IT is about time Ireland wiped away the bad memories from so many down days in Australia going all the way back to their solitary southern hemisphere test series win in 1979.

Back then, Tour Manager Paul McNaughton played in the position currently occupied by Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll in what was a tour unlike so many that have succeeded it.

"Maybe a bit like this Saturday, nobody gave us a chance, really, going into that first Test because it was a very strong Australian team. They had just beaten the All Blacks in a Test series and were regarded at the time as number one," said McNaughton.

Those were the days when European Player of the Year Tony Ward was sensationally sidelined for the more pragmatic skills of Ollie Campbell.

"Whether people agree with the decision or not, I think most people accept it's an extremely brave decision for a small management team to make. It wasn't that Wardie was playing badly either," said McNaughton.

In hindsight, it was a master stroke as Campbell repaid the faith in him with a man of the match output in the first test (27-12) at Ballymore in Brisbane.

"Ollie played brilliantly in the two Tests and the team played brilliantly," boasted McNaughton.

"After that, for the guys who were on the Test team, or in the Test 21, in many ways it became a more serious tour than all tours because the Aussie media had written us off but after beating the Aussies their media dismissed it as a complete fluke.

"So that really got guys emboldened to say we better win the second Test here and we better make sure we have a good tour here because if we don't win the second Test, and we're hammered or whatever, they will have grounds to say that the first Test was a fluke result.

"It became a very serious mission then to win the second Test, which was the last game of the tour," added McNaughton.

Once again, Campbell delivered a knockout performance and all the points in a 9-3 to rival that of the first test in a totally different way.

"You have this impression that amateur rugby in those days was just going from one pub to another, and then the match was kind of a weekend addendum.

"I've talked to a lot of guys about this and I've certainly never experienced it like that, on this (1979) trip especially. It was a very tense game, not as open as the first game. To be fair we defended like mad men."

It will take a similar manic dedication to contact from Ireland to bridge a 31-year gap on Saturday morning.

- Des Berry