Yahoo Sports The Ulsterman who won first Irish cap in his 80s
Autumn Nations Series: Ireland v Argentina
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin Date: Friday, 15 November Kick-off: 20:10 GMT
Coverage: Commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Foyle; live text commentary on the BBC Sport website & app
When another 51,000 file into the Aviva Stadium for Ireland's autumn Test against Argentina on Friday night, the meeting between the third and fifth ranked sides in the world will have the feel of a glamour international fixture.
Despite the Pumas having claimed some hugely memorable wins over their weekend hosts down through the years, however, it was as recently as 1990 that the Irish Rugby Football Union [IRFU] first recognised games against Argentina as official Tests.
As such, those who wore the green jersey against the South American side without ever going on to face what were termed "IRB board member countries" went decades without having their status as Irish internationals recognised, an oversight that was only rectified last year.
Hooker John Birch, who toured Argentina with Ireland in 1970 alongside a host of British and Irish Lions, was one such player, though he says the five-decade wait for his cap did not bother him.
"I don't think I'm being falsely modest, it didn't really mean anything to me," said Birch, now 82.
"I knew that I had been with the Irish team. I knew that Ronnie Lamont, Bill [Willie John] McBride, Syd Millar had all been there representing Ireland.
"If there was a cap, there was a cap, if there wasn't, it didn't matter."
Birch had taken up the game as a schoolboy at Royal Belfast Academical Institution, going on to captain Queen's University Belfast and represent Instonians in the club game.
Marriage, family and an "old, untrustworthy car" had seemingly put paid to his senior rugby ambitions but, while turning out for Coleraine in the junior ranks, he was convinced to join the Ballymena side of Willie John McBride and Syd Millar and "give it one last crack".
Having impressed sufficiently with the county Antrim side to earn a place at a 'probables versus possibles' Irish trial before the tour of Argentina, his showing there meant he left these shores as the presumptive starter for the trip.
"Ken Kennedy, who was the established Irish hooker at the time, and beside whom I had played prop during my four years at Queen's, dropped out of the tour so there was a space available," he remembered.
"I was very, very lucky to be in the right place at the right time to get a spot in the final trial and the trial went well for me."
After a long, arduous journey via Paris and Rio, Birch remembers the spectacle of horse racing at the famous hippodrome park in Buenos Aires, the attempts of the squad to decipher a Spanish version of the newly released Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and eating steaks that overhung the plate.
"I went on that trip weighing 13 and a half stone and came back 14 and a half stone," he joked regarding the latter.
Ireland would play seven games during their three weeks in Argentina, losing both games against the national side by scores of 8-3 and 6-3.
"They were better than us," Birch said.
"They were physically hard games. This is well before the days of professional rugby.
"You just went out and played as hard as you could. By and large it was rugby in the 1970s, two teams doing as well as they could and they were better than us.
"As far as I was concerned, I'd come from nowhere. Everything about the trip was bonus points for me."
"Two shot knees" ensured Birch's rugby career finished up in the years immediately following the tour, leaving him to focus on family and his career.
His wife Helen had been pregnant with the couple's second son Jeremy at the time of the trip - he would later joke that he was the only baby leaving the maternity ward in a souvenir poncho.
Fifty-three years later, Jeremy and his brother Simon would be given another keepsake from the trip, the physical caps Birch earned from the two games.
Both were present in the Aviva Stadium last year when the IRFU, having decided to retroactively bestow official Test status for past games against Argentina, Fiji, Canada and the USA, paraded their 12 "overnight internationals" in front of the crowd before a World Cup warm-up against England.
For Birch, the only regret was that his wife Helen was not there to see it.
"When the caps were awarded, to some extent, I felt the ifs and buts of it because my wife had died by then," he said.
"She had been pregnant at the time but didn't want in any way shape or form to stop me from going.
"It would have been nice if the caps had been around earlier so she could have seen it."
Birch maintains that the relationships forged through the sport, such as the lifelong friendship with his fellow tourist Ronnie Lamont, always meant more than accolades or caps.
Still, he enjoys the opportunity to reminisce, whether it be when Ireland meet Argentina or simply when Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid comes on TV.
"Doing this now throws me back to a period of time 50 years ago," he added.
"When there's leaves in the garden that need brushed, a cupboard over there that needs sorted, you forget that there were good times like that."
