BEST GAME YOU EVER WERE AT?

buck65

Just a thought

what was the best game you ever saw? was it because of standard of play, atmosphere ? Most of mine are Munster related ( have only been to 1 - 6 nations game )
I feel for atmosphere and tension the HCup final this year , also the semi final vs Leinster was something special in Lansdowne even though the tension wasn't there because of the scoreline.

But it's hard to beat Thomond and the HCup 5.30 kick offs, was at Munster v Gloucester ,but my winner is MUNSTER Vs SALE HCUP 2006, the atmosphere was amazing and it was Munster's most complete performance I've ever seen.

Barry Murphy and Ian Dowling emerged, the 2 hits on Chabal. Jason Robinson as well - what a night for Irish rugby.

louis626

Yeah i gotta agree with that. Semi final v Leinster was special.... Final v Biarritz both great games i was at but the atmosphere in Thomond is amazing and beats the atmosphere at both these games. However being the final and all that.... i have to say Munster V Biarritz 06. There was a great sense of occasion and achievement. And about that Sale match i was unfortunate enough not to be at that one so i cant include that.

Inquitus

Munster Leinster Semi for me

The anticipation building up to it, the media was obsessed, everywhere you turned that game was on the TV, radio, talked about on the street, in the bars.

My Brother and I didn't have a ticket but we got down there early, and a hat and scarf vendor sold us 2 tickets for face value for the South Terrace....result. It was a beautiful day, and a great result for a Munsterman.

I also went to the France v NZ QF in the last world cup, stayed in the France Hotel (The Hilton in Cardiff), that was pretty special, a good few of the French lads in the bar after.

Honourable mention to being at Wembley for that Scott Gibbs try against England.

RuggieBear

Suppose for the rarity of it I'd go for the third Lions Test v Australia in Sydney in 2001. Unbelievable atmosphere but the result was ****e. How often does one get to the deciding game of a Lions series?

Leinster Munster semi was special but the result was ****e (see a pattern developing here)

Still i reckon for atmosphere, game and result the England Ireland Croke park game will never ever be threatened as one of the greatest occasions in irish sporting History.

Fizman

Munster v Leinster i think i have to go with.

That or the semi in landsdowne a few years back where wasps beat munster by a point or two and both scored 30+. Real cracker.

Blured

Toulouse Leinster in the HC QF in 2005 for me. Realising that when Horgan went over for the last try we were going to win was an amazing feeling!

Singing Allez les Bleues at the confused French fans was great

JWAD

Ireland v Australia & Australia v New Zealand (both at Lansdowne rd) - RWC99
Australia v New Zealand - Stadium Australia 1999 (a year before the greatest ever rugby test)

toomevara

Rugby Union: Ireland V England..1985. When Kiernan dropped that goal, nothing has ever come close (and i've been to both munster HC finals)..just thinking about it now makes the hair stand up on my neck...forty thousand people literally went mental...astonishing.

Rugby league Leeds V Saints at in last years Super league..an awesome game of league.

Frank_Gallagher

Ireland-v-England 2001, year of the foot and mouth. I was but a nipper and the first time we'd beaten England in a good while. Probably my first rugby experience of note so best match for reasons other than the match itself. Wood's try, Stringer's tap tackel on Robinson, Irish line under seige for what seemed like hours. Cracker.

Luckycharm

Internationals
Lions V OZ first test Brisbane - stadium was a sea of Red ozzies did not know what hit them then there was that Try

Ireland V England 1993 (i think) England had just thumped scotland and were hammering everyone - Ireland smashed them with Mick Galway scoring

First win over OZ a few years ago in the Lashing rain- great to finally beat an SH team

Provincial
Leinster beating Leicester in the Mid 90's in the HEC not sure what year- leinster were all amatuers playing a couple of times a year, donnybrook was full to rafters. Leicester were pretty much pro with Johnson, back etc. K nowlan scored winning try.

14 man leinster beating Munster to win the Celtic League in 2001 (i think around then) Miller sent off early, horgan having a stormer.

Club
Marys V Young Munster in AIL final nearly a full Lansdowne road, great atmosphere - shame about the result - kick to win the game coming off post!

RuggieBear

Luckycharm wrote: »

Provincial
Leinster beating Leicester in the Mid 90's in the HEC not sure what year- leinster were all amatuers playing a couple of times a year, donnybrook was full to rafters. Leicester were pretty much pro with Johnson, back etc. K nowlan scored winning try.

Yeah the place was mental that day. Serevi had a mare

bamboozle

St Mary's v Clontarf back in 1997, Clontarf's 1st season in AIL 1, playing in Mary's who had hickie, jameson, knowlan, costello in their team and we beat them with 2 late try's...

ah the good old AIL days

Goodluck2me

Im certain that if Ireland had beaten France that year we were c40 pints down at half time, no game could have come close.

Paulusmaximus

Best Provincial Game: Toulouse versus Leinster in Toulouse. High scoring, open rugby, hickie's try was unbelievable and summed up the whole match. Players were dead on their feet expecting Conteponi to kick to touch and instead he released darcy. Watching it back on tv Stuart Barnes wets himself when horgan scores...

Best international Game: Ireland vs England. The conviction and control Ireland showed in that atmosphere was exceptional. The passion was there but they channeled it perfectly.

Honourable Mention: Munster - Wasps. Not because Munster lost, but the the tooing and froing (sp) of the scores and the quality of rugby...

Amazotheamazing

Probably the first HEC win for Munster.

It mightn't have been the best game rugby wise, but the build up was amazing, the atmosphere was just the perfect mix of nervous tension and nervous excitment. the palpable rage when Biarritz got the illegitimate try, the comeback, seeing the gap open for Stringer and everyone screaming at him to go for it. Then the second half was a bit surreal, O'Gara wasn't kicking well from hand, and Flannery messed-up a few lineouts around the hour mark, then the street scene from Limerick flashed up, and the huge pride at seeing your hometown out in numbers, and then us cheering Limerick, and Limerick cheering us, after that, the team pulled it together a bit. Then, jut when it seemed we had it won, a biarritz player had a clear run to the line, for some reason he stepped inside and Halstead completely buried him. If he'd kept going they would have won... Stringer gets the ball and it's over. Incredible game.

komodosp

Llanelli v Munster last year... Great atmosphere, I think the rain really added to it... Though I felt sorry for Llanelli fans standing near us who were just pissed off towards the end. That second try for Munster scored right in front of us, but Munster were pushing for what seemed like ages and the crowd were loving every minute of it...

Then for some reason everyone started singing "Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer"! But everyone was so delighted that it was great craic...

Walking down Swansea the next day with Munster jerseys on, passers-by seemed to have been delighted with the result! Must be some rivalry or something they have there...

[Jackass]

The first ever BIG Leinster game I was at was 2001 Celtic League decider which was a good occasion and would be one of my favourites, so would the Dragons game last season when we lifted the trophy, although no contest, the exebition rugby was nice to watch and Jowitts try was one of the best you'll see, and also your team lifting a trophy after a game always makes it special.

Leicester in RDS last season was a good game and was worth seeing for Horgans performance alone.

Wasn't at the game in 2006 vs Munster as I couldn't get a ticket, but I'd say for Munster fans that's gotta be as sweet for them as it is bitter for us

International, I'd say England in Croke park, or Australia in Lansdowne Road in WC 1991. So close...I was only 8 at the time and I'll never forget it. That was the first game I was ever at and the first year I ever played rugby.

maddness

Ireland V england at Croker last year really made me be so proud to be Irish in every way.
Again Ire V Eng in the foot and mouth delayed match was pretty special too, I remember hugging random people in the south terrace at the end.
Cardiff for the first munster Heineken cup win was some day out even for a Leinster fan!

Jilm

It'd have to be the Leinster v Munster HEC game. Defeating SA & Aus was also pretty sweet.

Legion2008

Was a great atmosphere packed with Irish fans though the Italians made an enormous amount of noise and never stopped singing despite their team being taken apart .... they were true fans and never got on the back of their team.

Halfway through the second half the italian guy sitting in front of me turned round and handed me a beer said that because Ireland were playing so well I deserved it ... truly a great day ....


.... until scotland let france in for a try in the last minute that the irish video ref awarded despite having no clear grounding of the ball .....

Pemba

2001 Foot and Mouth postponed game v England. Got in for free and watched Wood power over from the steps of the press box!

World Cup 1991 QF, Robinson in the corner with Lynagh robbing us at the end. That game made it into Jonah Lomu Classic matches on the playstation...bit young to be at it though!

RuggieBear

Pemba wrote: »

World Cup 1991 QF, Robinson in the corner with Lynagh robbing us at the end. That game made it into Jonah Lomu Classic matches on the playstation...bit young to be at it though!

Hamilton?

Heroditas

Legion2008 wrote: »

.... until scotland let france in for a try in the last minute that the irish video ref awarded despite having no clear grounding of the ball .....

He couldn't see it not being grounded so therefore had to award the try.

A few for me: Ireland v England 1985 - incredible!
Ireland v England in Croke Park
Ireland v South Africa in '04 in Lansdowne Road, the East Terrace practically willed the team through the game. The tension was awful, particularly when SA had the scrums right under our posts!
Munster v Wasps was an almost surreal day.
Bath v Leinster '06
Toulouse v Leinster '06

Ach, there's far too many to even mention.

Hansel

Young Munster V Lansdowne AIL final 1993
Munster V Wasps in Lansdowne Road
Leinster V Munster in Lansdowne Road
Biarritz V Munster HEC final
England v Ireland in Twickenham 2004

Pemba

Hamilton! Correct!

Davywalshy

Ireland England, Croke Park. No question.

tHE vAGGABOND

Munster winning the Heineken Cup in Cardiff - while not a great game of rugby, the craic was 91 [as christy moore would say]

I gotta say, for me personally, its England at Twickenham in 2004. Im living and working in England. Having to live through them winning the world cup, lads in my rugby club were unbearble. So England go in as world champions, and unbeaten at Fortress Twickenham in years. We are not in amazing form. Girv the Swerve, not having a great season at the time, scored the winning try right in front of me [and to top it all, I scored that night :cool:]

Honorable mention:
NZ v Aus in the RWC in 91, in Landsdowne Road.

Never been to a leinster game I would rate up at those heights [missed Toulouse away a couple of years ago, thats gotta be the big one really]. We must sort that out.

[Jackass]

2 of the games I would have loved to have been at the most was away to Bath that year (Leinster miracle match - bonus point win and the second best Leinster performance I've ever seen - backs were unbelieveable) and away to Tolouse that year also.

Book your ticket for Edinburgh this year and you'll get one

efb

Ireland v France in the First ever Rugby Match at Croker, the atmosphere was amazing, I'd been at Croker so may times before, following Offaly, but this historic occasion was amazing, clearly outplayed in the first half, came so close in the second, myself and my bro were still celebrating as DeClerc touched down in front of us to rob us of the fairy-tail ending to a very historic day in Croker.

JWAD

Not rugby union, I know but still egg-chasing nonetheless:
The NRL Grand Final in 1999 between St George and Melbourne was flippin' unreal. Over 100,000 extremely partisan fans and the underdog winning against the fancied flash side in only their second season in existence.

Ireland v New Zealand in 1989 was memorable for me, not for the game but Willie Anderson & Co going nose-to-nose with the All Blacks during Ka Mate-time. The noise was unreal. Then.............they hammered us

Snickers Man

Not the greatest game, perhaps, but a great memory.

I was at the Ireland NZ match in Lansdowne Road in 1973 when we drew following a last minute try by Tom Grace in the corner. (I was very young)

I was standing behind the goal at the Havelock Square end as Barry McGann took the conversion which might have won the match and he missed by a lick of paint.

Beating Wales in 1980 for the first time in ten years was good too. Last game of the season and not given much hope, we played them off the park and trashed them 21-7 with tries from David Irwin, Ciaran Fitzgerald and John O'Driscoll. Terrific atmosphere both during and after the game.

Stade de France in 2000 for O'Driscoll's hat trick and only the second win in France in my lifetime was memorable. The atmosphere was dead because the French don't take to being beaten at home but we made our own craic.

Nothing yet, though, can beat Ireland England at Croke Park 2007. Fantastic occasion. Historic event and a record victory. Tops.

Hazys

Ireland Vs Munster in Musgrave Park 1999

Probably one of the of the first munster games i went to...and the rest was history.

This game was around the time very few munster players could make the Ireland team, it was pretty much a disgrace and probably the roots of why some Munster fans are bigger fans of Munster than they are of the Irish team.

This game was a warmup for the Irish squad before they played a few test games in a week or so.

The moment I remember the most from the game was when Munster had just scored the winning try to make it Ireland 19 - Munster 26, the ground was hopping. The rain was pissing down in a full capacity Musgrave Park and as the munster players returned to the half way line after the conversion to take their place to receive the kickoff, Mick Galway turns to the crowd and throws both hands in the air and screamed to the crowd, and the crowd went mental. I was standing right in front of Mick and this was the greatest sporting moment for me.

I think that moment signified how close the Munster team was to the fans and why they are followed so fanatically.

sslazio11

I'd have to give equal billing to two losing Munster efforts in the HEC:

Toulouse in Toulouse in 2003 was probably the most intense atmosphere I've experienced, and the game was gripping. Also had an epic journey to get there, missed the charter flight with Ryaniar that morning, ended up flying through Paris and landing in Toulouse half an hour before thegame started.

Wasps Lansdowne Road 2004. An incredible day, the game had absolutely everything. I was basically a carcass afterwards, just drained emotionally.

I was able to get to the final this year after missing 2006 because of exams, a great occasion as well.

JWAD

Hazys wrote: »

This game was around the time very few munster players could make the Ireland team, it was pretty much a disgrace

A "disgrace"? How so?
Who should have been dropped from the Ireland team in 1999 (the year you mention) in favour of a player from Munster in that year, for example? Gatland obviously preferred Davidson (the British & Irish Lion) to Galwey and Costello to Foley but where's the "disgrace"?

Remember this is before all the current 'Munstermania' took shape. Leinster v Munster the next year was held at Donnybrook and barely full.

pucan

JWAD wrote: »

A "disgrace"? How so?
Who should have been dropped from the Ireland team in 1999 (the year you mention) in favour of a player from Munster in that year, for example? Gatland obviously preferred Davidson (the British & Irish Lion) to Galwey and Costello to Foley but where's the "disgrace"?

Remember this is before all the current 'Munstermania' took shape. Leinster v Munster the next year was held at Donnybrook and barely full.

Leave it out, you'll have the thread locked.

Couldn't make it to Cardiff but I'll never forget watching the Biarritz final on the big screen in limerick.
Best game in the NH, Munster Sale in Thomond.
Best in SH, Waratahs Crusaders S-14 final in Christchurch. Not for the quality of rugby, the whole weekend was awesome(except the result). Drinking in the Crusaders supporters club after, met robbie deans and most the team; McCaw, Carter etc.

JWAD

pucan wrote: »

Leave it out, you'll have the thread locked

Wasn't a stir or a dig at anyone but I see what you mean so no worries.

pucan wrote: »

Couldn't make it to Cardiff but I'll never forget watching the Biarritz final on the big screen in limerick.
Best game in the NH, Munster Sale in Thomond.
Best in SH, Waratahs Crusaders S-14 final in Christchurch. Not for the quality of rugby, the whole weekend was awesome(except the result). Drinking in the Crusaders supporters club after, met robbie deans and most the team; McCaw, Carter etc.

Another good game seeing as you're in Sydney, was Aussie beating the All Blacks in 1998 at the SFS. Burkie popped his shoulder out while touching down for a try. Bernie Larkham actually blocked a conversion attempt by Mertens that night. This was the only time I can think of that this has happened in a game during the TV era. The shoulder pop was horrible but the game was absolutely brilliant.

Lancey

JWAD wrote: »

Australia v New Zealand - Stadium Australia 1999 (a year before the greatest ever rugby test)

I was at that game!!!! Excellent

pucan

JWAD wrote: »

Another good game seeing as you're in Sydney, was Aussie beating the All Blacks in 1998 at the SFS.

Seen the highlights of that game, was a good one.

Ashfield

Sorry lads it has to be Munster vs Saracens when o gara kicked an injury time conversion in off the post,
Back in the day of no bandwagoners at matches
1 home ticket did all 3 home games and as they were on paper, we could photocopy them like mad,
the biggest crowd in thomond park i know off,
despite what the official records say, there were over 16000 there,
if you were there you would remember,
when woodie went over for the try, it was like the kop end at anfield in the 70s, the crowd picked itself up literally and you ended up in a totally different position,
the good old days,
none of the prawn sandwhich brigade and have silenced thomond park since

Amazotheamazing

Ashfield wrote: »

Sorry lads it has to be Munster vs Saracens when o gara kicked an injury time conversion in off the post,
Back in the day of no bandwagoners at matches
1 home ticket did all 3 home games and as they were on paper, we could photocopy them like mad,
the biggest crowd in thomond park i know off,
despite what the official records say, there were over 16000 there,
if you were there you would remember,
when woodie went over for the try, it was like the kop end at anfield in the 70s, the crowd picked itself up literally and you ended up in a totally different position,
the good old days,
none of the prawn sandwhich brigade and have silenced thomond park since

Arrah, if you weren't a blow-in you'd know Shannon and Garryowen once brought over 19,000 to a league game in the early 1990's. This Munster thing was invented to keep bandwagoners like you away from the AIL....

Heroditas

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

This Munster thing was invented to keep bandwagoners like you away from the AIL....

Munster Senior League surely?

Amazotheamazing

Heroditas wrote: »

Munster Senior League surely?

Nah, that was rigged between Con and Garryowen. Course I'm thinking back to a time when Shannon supporters were sound, so it's a fairly long time ago....

Ashfield

well buddy,
i was going to ail games long before the heineken cup kicked off,
long gone are the days of having to park in punchs and walk out to garryowen because you couldnt park any closer,
i dont need a lecture from some clown like you about ail rugby,
once saw garryowen draw 3 3 with the cookies in the pooring rain in one of the poorest yet brilliant games in a long time
i dont remember that shannon game, forgive me for one error, muppet!

RuggieBear

i won't forgive you the personal abuse. banned for a week.

Amazotheamazing

Ashfield wrote: »

well buddy,
i was going to ail games long before the heineken cup kicked off,
long gone are the days of having to park in punchs and walk out to garryowen because you couldnt park any closer,
i dont need a lecture from some clown like you about ail rugby,
once saw garryowen draw 3 3 with the cookies in the pooring rain in one of the poorest yet brilliant games in a long time
i dont remember that shannon game, forgive me for one error, muppet!

I was joking. Though, I see no reason to disparage people who have started following rugby through Munster in recent years. Their money is as good as anyone's and their support is as good as anyones too. It's a strange one, every successful team needs people you describe as bandwagoners, otherwise we couldn't afford to either keep our best players or buy in players like Howlett.

Shannon and Garryowen did play in front of 19,000 though, back in 1993, iirc. Amazing that that attendance will only be broken by Munster in Thomond this coming year, 13 or so years into the pro era (well officially anyway, I too reckon the Saracens games were well over the official 16,000 attendance). Anyone know the actual official attendance for the All Blacks game in 1978?

[Jackass]

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Anyone know the actual official attendance for the All Blacks game in 1978?

578,432

+1. I was there.

RuggieBear

[Jackass] wrote: »

578,432

+1. I was there.

so was i

rm_2008

whoever mentioned it previously,its gotta be the ireland v munster game for me. it was basically my introduction to the sport,tho its been in my family for yrs. i was only 9 at the time,and have seen so many classics since that,but that day was definately special.my two cousins were there there abouts on the munster team-Cian and Conor Mahony...Conor ended up being sub for RO'G for a good while until he moved up to Clontarf.