THOMOND PARK in Limerick is known to Irish rugby people as "the Fortress". With their scarlet-shirted army in full cry it is a daunting place, and on Tuesday they will throw open the gates of the newly renovated stadium to welcome the touring All Blacks and celebrate the 30th anniversary of Munster's most historic victory.
On a date embedded in every true Irishman's heart and soul, Tuesday, October 31, 1978, Graham Mourie's All Blacks were preparing for the first of four Test matches. They had won their four lead-up games and arrived in Limerick in good heart for the midweek game against Munster before making the journey to Lansdowne Road in Dublin for the international.
Granted, it was early days of the tour and they had left New Zealand with eight new All Blacks in the party. Less than two months earlier, the beleaguered Wallabies - their coach Daryl Haberecht taken to hospital after a heart attack in Wanganui and the Bledisloe Cup lost after Test defeats in Wellington and Christchurch - had displayed heroic spirit by winning the Eden Park Test in Auckland, 30-16, through Greg Cornelsen's four-try phenomenon.
Perhaps New Zealand minds were not focused on Munster. Perhaps their thoughts were wandering ahead to Ireland and the Test. Perhaps the lads enjoyed a few convivial ales in the high-spirited, warm embrace of the Irish pubs the previous night, celebrating 24 hours too early - tell it all to the marines!
The scoreline says none of that. The result says it all - Munster 12 (Christy Cantillon try; Tony Ward goal, two field goals) - New Zealand 0. That's all that counts, boyo!
If the All Blacks' thoughts were on Ireland beforehand, they soon returned to the reality of the here and now of Munster. In a hard and fast match, entertaining and enthralling, bruising but not brutal, Welsh referee Corris Thomas awarded just nine penalties.
For New Zealand, defeat had the desired effect. Mourie's All Blacks rallied so powerfully they became New Zealand's first-ever grand slam-winning side with victories over all four home unions of Britain, six years before Andrew Slack's Wallabies achieved the feat for Australia.
They fielded players of the international stature of locks Andy Haden and Frank Oliver, hooker Andy Dalton, prop Gary Knight, wingers Stu Wilson and Bryan Williams and the then five-eighth record-holder Doug Bruce, not all guilty of the loss.
It remains that on an 18-game tour, their only defeat came at the hands of Munster. For all involved, it was an occasion never to be forgotten - and never allowed to forget. For New Zealand rugby, the loss was, collectively, an ugly black eye, a single bloodstain on an otherwise blemish-free result sheet.
They wrote books about it, such as Alan English's Stand up and Fight ; John Breen penned a stage play, Alone it Stands .
So enshrined in mythology has the win become that three years ago, a party of 180 New Zealanders visited Thomond Park to walk on the field where it occurred, to be greeted by four of Munster's successful team, Cantillon, Brendan Foley, Gerry McLoughlin and Colm Tucker. In the Kiwi group were three of the beaten All Blacks: Brian McKechnie, who also played cricket for New Zealand, Bill Bush and Mark Donaldson. They certainly had a drink that night.
The golden boy of Irish rugby in those days was Tony Ward, Munster's young goal-kicking five-eighth from St Mary's College. He converted the try by breakaway Cantillon and dropped a goal in each half while his forwards, led by inspirational British Lions lock Moss Keane, whaled away in midfield to contain the All Blacks pack.
Ward scored 39 points in five internationals that season, including two penalty goals in Ireland's subsequent 10-6 loss to New Zealand when, after a Haden lineout, halfback Donaldson dashed around the front for hooker Dalton's Test-winning try.
After encouraging performances at home, it should have come as no great surprise that Ireland were so successful on their two-Test tour of Australia the following year. It caused considerable astonishment, however, that Tony Ward was barely sighted, his mantle usurped by a wiry, splendidly skilful organiser named Oliver Campbell.
Ireland won the first Test at Ballymore 27-12, with Campbell contributing 19 points and then the second at the Sydney Cricket Ground, 9-3, with Campbell firing over two field goals and a penalty. From near obscurity, "Ollie" became emperor of the Emerald Isle.
With almost inexpressible chagrin, it is sad to relate that Munster will be without their Test players for the right royal rugby occasion of Thomond Park's official reopening. So congested is the international program these professional, money-obsessed days that long-established All Ireland players such as skipper Paul O'Connell, Ronan O'Gara and Shane Horgan will watch from the grandstand.
Their consolation was that they were in the Test squad beaten by Richie McCaw's All Blacks in Dublin on Saturday. There will be no slip-ups by the All Blacks this time.