St Helen’s ArchivePreserving the past for the future

OT036

Touch judge's flag. Swansea v Australia 4th November 1992 at St Helen's. Green cloth with embroidered Swansea 'castle' badge and Australian Rugby Union badge in diagonally opposite corners. "Swansea - v - Australia 4th Nov 1992" between the two badges. Same design on both faces of flag. Wooden dowel shaft and wooden handle with yellow ribbon.

Touch Judge flag

CIC

1992-1993

This is a touch judge's flag from the Swansea v Australia match played on 4th November 1992, which Swansea won by 21 points to 6. Australia were the reigning world champions at this time. The Australian tour was a relatively short one by standards of the day, an indication of the move to shorter tours in future by southern hemisphere nations. The tour of November and December 1992 encompassed Ireland, Wales and one match at Twickenham, 13 games in all. In Ireland the Wallabies beat Leinster, Ulster, Connacht and Ireland (42 - 17), but lost 19 - 22 to Munster. Swansea were the first opponents on the Welsh leg of the tour. The Wallabies went on to beat Wales B, Neath and Monmouthshire but also lost to Llanelli (9 - 13), beating Wales 23 - 6 and Wales Students. The last match was at Twickenham where they beat a Barbarians side 30 - 20. Captained by Phil Kearns and suffering the loss through injury of Michael Lynagh, they were a side with flair and talent but had a hard time of it on tour. The win by Welsh Champions Swansea on November 4th heralded a period of great success for the 'All Whites', under Mike Ruddock and later, John Plumbtree.