In 1994, the Ireland rugby union team embarked on their second tour of Australia, having previously visited in 1979.
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Ireland lost the two test matches it played in 1994 against the reigning world champions, beaten 33-13 at Ballymore in Brisbane and 32-18 at the Sydney Football Stadium.
But for many Irish players the most memorable aspect of the tour was a game in Mount Isa played just before the Brisbane test.
The Irish came to the Isa in good spirits having narrowly lost to Queensland due to a last minute penalty.
But the game at Rugby Park in Mount Isa in front of 3000 people was a nightmare for the Irish who were thrashed 57-9 by an Australian XV, their biggest defeat of the tour.
The North West Star headline the following day read "Irish humiliated", while the Irish themselves recall the game with horror saying they were "ambushed".
In his book No Borders: Playing Rugby for Ireland author Tom English said Mount Isa was a place that sent shivers down the spine of all who played there.
Irish number eight Victor Costello used picturesque language to describe Mount Isa in the middle of an amusing retrospective chat with fellow internationals, described in the book.
"Mount Isa was a deep dark sh*thole," Costello said.
Irish captain and hooker Keith Wood, known as "the raging potato" for his bald head, was a little more gentle.
"Mount Isa had a claim to fame, it had the largest Irish club in the southern hemisphere," Wood said.
Fellow international Mick Galwey chimed in.
"It was a game against an Australia XV but no one figured out what the Aussies meant by XV," Galwey said.
"It was a f***ing hijack!" lock forward Neil Francis interjected.
"I didn't play in Mount Isa, no thank god, I was injured," Galwey continued.
"It was a horrific place, I never experienced anything like that before. I talk to people and they say they've just come back from Australia on their holidays and I say 'Did you go to Mount Isa?' and they say, "Where the f*** is Mount Isa?' and I say 'Exactly!'."
British and Irish Lions rep Jeremy Davidson also remembered arriving in Mount Isa.
"The bus pulled up and we were sort of saying, 'Well we're going to be there soon'," Davidson said.
"There was nothing other than these wee rectangles of boxes that looked like f*** all else on earth. But we were in this dodgy motel in Hicksville. And the sun was beating down for 22 hours a day. And you'd get up and say, 'I wonder what it's like today?' And your hand would get frazzled in the window. It was terrible. F***ing awful."
Galwey remembers Australia were "savagely strong" that night including a 120kg monster that was desperate to get back into the national side and would throw everything at the Irish.
"Willy Ofahengaue was playing in their back row, a horse of a man," Galwey said.
Conor O'Shea agreed.
"They had Willy O, a young Joe Roff picked from the ACT under 19s and Pat Howard in the centre. I had a really bad feeling about this," O'Shea said.
"Willy O ran over Ken O'Connell ten times. Ken was behind the posts at one stage and said 'If I had a gun I'd shoot myself'."
Costello continued the blunt assessment.
"The Aussies are as rough as f*** and were particularly rough in Mount Isa," he said.
"It finished 57-9. Not nice. The body language in the hotel wasn't great. The Aussies weren't exactly gracious in victory either."
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