several others.
Jim’s first school was Sullivan’s Quay and he recalls, ‘They didn’t have any sport there. I made my confirmation in fifth class in Pres, my first year there, and we were already into rugby through the Connettes. Mr McGrath would pick two teams, one in Pres jerseys and the other in Christians jerseys, and everybody else went up in the stand to watch. This was the culmination of weekly or fortnightly get-togethers, but this was the match and it was huge.
‘We won the Schools Junior Cup in 1946 with a team captained by Jerry Daly, a brother of Dan, that also included Charlie Hennessy and Austin Bradley [Michael’s father] and most of the same guys were on the side that won the Senior Cup two years later. Anthony McHale was captain and Liam Mackessy, Vince Giltinane and Pat Cunningham [a brother of Marney, a great wing forward who won seven caps in 1955–56 and gave it all up to join the priesthood, and Jos, a fine hooker for Cork Con and Munster] once again were very important members of the side. What I remember best about it is that it was the first time that Pres and Christians met in the final and one incident stands out for me. I fielded a ball about ten yards from our line in the corner and instead of putting it back into touch, I passed it to McHale, who had a huge boot and could kick the ball half the length of the field. But Jimmy Keane of Christians came through and missed an intercept by a fraction of an inch. I hate to think of what would have happened had he held it.’
Tom went to Pres from the start. ‘It was my only school. In the junior or primary school, there was a competition within the school for the Kiely Cup in fourth, fifth and sixth year; you would be, what, eleven, twelve, thirteen. We were the only class to win it in fifth year with Jerry Walsh as captain. Sixth year used to always win it because of the age difference. Then we went into secondary and in the junior cup year we beat Glenstal in the final in Limerick. I was scrum half and Jerry Walsh again captained our side. Jerry was captain once more when we beat Crescent in the senior final at Thomond Park in 1957. I was in the centre with him and it wasn’t until my second year in UCC that I became a fullback. Dessie Scannell, a fine tennis player, broke a leg and I was moved there for the Colours match.’
Although Jim and Tom are separated in age by some eight years, there were similarities between them from the outset. They both won Munster Senior and Junior Cup medals at Pres where rugby was, and remains, a serious part of the curriculum. Ronan O’Gara and Peter Stringer of the modern generation are just some of those who attended the college and learned the game there. Ireland coach Declan Kidney is another – and he was also a member of the teaching staff.
* * *
By a striking coincidence, another outstanding Cork rugby player, Ray Hennessy, played a major role in the developing careers of both Jim and Tom Kiernan. Even though Jim captained the Constitution side that won the Munster Cup in 1957, he did so from the centre position, with Hennessy in Jim’s favoured position of fullback. Four months later, Jim had joined Dolphin as did Derry O’Shaughnessy, another member of that Constitution side. ‘We trained them,’ quipped Tom and Jim could only laugh before explaining what happened from his perspective: ‘Basically, I was twenty-seven or twenty-eight and Ray Hennessy was only coming out of school. I had an uncle who was actually my godfather as well, Timmy Murphy, known as Pebbles, and he was a selector at Con. He put me in the centre. I reckoned that if I continued in the centre, I would only play for another year or two, whereas if I was at fullback, I could play for another three or four. So I asked myself, well, what would I prefer to do and I said I’d prefer to play for three or four more years. So I went to Dolphin and played fullback. Our sister, Anne, had married Gerald Reidy of Dolphin and Mick Lane was another brother-in-law and he was also Dolphin, but it was my own call. I said to that particular uncle and godfather of mine, look I want to play fullback and if you are not going to pick me there, I will go and join another club. He said, you can if you like so, and I did. The people I got on with understood. Trevor Murphy left Con to join Garryowen as a gesture of support and he was as much into Con as any of us. I played on for at least four more years with Dolphin [captaining the team in 1961–2] and eventually became club president. I also became a Munster and Ireland selector and was on the “Big Five” when we won the Triple Crown in 1985.’
* * *
Tom Kiernan’s international career was launched in 1960. He went on to wear the green jersey on fifty-four occasions, captain his country twenty-four times, make two Lions tours, captaining the tourists in 1968, and hold almost every conceivable administrative position in the game. And yet, it’s conceivable that were it not for Ray Hennessy’s withdrawal from the 1960 final Irish trial, he might never have reached such exalted heights in the game.
‘When Jim went to Dolphin, Ray Hennessy played with Con and Munster at fullback and got three final trials,’ Tom explains. ‘I was centre for Munster and fullback for the Irish Universities and played well in a match in Dublin and was picked at fullback on the Possibles for the final trial. What happens? Hennessy is told by his friends, “You’ve only to turn up and you’ll walk on the team.” But you know the way it was in those days, they’d say to him, you’re on, what do you want to play for? So Ray cried off. That’s how the story goes anyway. I moved over and if I back heeled the ball, ’twould have gone over the bar. I got the place and Ray never got a cap afterwards. Ray’s wife’s sister Frankie [O’Gorman] was and is my wife’s best friend and he was always a great friend of mine and still is.’
Tommy Kiernan’s selection ahead of Ray Hennessy at the start of the 1960 campaign heralded the arrival on the scene of one of Ireland’s greatest ever fullbacks. His international career spanned fourteen years and contained many high points and a few that might have knocked the stuffing out of a lesser man. Significant among the latter was the day in Cardiff in 1965 when Ireland travelled to the old Arms Park (now majestically transformed into the Millennium Stadium) in search of what would have been a famous Triple Crown victory. It remains an occasion etched into the memories of those of us present that day and the thousands watching on their black and white television sets. Both countries were blessed with magnificent rugby players … Ray McLoughlin was the much-respected captain of Ireland and was surrounded by men of the calibre of Tom Kiernan, Jerry Walsh, Kevin Flynn, Mike Gibson at out-half, Willie John McBride and Noel Murphy. It would have taken a major effort for the Irish to defeat Wales in their own backyard and with so much at stake, but there was still great confidence that it could happen. The Welsh prevailed by 14–8, with their captain Clive Rowlands almost kicking the cover off the ball in a tactical performance well suited to the laws of the time.
Tom, who had originally held the captaincy in 1963 before being succeeded by Bill Mulcahy and Ray McLoughlin, took over the captaincy from McLoughlin after three poor results in 1966 and his elevation coincided with a 9–6 win over Wales at Lansdowne Road that avenged the previous year’s defeat and deprived the Welsh of an eleventh successive Triple Crown (he was superseded as captain by Noel Murphy in 1967, took it up again the following year and retained it until the end of his international career in 1973). He skippered the national side on another twenty-three occasions, an outstanding record of achievement especially given the limited number of matches played at the time. There was not the distinction of winning a Triple Crown in this period, although needless to say, there were several fine results. One such came in January 1969, when Ireland beat France for the first time in eleven years by 17–9 at Lansdowne Road. Munster team-mates Johnny Moroney and Barry McGann were the stars of the occasion, with the former personally contributing a then record total of fourteen points. That game was notable for a ‘record’ of a different nature – Mick Hipwell replaced the injured Noel Murphy, the first time Ireland had made a substitution in the course of a game.
Ireland–Wales games in the 1960s were rarely without incident; in 1969, the 24–11 loss in Cardiff remains more memorable for the punch by Brian Price that levelled Noel Murphy in full view of the referee, Mr McMahon of Scotland, and also the young Prince of Wales. Rugby didn’t do sendings off or, perish the thought, red cards at the time and Price escaped the ultimate sanction which his actions probably merited. Equally, though, Tom Kiernan and his men had no complaint about the final score line. Wales were good, very good, and so there was general amazement when Ireland ran up fourteen points without reply at Lansdowne Road in 1970 when the Welsh were widely regarded as ‘a team of all the talents’ and came confidently in search of yet another Triple Crown. Tommy and his Cork Con club mate Barry McGann were key men on that occasion, although the picture of Alan Duggan diving to score the only try is a classic of the genre. If that was a deeply satisfying day for the captain and other gifted stalwarts of the side like Mike Gibson (now in the centre to make way for McGann at number 10), Syd Millar, Willie John McBride, Fergus Slattery and Ken Goodall, there were two more in the fateful year of 1972. Tom brought his team to the old Colombes Stadium seeking their first win in twenty years in the French capital. It truly was a combination of the old and the new – on the one hand Kiernan, Gibson, McLoughlin and McBride, on the other newcomers in Tom Grace, Johnny Moloney and Stewart McKinney among others. The value of a try had been increased that season from three points to four, but as it transpired this made no material difference as the Irish turned in an inspired performance. Ray McLoughlin carried half of France over the line for a great forwards try, debutant Moloney got another and, as usual, Tom Kiernan kicked the rest of the points.
If anything, there was even better to come a few weeks later at Twickenham. Ireland trailed 12–7 with five minutes to go before McGann dropped a peach of a goal and then deep into stoppage time, Moloney and McGann put Kevin Flynn in position to sell the most outrageous dummy ever seen before touching triumphantly down behind the posts. Tom added the points, and Ireland won by 16–12 and were well set for both the Triple Crown and Championship. And that is when the bottom suddenly fell out of Ireland’s rugby world. The Troubles in the north were under way and the weak-livered officials of the Scottish and Welsh Unions were known to have misgivings about travelling to Dublin. An Irish delegation led by President Dom Dineen and including Judge Charles Conroy, Harry McKibbin, Ronnie Dawson and Sinclair Irwin, travelled to Edinburgh to try and reassure the Scots that they had nothing to worry about. To no avail. Scotland the Brave would not travel and neither, as it transpired, would the Welsh leave the land of their fathers.
Ireland’s gilt-edged chance of a coveted Grand Slam had been dashed and their captain and his players were left to rue this for the rest of their lives. England, though, came the following year, and emotional tears flowed freely down the faces of all Irishmen and women at Lansdowne Road that memorable afternoon as the so-called ‘auld enemy’ trotted out to a deafening roar and a five-minute reception from a Lansdowne Road crowd that registered its gratitude in such a moving way that the image of the country at a very dark time came across worldwide in a very favourable manner. In the circumstances England had little chance of averting an Irish victory by eighteen points to nine. For once, the Irish captain, Tom Kiernan, was trumped by his counterpart at that evening’s official dinner when John Pullin remarked that ‘we may not be much good but at least we turn up’. Tom went on to mark his fifty-fourth and last match for his country and his twenty-fourth as captain with a try against Scotland at Murrayfield in 1973.
* * *
Tom would have hoped for a better return from his second Lions tour of South Africa in 1968. Rugby in the northern hemisphere at the time was buzzing, not least because of the calibre of a magnificent Welsh side, and sure enough the likes of Gareth Edwards, Barry John, J.P.R. Williams and Mervyn Davies were there to lend their special talents to the cause. For Tom Kiernan to be chosen as captain, with so much other talent available to the Lions committee, speaks volumes for the respect in which he was regarded by the game’s leaders. The wisdom of their appointment quickly became apparent and hopes of a first series victory over the Springboks were high after the first Test was won by twenty-five points to twenty. It certainly was not the captain’s fault that two of the next three games were lost and one drawn, but it would be another six years before the Lions lowered the Boks’ colours on home territory. However, in between those two Lions tours, Tom had the satisfaction of leading Ireland to victory over South Africa at Lansdowne Road. And it was a late Kiernan penalty that forged a famous breakthrough 9–6 victory.
Tom also played three matches for Munster against major overseas opposition. The first was against the hugely successful All Blacks at Thomond Park in December 1963 when a side many stones lighter than the opposition and vastly less experienced came within inches of a remarkable victory. The Kiwis scraped home by 6–3, but notice had been served, in itself giving due credence to Tom’s oft-repeated comment that beating New Zealand ‘had to happen some day’. And, of course, it did under his command fifteen years later!
Before that, however, he was to derive deep satisfaction from leading Munster to an 11–8 win over the Australians at Musgrave Park in 1967. Jerry Walsh, Tom’s great friend from his earliest days, was there to lend his renowned crash tackling to the mix and up front were his redoubtable Constitution club mates Noel Murphy and Liam Coughlan, the unrelated O’Callaghans, Phil and Mick, at prop, and another great Con man, Jerry Murray, in the second-row. Johnny Moroney scored Munster’s try, Tom kicked eight points, the Wallabies replying with a try by Cardy, a penalty by Brass and a conversion by Ryan. And so Munster led 11–8 as the game entered its final minute. And it is here that Tom takes up the story: ‘It was the first time an Irish province had beaten a touring team so it was a famous occasion. We were three points ahead with time almost up when Australia got a penalty in front of the Dolphin pavilion about thirty yards out and near the touchline. Instead of going for goal, they went for the win and kicked a stormer up in the air. Paddy McGrath was on the wing and he knocked it on so there was a scrum under our posts. Up they came and the scrum formed. Noisy [Noel Murphy] asked the ref how long there was to go and he said, well, it’s time up. So I said, blow the f***ing whistle then and he did so. The ref was Ray Gilliland from the north and the Australians got up from the scrum and were not a bit happy. Would you blame them?! That happened, no doubt about it, no exaggeration.’
Oddly enough, Tom was never an Irish selector, even when he was national coach in 1980/81 and again in 1982/83, and it was only when he managed and coached teams on tours ‘down under’ that he had a say in team selection. ‘I was given full voice. Paddy Madigan was chairman and they were good years, especially when we won the Triple Crown for the first time after thirty-four years in 1982,’ he says. ‘But the match against Scotland the day we won the Crown was awful. Our matches against Scotland tend to be dour. They deprived us of the Triple Crown last year [2010] when we should have won it, this year we won the match when we could easily have lost it.
‘Winning the Triple Crown after that length of time was a great relief and took the monkey off our backs. But they were funny times. In my first year we didn’t win a game, the second year we had a Triple Crown and then finished top in the third followed by another disaster the following year, Willie John’s [McBride], which was a whitewash and he left. The fifth year, Mick Doyle was coach and they won the Triple Crown and the following year he was coach again and they were white•washed.’
The Kiernan connection to the 1985 Triple Crown side was further enhanced by the fact that Jim was a selector and his son Michael dropped the winning goal in the decisive final match against England. It was a very proud moment for the whole family although, like all dads in those kinds of circumstances, Jim worried what would have been said had the kick not gone over the bar, musing that ‘nine times out of ten, you’d slice it wide or miskick it’. Tom quickly dismissed those fears, declaring, ‘Personally I think the decision was right because I don’t think they had any chance of scoring out wide.’
Looking back at this remove, Jim insists he wouldn’t have been too anxious about Michael’s performance: ‘I was used to him playing, to uncles playing, Tom playing … by getting uptight you weren’t going to contribute anything. I don’t think I ever got that uptight about a match. From experience, you realise that he could also make an awful balls of it so you wouldn’t play it up too much. And Michael didn’t win the Triple Crown for Ireland … there were eighty other minutes of play, a large proportion of which he made no contribution to … the team played well and deserved to win.’
Uncle Tom says, ‘If Michael had missed that drop goal, I wouldn’t have thought he was the worst player in the world or any better than he was five minutes beforehand because he got it.’
* * *
A picture of Tom Kiernan on bended knee and in suit and tie on the sideline as his Munster team put the All Blacks to the sword at Thomond Park in 1978 remains one of the most iconic images of that unforgettable occasion. There were no glass panelled, centrally heated boxes high in the stands back in those days, no laptops, no earpieces, no extra coaches to concentrate on this, that and the other. Tom Kiernan masterminded the entire operation himself and no one could have done it better. He explains how it all came to pass.
‘We went on a trip to London at the beginning of the season where we played Middlesex and an Exiles side. During the two days before the games, we trained at St Paul’s School, Hammersmith, and there we set a standard of fitness for the team as a whole, with special targets for the backs and forwards, the backs concentrating on sharpness and the forwards concentrating on endurance. After that we met on three Wednesdays in Fermoy and on the Sunday and Monday prior to the match in St Munchin’s College, Limerick.’
At this point I deign to interrupt Tom’s flow of thought to point out that the squad fared anything but well in those two games in London and indeed took something of a hammering from Middlesex. Remedial action needed to be taken in a few positions and this had the desired result. And while the sessions in Fermoy have also become a part of legend and were frequently referred to in John Breen’s great play Alone We Stand in somewhat jocose fashion, they did instil the kind of spirit and commitment that was to prove so vital on the big day. I remember well the highly respected New Zealand journalist, Terry McLean (who was to be posthumously inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame with Tom Kiernan in 2007) being much taken with what he saw in the sessions at St Munchin’s. ‘There’s much more to Kiernan’s team than what people are seeing,’ he predicted with remarkable prescience.
And as Tom continues, it appears that McLean wasn’t the only one who felt a shock might be on the cards: ‘At the latter session, it was obvious to most onlookers that the Munster team was fitter and sharper than was the case in many years and that we would give the All Blacks a tough game. I was always of the belief that we had the skills. We planned on the use of two-man line-outs using Donal Spring and Moss Keane, but weren’t given much opportunity to use this tactic because they had the vast majority of throw-ins from touch and anyway we were in our own half for most of the match and one doesn’t risk short line-outs in those circumstances.
‘It should also be acknowledged that Munster had its share of luck. And the fact that we scored first meant they had to come back at us. I was particularly pleased at the way Munster took their chances which was an affirmation of the sharpness the team had attained in its pre-match training. Another pleasing aspect was the controlled discipline of the side.’
A day after the match, All Blacks coach Jack Gleeson couldn’t conceal his frustration at the way his team’s best efforts to get back into the game were foiled and thwarted by the superb opposition defence and unfortunately referred to it as ‘kamikaze’. This didn’t at all sit well with his Munster counterpart. ‘One of the New Zealand officials explained his team’s defeat by alleging kamikaze tactics on our parts. I’m not entirely sure what that means, but tackling is as integral a part of rugby as is a majestic centre three-quarter break and score under the posts. The perfect timing and execution of a tackle gives me as much pleasure to watch as any other element of rugby. There were two noteworthy tackles during the match by Seamus Dennison. He was injured in the first and I thought he might have to come off. But he repeated the tackle some minutes later.’
The match might have taken place all of thirty-three years ago, but for those of us fortunate enough to have been present, it is as easy to remember almost every incident of the game as if it had taken place only the other day. Tom recalls the brilliantly taken first-half try thus: ‘It came from a great piece of anticipation by Bowen, who in the first place had to run around his man to get to Ward’s kick ahead. He then beat two men and when finally tackled, managed to keep his balance and deliver the ball to Cantillon who went on to score. All of this was evidence of sharpness on Bowen’s part. Then there was Ward’s second drop goal. A scrum had been spoiled and the ball came back on the Munster side under some pressure. In that semi-crisis, Tucker got a fine pass out to Ward who dropped a great goal in the circumstances – again a manifestation of sharpness.’
On the following day, Jack Gleeson gave Press Association rugby correspondent Terry Cooper the infamous ‘kamikaze’ interview, but it cut little ice with Terry McLean who asked in his excellent book on the tour: ‘What was Kiernan to do – play as New Zealand wanted the match to be played, all open and free, with fine running from first to last? Or play to his strength, which principally was the absolute bravery of his men? Tommy Kiernan was not born yesterday. He knew what he wanted and got it. He played to the strength of his team and upon the suspected weaknesses of the All
Blacks.’
Munster 12 (Chris Cantillon try, Tony Ward 2 drop goals, one conversion), New Zealand 0. Graham Mourie’s All Blacks won every other match on the 1978 tour of Europe.
* * *
‘Rugby today is a hundred times more aggressive from when I played,’ says Jim. ‘It requires ultimate fitness and so it’s a different game really. Our idea was to win the ball and get it out to the wing. Now, you rarely ever see it go from scrum half to wing without some move. It’s all about phases nowadays. It certainly is a huge improvement from the spectators’ point of view … some of the matches we saw in our day, they were more like a funeral than a rugby match. It has speeded up and become a lot more aggressive.’
According to Tom, ‘Kicking to touch was the big thing. I mean, Dan Daly kicked every ball he ever got in his life.’ Jim points out that the philosophy was ‘to keep it in the opposition 25 and something is bound to happen, you’ll get a couple of penalties or a drop goal, and that maximised kicking to the corners.’
Both men are agreed that while putting the ball into the set scrums has ‘become something of a farce’, the line-out has changed radically, with Tom maintaining that this area of the game ‘has improved about thirty per cent in the last eighteen months’. Referring to a Munster–Leinster game a few days before our chat, Tom pointed out that ‘Munster had nine penalty kicks at goal and missed one and Leinster had six while the set scrum has become something of a joke. Whatever the fellows are doing and whatever the cause of it … a minute and a half, two minutes for a lot of the scrummages, so if you have twelve scrums and fifteen kickable penalties, just think of the amount of playing time you lose … I don’t know, maybe the referees have something to say about it.
‘And then there is this touch, pause, whatever they say going down, why don’t they let the bloody fellows go down like they went down forever. There might be a medical reason for it, I don’t know … I think the game is bloody good most of the time but there are these infuriating things they’ll have to get around … sixteen kicks at goal on a good night with perfect conditions seems to be wrong – and the set scrummage, they’re the two things I don’t like. And then there’s the rucks, you might know when you’re at the bottom of a ruck whether you can get away from it or not, but you see fellows pinned down and I don’t know how they’re expected to roll away. Some might feign it but there are a lot of guys of every size who just cannot get out and they are penalised. Referees should be able to see whether fellows can get out but there are so many frees given for it that I just don’t know.’
Jim was also taken aback at a television commentator who inferred that ‘the game would improve if you took the wing-forwards out and reduced it to thirteen-a-side. Basically what you are doing is going down another step towards rugby league. I think it was a disgraceful thing to say. Do people want to watch rugby league? If they do, let them go and watch it.’
Tom suggested that ‘there should be other mechanisms for sorting it out and I don’t think going the rugby league road will do any good. Rugby league, after all, is about phases and you don’t even have to challenge for it. Now, you might say to me, you don’t have to challenge in the set scrums either because you never hear of a ball being won against the head today.’
As for his outstanding rugby memories, Jim thought long and hard before answering: ‘Winning the cup with College [UCC] the first year out of school was a highlight, another would be Michael’s drop goal and again Tom being appointed captain of the Lions. But I don’t think I ever got over-exuberant about the game, but took it for what it is. The bad can happen as well as the good.’ Which I suppose could be a reference in itself as to how Tom’s captaincy of the 1968 Lions worked out. It was always going to be a daunting task with several of the players who had been members of the side in New Zealand two years previously captained by the Scot Mike Campbell-Lamerton having bad memories of that trip. Creating a better atmosphere and spirit was a big part of Tom’s job but he, manager David Brooks and coach Ronnie Dawson, coped splendidly, even if the Test series was lost 2–1 with one draw.
‘Off the pitch, these tourists were the happiest bunch one could have met, even though some of their high-spirited moments prompted criticism in South African newspapers,’ wrote the Examiner’s Barry Coughlan in his book The Irish Lions. ‘From the viewpoint of losing the Test series, they failed in their mission but managed to return to these shores having won fifteen of their sixteen provincial matches. The Springboks won the first Test 25–20 when Tom Kiernan kicked five penalties and converted a try by Willie John McBride. The potential in the side was evident when the second ended in a 6–6 draw and so the third proved crucial. The Lions went down 11–6 but had enough chances to win. As is so often the case at the end of a long and arduous tour, the fourth Test was lost 19–6.
‘Kiernan, who had not particularly enjoyed himself six years before, emerged as one of the greatest fullbacks of all time. Everything he did smacked of a great player. The Irishman was a popular choice for the captaincy. Ireland had enjoyed an excellent championship and he had been earmarked from the very beginning. Kiernan regretted that the team were unable to do better but conceded, “We had a good but not a great team. South Africa were just too strong for us, although I felt we might have had more success if we had avoided all those injuries.”•’
Tom’s quick wit was evident from the time the Lions arrived in South Africa. Asked if they had learned some Afrikaans in preparation for the visit and understood the language, he told a reporter, ‘Of course I do – provided it’s spoken through Irish.’ Tom became the sixth Irishman to captain the Lions having been, if you like, an underling in 1962 when the fine Scottish wing Arthur Smith was at the helm. He was one of six Irishmen in that squad and vied with England’s John Willcox for the fullback position. An ankle injury cost him his place in the first two Tests although Willcox also proved himself an outstanding No. 15 and it was not his fault that they were a Test down with one to play. Tom got his chance in the third match and the other Irish in the side were McBride, Syd Millar and Bill Mulcahy. It was 3–3 with time nearly up when they tried to run the ball from their own line, a Richard Sharp pass went astray and the Springbok out-half Keith Oxlee grabbed a try that he converted himself.
Lions’ captains and teams have become accustomed to disappointments over the years. Hard luck stories abound and Tom Kiernan’s squad didn’t always enjoy the rub of the green. But he was a great tourist and a great leader of men as his many outstanding achievements on and off the rugby field graphically demonstrate.
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Jim and Tom are clearly very close, but there is no way they are going to give each other a swelled head. When I suggested to Tom that Jim was a class footballer, the response was that ‘he had that reputation anyway’. Jim’s retort was to the effect that ‘Tom was born lucky’. Maybe so, but apart from his achievements with Munster and Ireland, it is worthy of note that Tom won seven Munster Cups, one with UCC and six with Cork Constitution, and was on the College (4) and Cork Con (9) teams that captured the old Munster Senior League in thirteen consecutive seasons. And finally, given all the notice that the number of ‘caps’ players win these days with the provinces, very few if any could claim to have represented the province for sixteen straight years!
All in all, though, you are left to wonder where the game in this country would be were it not for the Kiernan-Murphy dynasty.
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