Classic RWC match

I sat in the stands at Twickenham, behind the posts under which the French scored their 2nd half points blitz. Behind me were half a dozen of the French soccer team in Tricolores rugby jerseys - who had just won the 1998 soccer world cup - and to my left was Yannick Noah. When the blue assault came, the sound of 'allez le Bleu' rang out around the ground, & my soccermates behind me kep whacking my shoulder & saying 'hey, good game All Black...!' I was wearing my trusty Frank Bunce number 13 Steinlager jersy from the previous great AB era. Anyway, a poor browbeaten Kiwi farmer burst into tears in front of me when the whistle went, & I went out in Richmond after the game with my Petersham Rugby mates & got soundly pissed. In hindsight, it was a great occasion to attend, one of the great games really, burt it was a bit devastating at the time.

Hey DF6 There's also the possibility that if Samoa had the same schedule as NZ or Australia that Brian Lima may not have survived to play his 5th world cup. Not only because of the physical way he plays but also the toll those extra games would have taken out of him, being one of the few world class backs still playing for Samoa. Matt I too wished that Samoa could have fielded their strongest side in the tournament. The game against England had the best atmosphere of all the games in Melbourne, it was like Twickenham when the French overran the All Blacks in 1999, all the neutrals were supporting the boys in blue and wishing them to pull off a famous victory. The tournament came to life for me with that game.

I saw some footage of the Fiji v France game the other day...The try Rupeni scores with that beautiful swerve/sidestep...unbelieveable. I was at a coaching course where we discussing his sidestep, he is one of the few players that can do that without losing pace. He steps off the wrong foot (if there is a wrong foot) and so doesn't lose pace or let the defender see which way he's going. A skill that can't be coached. Just on Samoa...Imagine if they had been allowed their full playing roster at the 2003 WC. They pushed England with an understrength team, what would they have done at full strength? Nice to dream. On the Australia v Ireland game we were discussing that game the other week in my running group...I likened it to a death in the family for five minutes. When Noddy scored an incredible feeling of relief swept our loungeroom. When you look back on it the composure that the whole Australian side showed was incredible, even Campo getting involved in the maul that forced the scrum feed ??? Even more incredible that the pass to Lynagh was really just another hail mary that sat up for him to scoop up and score...the gods really were in our corner that day.

i love that australia v ireland match in 91. not that i was there or anything but just the stories of michael lynagh's composure after gordon hamilton's try with five minutes to go. Telling the team exactly what they needed to do to win and then they just go out there and do it. How good is that, losing a great captain like farr-jones and then you've got a bloke as cool headed as noddy to take over. best one i went to was wales v england in 2003 at lang park. for a while a whole heap of blokes in white shirts thought wales were going to get them. when you look back on that game and then wales' game against new zealand in the same tournament, the welsh really did put in a good performance that year.

Another Great 87 game was NZ v Wales, Remember how Gary Whetton was pulled out of a ruck by Huw Richards and just plain belted in front of everyone, it proved to be richards last memory of that game as he was knocked out cold by buck with a king hit That game stands out for me as it showed the determination of shelford. It was possibly the last time wales were a true world class team

I loved that Fiji v France quarterfinal. Fiji had France on the ropes but failed to put them away and I'll never forget Severo Koroduadua holding the ball in that giant mitt of his and then inexplicably losing control of it with the line at his mercy. Samoa's win over Wales in 1991 was something special for me and their performance at the tournament generated so much pride in Samoans all over the world. Although not a classic match, who can forget Jannie de Beer's amazing six drop kicks against England in 1999. Wales v New Zealand in Sydney was a spectacular game to watch with so many tries scored and Wales leading midway through the second half. The Welsh really thrilled the crowd with their performance that day.

Agree Re Brian Lima Imagine if Samoa had the playing schedule of say NZ or Aus, how many games would Lima have racked up, surely a lotmore than Gregan. I will never forget watching Fiji play France 1987, Fiji went on to losethe game but the tries they scored and the way they played the game was a good 10 years ahead of their time i think and who will forget Koruduadua with no one in front holdingthe ball in one hand and just plaing losing it. Another game has to be All Blacks v England 95, just the hype around the game and the pain the all blacks went through in their last meeting made the game a great one and the love hate relationship lomu started with them, he loved playing them, they hated tackling him

Matt - agree. Great game, I woz there, glad I decided not to queue for that beer in the concorse like one of my mates and got to the seat 5 mins in with his beer but having missed 3 AB tries !

Sam, Totally agree...It says alot for the mindset these days that so many negatives make the press. It's a hangover from all news...the feelgood stuff gets 5 minutes at the back of every bulletin, people are more interested in car wrecks... When it's all said and done there's so much to celebrate in rugby, it gets me down that so much off field crap gets media time. This will cheer you up..probably the best game of rugby ever was the "Game from Heaven" when that man Lomu beat Andrew Walker to score in the corner to win THE best game ever! All that in front of a world record crowd...RWC game or not it's the best game ever played!

Fair call and completely understood. Classic RWC match for me was the AB's demolition of Japan in 1995 the rugby they played that day was breathtaking, better even than the semifinal against England. At least we're focusing on memorable rugby games now, all the negativity was starting to wear me down in the other blogs.

I remember that '92 series...it got a fair workour in the VCR as well. Probably my most memorable series though was the 2001 Lions tour of Australia...I did some serious "telly yelling" in the first two games and was fortunate enough to be there for the decider. Even though I needed an oxygen mask to see the game out it was an unbelievable atmosphere. I guess a classic RWC game for us Aussies and I must apologise in advance Sam, is the '91 semi-final v the All Blacks... I did say sorry!

Good call on the blog ! Only matches you've actually attended mind ! I'd add the France / Eng quarter final in Paris in RWC 1991, and the Wallabies / ABs semi from that tourno in Dublin (who cares about the rugby when you've got Dublin !).....

Matt We should create a blog on the most memorable test matches or test series played, some of them have already been mentioned in previous comments. My favourite Bledisloe series was the 1992 series that Australia won 2-1 but were so closely fought and thrilling that both teams scored exactly the same number of points in the series. The Wallabies won the first two tests by 1 and 2 points respectively and then the All Blacks won in Sydney by 3 points. It was some of the best rugby seen from both teams and really launched Bledisloe Cup games as must see fixtures.

You mention some great games Matt - I agree but would like to add the '97 Trinations between SA and the AB in SA, the 1998 Bledisloe in NZ, the Welsh Pool Match against the ABs in 03 and the Welsh Qtr against England (but just the first half)

I was at this game and the semi the day before. Agree with the previous comment that the entire crowd, expecting a NZ easy win, got behind the French in the 2nd half (even us Poms). Nothing against NZ but simply underdog day and enjoyment of the way the French play their rugby (or did back then). Great atmosphere, far surpassing that of the previous day which was a cliffhanger game.. This is probably the best live game I've seen along with the the 2000 Bledisloe in Sydney, the Eng / Samoa game at the last RWC and all of the Aus / Lions 2000 series. You don't really care who wins (well, sort of) when rugby's that thrilling. Sadly the game has become so sterile I wonder if we'll see such games at the upcoming RWC ? I truly hope so.....here's to (at least) France / Ireland and Eng / Boks being crackers in the opening round.

Yeah, Lima scares me...the nickname says it all. Maybe the Wales v Western Samoa from '91 where Apollo Perilini and Junior Paramore went beserk and busted a couple of Welshmen. We had the misfortune of being pooled with a team containing Frank Bunce, Lolani Coco, Apollo Perilini, Pat Lam and Michael Jones at the Hawaiaan Harlequins 7's in '92. They beat us 75-5. We were the first team to score a try against them in the tournament...they ended up playing the US Eagles in the final and gave them an absolute @rse whipping. I can still remember seeing Jones and Perilini up close and thinking "How are we going to stop that?" That game you were talking about in 2003 was a hell of a game...

If we can request RWC games to be featured can I ask for highlights from Samoa v England 2003, in my mind the best game from the last world cup and Brian Lima's tackle on Derrick Hougaard. It's amazing that the chiropractor will be playing at his fifth world cup and it's a feat that will be hard to equal and never bettered.

I taped the game and watched it over and over...not because I enjoyed watching the All Blacks get beat but just because of the nature of the game. It was so frantic and the drama as the tide was turning was unforgettable. Spiro...Could you make the next game featured the Australia v Ireland and I'll see if I can get Marty Roebuck to log on and give us his thoughts???

Couldn't agree with you more and he was my next door neighbour for three years when I was living in Wellington, top bloke and top car!!!