Matches

Ahead of the Gazelles fixture (the SA U-24 side), much had been made of the attacking potential of the Irish three quarters yet on the day the only points Ireland scored in front of a 35,000 crowd were through the boot of Kevin O'Brien as the tourists were outplayed in the lineout through the work of lock Skinner. There was nothing particularly undersized about the under-24 side featuring a number of future Springboks in their ranks including Jannie Breedt, the 21 stone Flippie van der Merwe and Piet Kruger as props and 6'9" Vleis Visagie at lock. Future Springbok coach Carel du Plessis scored one try from the wing playing alongside SARFF's Wilfred Cupido, one of four coloured players included in the list of the sixty-four trialists ahead of the three test series in New Zealand later on in the year.
The second fixture played at Olen Park -scene of Mike Slemen's unforgettable try during the 1980 BIRUT tour, saw Ireland take on fairly underwhelming opposition in the guise of the Gold Mining Invitation XV. Solomon Mhlaba, a tourist to the UK with the 1979 SA Baa Baas started at full back for the GMI but he saw little of the ball to demonstrate his attacking prowess as Ireland ran in seven tries with John Murphy contributing a total of eighteen points via his boot from fullback.

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