England’s looming Test visit to the Sydney Cricket Ground for the first time since 1975 has reignited exciting memories of a whiz kid Wallaby’s bold debut.
It is 47 years today since 19-year-old flyhalf Ken Wright and an ambitious band of men in gold reshaped the future of Australian rugby.
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The 30-21 victory over England in the fiery “Battle of Ballymore” on May 31, 1975 completed a 2-0 series whitewash begun by a 16-9 upset at the SCG a week earlier.
Beating a top-tier rugby nation in a series for the first time in a decade was an epochal moment for the Wallabies that spurred even grander conquests for decades to follow.
Tickets sales are already brisk for July’s exciting eToro England Series when Michael Hooper's ambitious Wallabies of 2022 get their own shot at shaping history.
The July 16 Test against England at the SCG will be the climax of an enthralling three-Test duel against coach Eddie Jones and his England team.
The series opens at Perth’s Optus Stadium (July 2) before the visit to Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium (July 9) where the Wallabies are on a hot 10-Test winning streak.
Memories of the SCG as an inspiring stage for Test rugby are still vivid for Wright at 66.
“I was only 13 when I watched my first Test from the old hill at the SCG,” Wright recalled.
“I remember thinking how special it was watching the players in those gold jerseys run onto the field from the dressing rooms under the stands.
“At 19, it was just complete excitement to make my Test debut there.
“I’d only played about four first grade games (for Randwick) and a couple of matches for Sydney and NSW.
“You know what I remember? Before the kick-off, they played the same anthem for both sides...God Save The Queen.”
It’s true. Advance Australia Fair was still nearly nine years away from being proclaimed Australia’s national anthem.
Wright left out that his sizzling sidestep for a breathtaking try had helped Sydney pull off a boilover, a 14-10 win over England in an earlier game on tour.
He was one of those teenaged backline whiz kids for which the Wallabies are famous. Think David Campese, Tim Horan, Jordan Petaia and so on.
Wright was a pocket rocket at 1.71m under a wavy mop of hair. He needed to wear a woollen overcoat just to tip the scales at 70kg.
He had mesmerising feet. His right foot sidestep to set up one of Greg Cornelsen’s four tries against the All Blacks at Eden Park in 1978 is still one of the classic images of 1970s Australian rugby.
In 1975, he did not yet have the calmness of experience. He was a wide-eyed kid playing against the pristine white jerseys of England and their superiority complex.
“I’d toured England in 1973. They had won comfortably (20-3) but they were just so patronising,” Wallabies centre Geoff Shaw said.
“’You’ve done so well today’ was the sort of stuff those rugger types came out with and they always treated us like colonials.”
Wright made his Test debut with Australia’s two most experienced Wallabies of the day inside and outside him. Shaw was at inside centre and the late great John Hipwell was at halfback.
“’Hoot Owl’, we always called Kenny that for his facial look, had flair and talent but you tried to keep him on a leash so he had a dab at the right time," Shaw said.
“He ran down mug’s gully a few times in that 1975 series and got hammered. When he did pick the right times to be off the leash, he’d do his zip-zip thing and I couldn’t keep up. He was a real pocket rocket.”
Wallabies No.8 Mark Loane scored Australia’s single try in the SCG Test of 1975 for the tight 7-6 half-time lead over Tony Neary’s England team. There was to be no backward step from the gold pack under the vocal direction of coach Dave Brockhoff. Long-haired whirlwind Ray Price, Tony Shaw, Peter Horton, a moustachioed Steve Finnane, on debut at prop, Stu MacDougall, Reg Smith and Garrick Fay completed the willing and hard-driving First Test pack.
Wright and another debutant, fullback Bob Brown, kicked clutch second half field goals so the Wallabies could rejoice over a 16-9 win.
“A Test debut goes so quickly you just remember bits of it,” Wright added.
“I hit that field goal sweetly and still remember it being framed by the top of the Noble Stand as it sailed over.
“The forwards were the difference in that series. Whenever I got tackled, Ray Price was straight onto the ball to keep things going.
“’Pricey’ was the hero for the crowd. On the way back to our hotel after the Test, the team bus stopped in traffic outside the Olympic Hotel (in Paddington) and all the drinkers wanted him to jump off and join them in the bar.
“It was brilliant to win at the SCG and a very important series win for the Wallabies.”
Then-flanker Tony Shaw revelled in having Price as a backrow partner.
“’Brock’ led the charge with his words that we weren’t to take a backward step and we didn’t. Pricey was at his stirring best in that series. You’d have Englishmen coming around the back of the lineout with the ball and Pricey would be there waiting for them to sling them to the ground with a ‘Cumberland Throw’. Welcome to my web.”
One of those Englishmen was a young, unscarred forward named Bill Beaumont, the now World Rugby Chairman, in the first months of his 41-Test career.
Wright will find a way to be at the SCG in July to support Hooper and his team.
“This is a significant series for the Wallabies. There have been signs of good things from the team,” Wright said.
“We need a great result for Australian rugby. If we don’t win, we’re taking a backward step.”
Geoff Shaw saw first hand what the win over England did for the Wallabies for years after the 1975 result and sees the relevance to 2022.
“That series was the start of better times for Australian rugby. In July, the Wallabies have to win against England to give them impetus into what’s ahead with the All Blacks and next year’s World Cup,” Shaw said.
“It’s a great opportunity.”
Tony Shaw agrees: “This is a must-win series, especially against a team led by Eddie Jones. The Wallabies playing England has always been big and to do it in a three-Test series would really be something to be proud of.”
