Matches / Moments of the Decade

aloooof · 18-12-2019 10:57am #1

Saw this somewhere else and thought it might be a good shout for a thread.

From an Irish perspective, there's a few obvious and notable ones, but I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty. In no particular order:

1. Vs New Zealand in Soldier Field for our first every victory again them.
2. Vs England in Twickenham for the Grand Slam.
3. Vs Australia and France in the 2011 and 2015 RWC's.
4. Vs France for the first of Schmidt's 3 6 Nations titles
5. Vs Scotland in 2015 in what is probably the best day of rugby I've ever witnessed.

Interestingly, all of those matches were played away from home or in a neutral venue.

From a Munster point of view, all the memorable ones to me came in Thomond; beating Northampton after 100,000 phases, hammering Toulouse, Conway with a late try to beat Toulon and the game against Glasgow the week after Anthony Foley's death.

awec · 18-12-2019 11:02am

For Ireland it was the win in Twickenham for the grand slam IMO. That was Ireland's peak of the 2010s.

For Ulster it would be beating Munster in the Heineken quarters.

aloooof · 18-12-2019 11:05am

For Connacht it must be the Pro14 Final win and Leinster probably the Northamption Sexton-inspired comeback?

Riskymove · 18-12-2019 11:14am

aloooof wrote: »

1. Vs New Zealand in Soldier Field for our first every victory again them.
2. Vs England in Twickenham for the Grand Slam.
3. Vs Australia and France in the 2011 and 2015 RWC's.
4. Vs France for the first of Schmidt's 3 6 Nations titles
5. Vs Scotland in 2015 in what is probably the best day of rugby I've ever witnessed.

I was at 4 of those 6 and I'd agree

The first home win over NZ was also a great event

I'd add (somewhat pettily but who cares) overcoming a bad run in 2017 to win over England to stop their back to back Grand Slams

From a Munster point of view, all the memorable ones to me came in Thomond; beating Northampton after 100,000 phases, hammering Toulouse, Conway with a late try to beat Toulon and the game against Glasgow the week after Anthony Foley's death

unfortunately this only reflects the lack of any key knockout away win in Europe - far too many lost semi finals

The win over Leinster last December is memorable for the atmosphere and return of a proper fiery local derby in pro14

sydthebeat · 18-12-2019 11:32am

For Leinster, it must be the 2011 final against saints.
22 - 6 down at half time, to be followed by one of the best comeback ever.

Id closely match that with the away win in clermont the following year. The game was an absolute cracker of the highest order and leinster finally sealed their reputation of european royalty with an away win in france against a top class side. Thanks Fofana for too many flexor arm days in the gym.

bilston · 18-12-2019 11:51am

For Ireland, for me it was beating NZ at the Aviva and the moment is either final whistle in that game or else Stockdale's try.

For Ulster, I agree with awec, Ulster's win over Munster in Thomond and Gilroy's try was pretty special. Hugh Farrelly is still upset about it!

Tommybojangles · 18-12-2019 12:09pm

Squidgy Black wrote: »

Maybe not best moments but certainly some of the most memorable ones of the decade would have to be Bloodgate and Umaga's tackle on BOD on the Lions tour.

I hate to break it to you....

Best moment for me Muldoon lifting the Pro 12 trophy, closely followed by the 2014 6 Nations and the scenes in the sportsground after the semi final against Glasgow.

Kockott kicking the ball out against england and celebrating like he had won the world cup and Henshaw sealing the win in Chicago right up there as well, and finally Bundee finding the corner to end the Thomond hoodoo

Edit:
Totally forgot about Le Drop. Post world cup malaise had just removed all good Memories of the last few years for the moment!

Podge_irl · 18-12-2019 12:09pm

Squidgy Black wrote: »

Maybe not best moments but certainly some of the most memorable ones of the decade would have to be Bloodgate and Umaga's tackle on BOD on the Lions tour.

Eh...

I have some bad news for you.

Squidgy Black · 18-12-2019 12:09pm

Yeah I completely forgot with decade we're in, ignore me.

hahashake · 18-12-2019 12:22pm

Squidgy Black wrote: »

Yeah I completely forgot with decade we're in, ignore me.

Take comfort in the fact you aren't alone.;)

LuckyGent88 · 18-12-2019 12:33pm

From a personal perspective I’d like to add the Ireland Italy match in Dunedin in 2011.

Basically 20000 pissed Irish fans in an enclosed roof stadium creating a ridiculous atmosphere.

Followed that night by meeting Parisse and Castrogiovani in the nightclub and doing yagerbombs with them!!!

Ah the good old days.

jr86 · 18-12-2019 12:38pm

In club, the Leinster/Northampton match in 2011 is the first that springs to my mind anyway

International match, well its hard to beat SA and Japan RWC 2015. Just a complete WTF result and a cracking game to boot

Zzippy · 18-12-2019 12:40pm

This. Nothing even comes close.

thomond2006 · 18-12-2019 12:45pm

Being there in person in Chicago in 2016. The roar of the crowd before the scrum that led to Zebo's kick chase, the roar of the crowd as Julian Savea was tackled in his in-goal area, the roar of the crowd when Henshaw scored.

thomond2006 · 18-12-2019 12:48pm

molloyjh · 18-12-2019 1:06pm

Bordeaux, April 2012. The entire weekend was class with one of the best rugby games I've ever seen the focal point.

Chigaco 2016.

The entire 2017/18 season. Leinster and Ireland winning everything is going to be hard to top.

The second half of the 2011 HEC final.

Super Saturday 2015. Incredible day.

Clegg · 18-12-2019 2:23pm

I think all the Leinster and Ireland matches have been covered here.

But for an individual moment that sticks out for me it has to be Heaslip forcing a knock on from Stuart Hogg during the final game of the 2015 Six Nations. It was the 75th minute of the game and Hogg was actually over our try line when Heaslip managed to tackle the ball out of his hands. We won the championship by a +6 points difference. If that try was scored and converted England would have been the winners.

thebaz · 18-12-2019 2:33pm

Chicago for me - never thought we would beat All Blacks .

And the low point was 2011 quater loss at the WC , and our non performance at this years one.

Buer · 18-12-2019 2:35pm

awec wrote: »

For Ireland it was the win in Twickenham for the grand slam IMO. That was Ireland's peak of the 2010s.

I dunno. England were absolute rabble in that game. They were deserveldly beaten by Scotland and France after scraping a win at home against Wales. Then they faced us. I think we all went into the game with an expectation of victory.

The 2018 GS was great but we were so close to blowing it in a couple of matches. Stockdale doesn't intercept that pass against Wales and it's a likely 7 pointer against us and the game is lost. Sexton made the most ridiculous drop goal in Irish history to beat France. We were efficient and consistent but I'm not sure there was any single great performance.

I would say the NZ win at home (Chicago was great but NZ weren't at full strength and I still get the sense that they were treating it as a bit of a jolly and got caught cold) or SA away were our finest showings. To win in SA with 14 men was a huge performance even if SA weren't in great form for a period. Other notable performances were England in 2011 when they were on for the Slam and Wales in 2014 when we completely dismantled them in Dublin.

Dave_The_Sheep · 18-12-2019 2:35pm

sydthebeat wrote: »

For Leinster, it must be the 2011 final against saints.
22 - 6 down at half time, to be followed by one of the best comeback ever.

Particularly this moment. After the scrum getting absolutely torn apart in the first half, to turn it around and to earn the penalty that took Leinster into the lead was an amazing moment. You knew for sure in that instant there was no way in hell Northampton could even think about coming back.

Potato quality, had to pull it from my copy of the game, couldn't get a decent one online.

Weepsie · 18-12-2019 2:39pm

The tribute to Foley before the Chicago game for me.

Went above and beyond sport. So very simple and an image that will endure.

Buer · 18-12-2019 2:39pm

Tommybojangles wrote: »

Edit:
Totally forgot about Le Drop. Post world cup malaise had just removed all good Memories of the last few years for the moment!

I don't think any single moment could come close to that for me. Incredible tension and pressure with an international tournament on the line.

aloooof · 18-12-2019 2:44pm

thebaz wrote: »

Chicago for me - never thought we would beat All Blacks .

And the low point was 2011 quater loss at the WC , and our non performance at this years one.

For low points, it's hard to look past RWC's for obvious reasons, but the 2013 6 Nation's also deserves a mention. The first half of our opening game in Wales is probably among the best halves of rugby we've produced this decade. From that point on it was all downhill, culminating in the loss to Italy on the last day (even allowing for injuries, we should've had enough to win that game).

And we won't mention what happened in the AI's that year...

jr86 · 18-12-2019 2:56pm

Buer wrote: »

I dunno. England were absolute rabble in that game. They were deserveldly beaten by Scotland and France after scraping a win at home against Wales. Then they faced us. I think we all went into the game with an expectation of victory.

The 2018 GS was great but we were so close to blowing it in a couple of matches. Stockdale doesn't intercept that pass against Wales and it's a likely 7 pointer against us and the game is lost. Sexton made the most ridiculous drop goal in Irish history to beat France. We were efficient and consistent but I'm not sure there was any single great performance.

I would say the NZ win at home (Chicago was great but NZ weren't at full strength and I still get the sense that they were treating it as a bit of a jolly and got caught cold) or SA away were our finest showings. To win in SA with 14 men was a huge performance even if SA weren't in great form for a period. Other notable performances were England in 2011 when they were on for the Slam and Wales in 2014 when we completely dismantled them in Dublin.

England 2015 was a great showing too. Was basically their slam decider and Ireland just bullied them off the park. That said Billy V wasn't the force he would become, they had a 2nd row injury crisis, didn't really have a clue of their best team at that time, and ultimately lost in the RWC group stage a few months later

wales 2014 probably overall the standout for me.

Fully agree with the 2018 6n assessment

jr86 · 18-12-2019 3:01pm

aloooof wrote: »

For low points, it's hard to look past RWC's for obvious reasons, but the 2013 6 Nation's also deserves a mention. The first half of our opening game in Wales is probably among the best halves of rugby we've produced this decade. From that point on it was all downhill, culminating in the loss to Italy on the last day (even allowing for injuries, we should've had enough to win that game).

And we won't mention what happened in the AI's that year...

2016 was an absolute horror 6n campaign too, although not as bad as 2013 obviously

Camped on the French tryline for an age with not an ounce of subtlety to the attack. A France side who were a kick of the ball from losing at home to Italy the week before, and who were battered twice in the RWC a few months earlier.

the Welsh home game was one of the worst I've ever seen. Was the definition of a post world cup hungover game, where it seemed neither wanted to win!

sioda · 18-12-2019 4:18pm

Munster Australia in thomond for me. The most horrific weather I can ever remember there but unreal atmosphere and great win

Donnielighto · 18-12-2019 4:24pm

Connacht vs wasps early law implentation

leakyboots · 18-12-2019 5:23pm

The Glasgow match after Foley passed. The stadium going silent for the players traditional post-match Stand Up And Fight huddle… which took place in the middle of the pitch with Foley's sons there... and then the crowd joining in for a second round of it. Spine-tingling and heartbreaking in equal measure.

leakyboots · 18-12-2019 6:13pm

Rugby-wise that day in the Six Nations where nearly everyone could have won it and France wouldn't put the ball out at the end, nearly giving the country collective heart failure, was a day of sport we'll probably never witness the likes of again

Shefwedfan · 18-12-2019 6:51pm

I was going to say Northampton match

But Chicago has to win out. Not just for the results but the whole weekend.

Greatest devastation
Ireland v NZ in 2013....standing in crowd at half way line.....whole place going mad and that the penalty and just slowly slowly watch in horror....we stood for 30 mins after in stadium just in shock

Very lucky to go to all those events and watch live

bilston · 18-12-2019 7:37pm

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Greatest devastation
Ireland v NZ in 2013....standing in crowd at half way line.....whole place going mad and that the penalty and just slowly slowly watch in horror....we stood for 30 mins after in stadium just in shock

What's this you're talking about?

I fear you imagined the whole thing Shefwedfan...maybe you had a horrific nightmare...one thing's for sure, the above never ever happened

Matches / Moments of the Decade

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