No, the title had nothing to do with drinking, but was described in that way because the game had to be postponed from its March date to 17 November, 1962, because of an outbreak of smallpox in the Rhondda.
There were 19 deaths and 900,000 people were vaccinated after a traveller from Pakistan, Shuka Mia, arrived in Cardiff in January, 1962, and was diagnosed with the disease. There were six deaths in the Llantrisant and Rhondda areas and 13 in Bridgend.
As well as a massive vaccination programme there was also a huge operation mounted to trace contacts and contain the outbreak. It all sounds eerily familiar to the times we currently live in.
Add in the fact that Wales had lost to Scotland at home for the first time in 25 years earlier in the Championship, after 12 hours of ceaseless rain, and there are even more striking resemblances to current times.
Wales kicked-off their 1962 Five Nations campaign at Twickenham, where Kel Coslett missed five kicks at goal in a 0-0 draw on his debut. The Aberavon full back played in the 8-3 defeat to the Scots a few weeks later and made his third and final appearance in the 3-0 win over the French.
“It was about time I kicked one,” admitted Coslett after kicking the only points in the game in Cardiff against France. By the time the re-arranged Irish fixture came around he had turned professional with St Helens.
He may have missed with eight shots at goal in his opening two games for Wales, but his decisive kick on 24 March sunk the French. He went on to score more than 3,400 points for St Helens in a stellar rugby league career.
When Bryn Meredith’s side went to Dublin, Lansdowne Road was only two-thirds full. A biting, gale-force wind blew around the old stadium and it took a second half penalty from debutant full back Grahame Hodgson to equal Mick English’s first half drop goal to ensure the game ended in a 3-3 draw.
It meant Wales had gone through the championship without scoring a try. They finished fourth, with the Irish taking the Wooden Spoon.
Friday night’s game in the new Six Nations Autumn Nations Cup will be the 47th international between the two teams in the Irish capital. It will be the eighth at the Aviva Stadium, with Wales having won there in the 2012 Six Nations and picked up a second win and a draw in 2015 in a World Cup warm-up match and then another championship fixture.
It was 1-1 at Croke Park and the overall record in Dublin is: P 46 Ir 22 Wal 20 D 4.
IRELAND 3 – 3 WALES – 17 November, 1962, Lansdowne Road
Scorers: Ireland: DG M English; Wales: Pen: G Hodgson
Ireland: Tom Kiernan; Ray Hunter, Cecil Pedlow, Kevin Flynn, Niall Brophy; Mick English, James Kelly; Mick O’Callaghan, Ronnie Dawson, Patrick Dwyer, Bill Mulcahy (captain), Willie-John McBride, Tony O’Sullivan, Matthew Kiely, Ian Dick
Wales: Grahame Hodgson; Robert Morgan, D Ken Jones, Brian Davies, Dewi Bebb; Cliff Ashton, Tony O’Connor; Len Cunningham, Bryn Meredith (captain), John Warlow, Roddy Evans, Keith Rowlands, John Davies, Haydn Morgan, Alun Pask
