What was the worst Irish Defeat.

oneofakind32

I had a conversation with a friend of mine after we lost to Argentina at the World Cup. He argued that it was a worse defeat than Wales at RWC 2011. I feel that the Wales game was worse then the Argentina one. At the time we were supposed to beat Wales, we had a full team, it supposed to be our day. We limped into the Argentina game with half a team, the came in strong and rested. All week leading up to it I wasn't confident we would win.

But for me the most disappointing defeat was New Zealand in Nov 2013. Probably the best performance ever from an Irish team, they came so close. I lived in Ballsbridge at the time. The following Monday my housemate said to me"It's almost like there has been a death" and he wasn't wrong.

Am I missing any others? Obviously there were many disappointing nearly days leading up to the grand slam in 2009.

thomond2006

oneofakind32 wrote: »

But for me the most disappointing defeat was New Zealand in Nov 2013. Probably the best performance ever from an Irish team, they came so close. I lived in Ballsbridge at the time. The following Monday my housemate said to me"It's almost like there has been a death" and he wasn't wrong.

I have no recollection of this game and that's not going to change.

P_1

oneofakind32 wrote: »

I had a conversation with a friend of mine after we lost to Argentina at the World Cup. He argued that it was a worse defeat than Wales at RWC 2011. I feel that the Wales game was worse then the Argentina one. At the time we were supposed to beat Wales, we had a full team, it supposed to be our day. We limped into the Argentina game with half a team, the came in strong and rested. All week leading up to it I wasn't confident we would win.

But for me the most disappointing defeat was New Zealand in Nov 2013. Probably the best performance ever from an Irish team, they came so close. I lived in Ballsbridge at the time. The following Monday my housemate said to me"It's almost like there has been a death" and he wasn't wrong.

Am I missing any others? Obviously there were many disappointing nearly days leading up to the grand slam in 2009.

What are you talking about, that match ended after 78 minutes :P

irishbucsfan

Throwing away a grand slam like this

aimee1

oneofakind32 wrote: »

I had a conversation with a friend of mine after we lost to Argentina at the World Cup. He argued that it was a worse defeat than Wales at RWC 2011. I feel that the Wales game was worse then the Argentina one. At the time we were supposed to beat Wales, we had a full team, it supposed to be our day. We limped into the Argentina game with half a team, the came in strong and rested. All week leading up to it I wasn't confident we would win.

But for me the most disappointing defeat was New Zealand in Nov 2013. Probably the best performance ever from an Irish team, they came so close. I lived in Ballsbridge at the time. The following Monday my housemate said to me"It's almost like there has been a death" and he wasn't wrong.

Am I missing any others? Obviously there were many disappointing nearly days leading up to the grand slam in 2009.

losing to italy in 2013 was by far the worse game I have endured. At least the wales team in 2011 was a good team at the top of their game, much the same as argentina were last year, but 2013 against Italy was just a shambles.

thomond2006

Peter Allan, Wales 6N 2011. That is all.

bilston

I don't know whether you would call it the worst defeat but I remember Ireland losing heavily at home to Western Samoa in the mid 90s on a Tuesday or Wednesday night at a half empty Lansdowne Road and thinking this was just about as bad as it gets.

yosser hughes

1991 World Cup quarter final defeat to Australia was the most gut wrenching defeat.

former total

bilston wrote: »

I don't know whether you would call it the worst defeat but I remember Ireland losing heavily at home to Western Samoa in the mid 90s on a Tuesday or Wednesday night at a half empty Lansdowne Road and thinking this was just about as bad as it gets.

Ha! Was just about to post that. I was there that night. Like staring into a rugby abyss, genuinely soul-destroying.

These youngsters are spoiled rotten with their Grand Slam deciders and World Cups.

CatFromHue

New Zealand 60-0 Ireland

We were lucky to get nil too

Richard Hillman

Argentina was very quite bad. Unlike the other 2 games there was nothing positive to take from the game. Outplayed, outcoached, outfought.

wp_rathead

Argentina
But Lens, 1999 RWC

Teferi

CatFromHue wrote: »

New Zealand 60-0 Ireland

We were lucky to get nil too

This is the worst defeat that I have seen. It still stings.

corny

I was 9 when Ireland lost in '91. Can still remember being disappointed.

Vincent Clerc denying us the GS in the 79ht minute '07 was pretty tough.

Nothing comes close to losing to the NZ'ers in '13 though.

awec

The NZ game is the most hurt I've ever been after a game. I have rarely seen or felt such depression leaving a stadium in my life.

There have been worse defeats, but that much rank among the most painful.

errlloyd

Where does beating Geogia in 2007 rank on the list of worst Irish defeats?

I still remember BOD screaming at Stringer. It was a shambles.

Dave_The_Sheep

New Zealand was easily the most painful, place was like a funeral leaving.

JPNelsforearm

For me it was the one where we got utterly tanked by NZ away under deccie. Just blown off the park in every facet.

captbarnacles

NZ in 2013 was the most crushing.

Argentina in Lens the most infuriating for our lack of ideas of how to get over the line in the last 5 minutes.

Wales 2011 hands down. It was crushing.

The only tiny tiny redeeming factor was France knocking England out a few hours later.

desertcircus

Losing 60-0 to NZ was humiliating, not least because the failure to fire anyone at all in the aftermath made the IRFU look incredibly blase. At least there was some dignity in those heartbreakers...

Bridge93

In terms of hurt I think Wales 2011, France 07 or NZ 2013. I'm too young to remember the 90s ones in any detail.

Humiliation wise it's hard to look beyond that hammering away to NZ. But Namibia and Georgia were dark days in 07 too particularly as coming off a decent 6N I couldn't work out wtf was going so horribly wrong. Argentina in that same comp was shameful too. 07 was a crap year for emotions really.

AbusesToilets

The only international I've managed to go to was the Grand Slam decider against England. Talk about disappointing, absolute massacre.

CatFromHue

Teferi wrote: »

This is the worst defeat that I have seen. It still stings.

It does all right.

Plus it was like a car crash in slow motion, you could feel early on it was going to be bad and it just got worse and worse.

Snickers Man

thomond2006 wrote: »

I have no recollection of this game and that's not going to change.

I wish I had your powers of amnesia!

Snickers Man

CatFromHue wrote: »

New Zealand 60-0 Ireland

We were lucky to get nil too

Well we had come so close to beating them a week before. A dodgy late penalty against us by Nigel Owens and some amazing good luck for the Kiwis cost us. So psychologically Ireland had shot their bolt the previous week and were never at the races for that one.

Actually the worst most humiliating stuffing I have endured in person was France Ireland in the Five Nations at the old Parc Des Princes in 1988.

Ireland had won their first match at home to Scotland in grand style. Then we had a week off (as happened in the Five Nations) while France went to Murrayfield and got their asses kicked. The following weekend (actually two weekends in those days) we went to Paris with some optimism.

It was the most unrequited slaughter ever. We couldn't get a look in. The actual score wasn't that bad because France missed all their kicks but I think they scored five tries. Only worth four points in those days.

Here's their first. Listen to the roar of anticipation as Lagisquet starts the
counter attack. I can still remember it as an "Oh ****!" moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gN_PlBY1kE

PTH2009

1 New Zealand 2013 Dublin- Sick defeat, if sexton had of scored that last penalty :(:( but we should of stopped there winning attack. it would of put the munster all blacks victory to bed

2. Argentina 2015 WC- if we played it this weekend it wud be a different outcome, too close after the french game and we only had half a team

3 Wales 2011 WC- we were planning our morning out for the semi final vs france before kick off, bad defeat which set us back.

4 Scotland 2010 6N- last game in croke park in a triple crown decider. got it back level only for a rob kearney error led to parks scoring the winning penalty costing us a triple crown.

5 Wales 2012 6N- had the game won but messed up and wales won with a last min penalty.

France 2007 6N was also a bad defeat.

feargale

Ireland's last five nations game in 1975, the IRFU's centenary year. Wales 32 Ireland 4.

mfceiling

Well seeing most of you can only remember defeats in the last 10 years!!

Gordon Hamilton scores a try where he almost runs the length of the pitch and touches down. We're in the lead, more importantly we are in the WC semi final. Only a couple of minutes to go and there is going to be mayhem, chaos, absolute ecstasy.

No....Australia score a great backline move and it's Micheal Lynagh in the corner.

I'm 17 and I go behind our sofa and sob like I'm 3 again.

Gutted doesn't even come close.

tritriagain

[Wquote="mfceiling;98421770"]Well seeing most of you can only remember defeats in the last 10 years!!

Gordon Hamilton scores a try where he almost runs the length of the pitch and touches down. We're in the lead, more importantly we are in the WC semi final. Only a couple of minutes to go and there is going to be mayhem, chaos, absolute ecstasy.

No....Australia score a great backline move and it's Micheal Lynagh in the corner.

I'm 17 and I go behind our sofa and sob like I'm 3 again.

Gutted doesn't even come close.[/quote]

Was at that match and no sporting event since has been as atmospheric to me. The buzz when we went ahead to the low of losing sums up sport. I was in the corner where Hamilton scored his try. Still sends a shiver down my spine when I see a replay. This was the closest ever we got to a WC sf. Maybe not worst defeat ever but definitely most painful.

LostArt

NZ, by far.

Easily the most depressed I've felt leaving any sporting event.

Riskymove

awec wrote: »

The NZ game is the most hurt I've ever been after a game. I have rarely seen or felt such depression leaving a stadium in my life.

There have been worse defeats, but that much rank among the most painful.

agreed....tbh it is interesting that the poll seems to focus on games where we thought we would win but failed. Because we have never been in a semi final or beaten the ABs it is natural to seem them as our most disappointing games

To these 3 I would add France in croker and Vincent f&*(()ng Clerc

but I don't think they are our "worst defeats" we did lose to teams at the same or higher level after all


Our worst defeats for me are the likes of losing to Italy in the 6N and our awful performances in RWC 2007 where even the games we managed to win were awful

Macy0161

Argentina, Lens. I know Gatland eventually got that line out to work with Wales, but at the time it seemed like a total lack of ideas.

sydthebeat

for a feeling of a crushing defeat, the game that never happened is most fresh in my mind.... although i can still remember the deflation after Lynagh scored that try in 91.

however both of those games has us going into them as underdogs, sever underdogs in 1991.... so it was more a case of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

I think the "worst" defeat was probably wales 11 followed by Argentina this year.
Argentina would have been the worst only for the mitigating factor of the injuries. Any game that you go into as favorites by get beaten by double scores is a heavy crushing defeat.

wales 11 was worse though...we went in in good fettle. We had arguably our best ever squad at the time... and we were completely outplayed. We were never in that game at all.... and i think the fact it still severely hurts the players to this day... BOD was scathing about the gameplan at the OTB roadshow last year.

jacothelad

All of those are unpleasant memories. However, I would add in 2 draws. 1972 v. New Zealand and march '85 a 15 - 15 draw v. France which cost us a Grand slam.
In '72 Tom Kiernan missed a relatively easy conversion to win it but he wasn't a great goal kicker by today's standards.

In the France game, I have this memory. Ireland were awarded a penalty in front of and about 15 yards out from the French posts with the score at 15 - 15. Instead of taking the ball back a bit, Deans took the kick from the spot and the French charged it down - something of course you are not allowed to do. The ref ignored it - shamefully.

lunarhog

Oh, what a cheery thread. Any defeat to England (and latterly Wales) has always been hard to take. I was so furious about the Martin Johnson incident at Lansdowne in 2003 so that defeat added insult to injury! Vincent Clerc’s last minute try in 2007 was brutal too.

jacothelad

lunarhog wrote: »

Oh, what a cheery thread. Any defeat to England (and latterly Wales) has always been hard to take. I was so furious about the Martin Johnson incident at Lansdowne in 2003 so that defeat added insult to injury! Vincent Clerc’s last minute try in 2007 was brutal too.

Of course we are quite rightly forbidden from bad mouthing players on Boards. However when I take my Labrador, Buddy, for his walks and being a conscientious dog owner, I frequently have to lift large steaming piles of Martin Johnstons from the Promenade.

techdiver

Having been at 2 of the 3 games mentioned (NZ in 2013 and Argentina in WC), I can say with certainty that the Argentina one was by far the worst.

At least our performance against NZ was excellent and we were beaten at the death.

Argentina on the other hand was another text book WC capitulation by Ireland (regardless of injuries).

stephen_n

bilston wrote: »

I don't know whether you would call it the worst defeat but I remember Ireland losing heavily at home to Western Samoa in the mid 90s on a Tuesday or Wednesday night at a half empty Lansdowne Road and thinking this was just about as bad as it gets.

I was at that game and had happily erased it from my memory till now.

hype101

Wales in RWC QF just for sheer pain. ABs in 2013 ranks close.

Snickers Man

jacothelad wrote: »

All of those are unpleasant memories. However, I would add in 2 draws. 1972 v. New Zealand and march '85 a 15 - 15 draw v. France which cost us a Grand slam.
In '72 Tom Kiernan missed a relatively easy conversion to win it but he wasn't a great goal kicker by today's standards.

Sorry to be anoraky about this but I was there.

It was actually 1973, albeit January, so the same season. Tom Grace equalised with a late try in the corner at the Havelock square end. So it wasn't an easy conversion; it was from the touchline. And the kicker was another Corkman, not Kiernan. A fat little out half called Barry McGann. I was behind the goal and he missed it by a lick of paint.

In my 12-year-old's memory anyway.

swiwi_

jacothelad wrote: »

All of those are unpleasant memories. However, I would add in 2 draws. 1972 v. New Zealand and march '85 a 15 - 15 draw v. France which cost us a Grand slam.
In '72 Tom Kiernan missed a relatively easy conversion to win it but he wasn't a great goal kicker by today's standards.

In the France game, I have this memory. Ireland were awarded a penalty in front of and about 15 yards out from the French posts with the score at 15 - 15. Instead of taking the ball back a bit, Deans took the kick from the spot and the French charged it down - something of course you are not allowed to do. The ref ignored it - shamefully.

Just to clarify Jaco the 1885 game vs France or are we talking 20th century?

jacothelad

Snickers Man wrote: »

Sorry to be anoraky about this but I was there.

It was actually 1973, albeit January, so the same season. Tom Grace equalised with a late try in the corner at the Havelock square end. So it wasn't an easy conversion; it was from the touchline. And the kicker was another Corkman, not Kiernan. A fat little out half called Barry McGann. I was behind the goal and he missed it by a lick of paint.

In my 12-year-old's memory anyway.

Yes. 20th January. I knew it was that season, I just assumed it was the Autumn.

*T.J. KIERNAN T.O. GRACE 1T M.K. FLYNN C.M.H. GIBSON A.W. MCMASTER B.J. MCGANN 2PG J.J. MOLONEY R.J. MCLOUGHLIN K.W. KENNEDY J.F. LYNCH W.J. MCBRIDE +K.M.A. MAYS J.C. DAVIDSON T.A.P. MOORE J.F. SLATTERY LANSDOWNE ROAD DRAWN 10-10 IRE. 2PG, 1T NZ 1G, 1T 20 JANUARY 1973

jacothelad

swiwi_ wrote: »

Just to clarify Jaco the 1885 game vs France or are we talking 20th century?

1885 of course.

pickarooney

It's like Methuselah sticking up his hand and saying 'actually, Mr. Magee...'

The Rape of Lucretia

Bridge93 wrote: »

But Namibia .....dark days in 07 too particularly as coming off a decent 6N

Gosh you've had it good. Being 'troubled' by Namibia.
Where were you in the Dark Ages of 1991? We lost two test matches in a row to them. God, how we dreamed of drawing a game against Namibia back then.




However,the NZ game for sure for me.
A man has dreams of walking with giants,
to carve his name in the edifice of time.
Before the mortar of his zeal has a chance to congeal,
the cup is dashed from his lips,
the flame is snuffed aborning,
he's brought to rack and ruin in his prime.

Greatest ever feeling of so near yet so far. Still havent fully gotten over it. The human facility for blanking out the pain of severe trauma is indeed impressive. I know it happened. But I compartmentalise it in a safe place, and am now more or less getting on with my life.




The shock of The Debacle of Lens is probably lost on many too young to view it as we did at the time. Yes, it was a fine Argentine team, with some fine players. But it would be like loosing to Canada today to not get out of our group. It was a very chastening experience against a country we didnt regard as being in our aristocratic rugby sphere. Yes, I know. They have made the WC semis twice to our none. But in the context of the time, an earthquake to our rugby world.




Aus in 1991, somehow not so bad. Gutting in a way, but tempered by a feeling that it would have been a steal. You just had to love that Aussie team so much; Eales, Little, Horan, Kearns, and, the man you thank the heavens for having seen and making life worthwhile, Campese.

Flipper22

Wales 2011. I fully expected us to win but we never got going. I won't forget BOD crying in the interview after for quite a while.

NZ 2013, as well as France 2007, were devastating in a short sharp shock kind of a way but the disappointment is tempered by the team playing well.

Argentina this year was obviously disappointing but my expectations were lower given the injuries.

Snickers Man

pickarooney wrote: »

It's like Methuselah sticking up his hand and saying 'actually, Mr. Magee...'

Methuselah's my younger brother.

Worst defeats to take from my viewpoint: Wales 2011 World Cup, New Zealand 2013, France 2007 6 nations, Australia WC 2003. A few half missed opportunities against New Zealand over the last 15 years. Argentina 2015 was disappointing but it would only have been a huge let down if Scotland had held on against Australia.

In terms of complete annihilation there have been a few: New Zealand away on a few occasions most notably the 60-0 match, New Zealand in 2005 minus a number of regulars leading 45-0 in Dublin before we got a try back with the last play. France in 2003 on both occasions we ran into them in form and were road kill.

I only remember from the mid 90's on but it was pretty grim. The Western Samoa one sticks out. A couple of chastening defeats to Italy even if they were a good side at that point. Think it was 1999 but a loss of something like 38-10 away to Scotland after a decent start at the time seemed particularly depressing.

To end on a positive note at least Wales 2009 Six Nations isn't on this list.

wp_rathead

Borders no.2 wrote: »

Worst defeats to take from my viewpoint: Wales 2011 World Cup, New Zealand 2013, France 2007 6 nations, Australia WC 2003. A few half missed opportunities against New Zealand over the last 15 years. Argentina 2015 was disappointing but it would only have been a huge let down if Scotland had held on against Australia.

In terms of complete annihilation there have been a few: New Zealand away on a few occasions most notably the 60-0 match, New Zealand in 2005 minus a number of regulars leading 45-0 in Dublin before we got a try back with the last play. France in 2003 on both occasions we ran into them in form and were road kill.

I only remember from the mid 90's on but it was pretty grim. The Western Samoa one sticks out. A couple of chastening defeats to Italy even if they were a good side at that point. Think it was 1999 but a loss of something like 38-10 away to Scotland after a decent start at the time seemed particularly depressing.

To end on a positive note at least Wales 2009 Six Nations isn't on this list.

oh lord, imagine Stephen's Jones kick had the legs at the end.. *shudders*

matthew8

In recent years it's definitely the loss to Argentina in the 2015 World Cup. Wales in 2011 was devastating but with New Zealand the hosts it felt we were playing for second place in the tournament and had no realistic chance of winning anyway, a final was all we could hope for. New Zealand 2013 was heartbreaking but it was the start of Schmidt's time in the job and we had just come off a heavy loss to Australia, and the performance gave serious optimism about what was to come. I actually felt better after that match than before it. The 2015 World Cup was a proper missed opportunity though, we've never brought such good form into a World Cup and playing it in England felt like a home away from home for the team with the amount of Irish at the games. We might never have as good a chance at a World Cup again.