Irish train in secret

Press, 30 May 1981, Page 60

Irish train in secret

NZPA-Reuter Cape Town The underdog Irish rugby team trained in secret at Cape Town yesterday for the first international against South Africa — a task which appears as tough as climbing Table Mountain which towers over the city.

The team’s captain, Fergus Slattery, who will be making his fiftieth international appearance for Ireland in today’s match, said he was delighted that few local experts gave his team a ghost of a chance.

“Let the people of South Africa write us off,” he said. “That is their problem. But we have something to offer and the match won’t be giftwrapped in ribbon.” Nevertheless the Irish, who have lost two out of the four matches so far on the short tour, have serious problems, particularly in the line-outs where the super-confident Springboks can make their height and weight advantage tell.

The Irish coach, Tom Kiernan, acknowledged that the line-outs were a big worry although he thought Ireland would hold its own in the tight. The Irish, beset by the refusal of key players to make the controversial toUr, have three new internationals in the line-up. They are the fly-half, Paul Dean, aged 20, the full-back, John Murphy, aged 23, and the lock, Jerry Holland, aged 25, .who gave up his job. to make the tour after his employers had refused to give him leave.

Also making his international debut, on the Springbok side, is Errol Tobias, the first non-white to play for South Africa. Tobias, who usually plays fly-half, has been named at centre.