Ireland elated after long years of hurt in France

Brendan Gallagher delves into some of rugby’s most enduring images, their story and why they are still so impactful

What’s happening here?

It’s March 19, 2000 at the Stade de France in Paris and Ireland have just beaten France 27-25. Centre Rob Henderson and skipper Keith Wood are getting the celebrations underway while in the background a very young Brian O’Driscoll is sloping away, perhaps not quite yet used to the attention and celebrity status that was about to engulf him.

What’s the story behind the picture?

In brief, 28 years of Irish failure. Ireland’s last win in Paris had been at the old Stade Colombes in 1972 when they made off with a 14-8 victory but in between it had been a tale of woe and underperforming. Paris became a graveyard for Irish rugby, indeed they never did manage a win at the Parc Des Princes during that period. Legions of Ireland players, particularly flankers, made painful debuts there and were never heard of again. Ireland then lost their first ever game at the Stade de France and a feeling of groundhog day set in.

But the cavalry were on the way. In 1998 Ireland won the U19 World Cup and the following year the skipper of that side, O’Driscoll, made his Ireland debut. Meanwhile over at Munster two young half-backs originally from the Cork Constitution club – Peter Stringer and Ronan O’Gara – were flexing their muscles and had made a big impact during Munster’s backto-back wins over a star-studded Saracens side in the Heineken Cup. And Ireland had appointed a new skipper after the disappointment of RWC1999 – the talismanic Wood.

Ireland, with a tough start away to England, deliberately kept O’Gara and Stringer out of the firing line for that match which they lost 50-18 and the old schoolmates were finally thrown into the international fray together next up against Scotland along with O’Driscoll. The result was a 44-22 win followed by a 60-13 dismissal of Italy. Irish rugby was beginning to rock and roll again. In the Heineken Cup pool games Munster had also pulled off a double over Colomiers – losing finalists the previous season – and Leinster could reflect on a home win over mighty Stade de France. The fear factor of facing French rugby sides was beginning to disappear.

What happened next?

Ireland, playing at a pace we hadn’t seen from them before, took the game to France from the off but the French were looking to salvage their season and answered in kind. The physicality was off the scale – one early hit by Fabian Pelous on Wood sending the capacity crowd into raptures – and Henderson replied for Ireland with a huge hit on Stephan Glas.

Despite a good start Ireland found themselves 12 points down in the second half and brought on David Humphreys for O’Gara while they went down to 14 men when Paddy Johns received a yellow card. It was looking bleak but they clung on and a fired-up Johns made a huge impact on his return. Ireland started to bubble, O’Driscoll added a second try to his first half effort and then Humphreys added a penalty to raise Irish hopes. Finally O’Driscoll completed his hattrick after good work by Stringer and Humphreys added the conversion to complete a famous win.

Why is the picture iconic?

This was an historic, mouldbreaking and long overdue win and two of Ireland’s most extrovert and demonstrative players Henderson and Wood are giving vent to the emotion and joy that many Ireland supporters were feeling that day. And the hope. Supporting Ireland has always been a vexatious journey with many more lows than highs but here, right at the start of the new millennium, there suddenly seems cause for hope. A wellcrafted and thoroughly deserved win over the French in Paris, against a France side that just a few months earlier had humiliated New Zealand.

It is also a rare moment of total elation in a green journey for Wood, one of their greatest ever players. Wood won 58 caps between 1994 and 2003 but there were no Grand Slams, no championships, no World Cup semifinals. It was hard graft – blood, sweat and tears – all the way. There was very little romance or comic book stories of heroics and daring deeds.

Big one-off wins needed celebrating. Better days were just around the corner, however, and although from this point onwards Wood increasingly had to battle with injuries he kept going long enough to leave Ireland in a much better place when he retired after RWC2003.

Footnote. After three wins on the bounce Ireland were suddenly on a high but there was a reality check the following week when they lost 23-19 at home to Wales.

However the win in France had a galvanising effect on the large Munster contingent who six weeks after this victory ventured into the furnace-like heat of Stade Delmas in Bordeaux and clocked up one of their greatest ever wins over a Toulouse side groaning with French internationals in their Heineken Cup semi-final.

“Wood won 58 caps but it was hard graft - blood, sweat and tears - all the way”