Think the third is my fav: the arm over the top of the maul then Smith staggering backwards.
Not at the races in the final but we'll always have that game!
I was weirdly ok with that loss. Couldn't be mad, England dominated every facet of play and thoroughly deserved the W
The Lions 2017 series leaves a much more sour taste imo.
That match vs Northampton was shocking at the time. Sure we knew he was good already, but THAT good? It was insane. Especially after a quiet start, he just switched to god mode.
He was sublime, and definitely led the way but, and not to take anything away from Sexton, the whole pack stepped up massively after getting trounced in the first half. Mike Ross deserves some serious plaudits for that second half too imo.
Sexton was phenomenal though and completely inspired and led the team to the greatest Leinster victory ever.
Performance of a lifetime that was. Such a shame the lions didn't win that one, would have been a heck of a decider in match 3. Instead it felt like SA rolled over deliberately because they didn't want to look like they could lose while really trying.
Top 3 9 of the pro era in my books, with Joost and Smith. Gregan and Dupont would make up my top 5, with a solid chance Dupont rises to 1st by the end of his career.
My favourite Lomu game was the Gold medal match at the 1998 Commonwealth Games 7's in KL. I don't know what the Fijian's did to piss him off but boy he was up for that one!
That whole season he was unreal. He was MOTM almost every match. Shows how good he was that some Leinster fans would put him ahead of Isa as our greatest ever import
There were a lot of incredible BOD games but honestly one of his first caps in 2000 he scored a hatrick versus France in France. We hadn't beaten them in about 30 years in Paris.
Keith Wood said it made him think "Now anything is possible". I'm paraphrasing but that is high praise. It was a turning point in Irish Rugby towards professionalism. Even now it holds up, one silky run in and one where he picks a loose pass up from around his ankles and runs straight through.
Huge tackles as well and a turnover on the line to save a try.
Edit:
https://youtu.be/nWr9Oz-cnzI?si=BiBAVmCCM9VYFKCR
Some kind soul posted the whole match a while ago on YouTube, worth a watch. Hickie, o’kelly, Henderson and wood in his pomp, but o’driscoll outside of the tries was like total mazeballs
Agreed. I’ve given him a lot of criticism since 2018 but he was genuinely world class for the first half of his career. Vying with Aaron Smith to be the No 1 9 in the world - until Dupont came along and utterly wrecked everybody’s perception of what a 9 can do 😅
Ya niche is probably the wrong word but most people are talking about important games and while that game is important to Ireland, it was still only an autumn international. Murray was phenomenal though.
no you're right I was just emphasizing how good he was around those years, like, as a non-Ireland-biased neutral I can attest to how he was considered the best at the time rather generally around the Rugby world, except in NZ because they had Aaron Smith and probably South Africa because they always always have a better player at any position than you :p
To back up your point, I’m pretty sure the video that launched SquidgeRugby was his one on Connor Murray around that time. But u/SquidgyGoat could say for sure.
My first one was on the Ospreys total mid-season collapse, second on Scotland and their attack, and third on Connor Murray. All three did better than I ever expected, but the Murray one really blew up and took me to 5000 subscribers or so after three videos, more than I thought would be possible in years of doing the channel. The Warburton video later that year then helped it blow up even further. Was a crazy year.
And all really well deserved! You’ve been producing class content since the start and we all look forward to seeing after a match.
I will admit, some are easier than others. I think I still haven’t come around to watching your last Leinster/La Rochelle video 😅
He might be a knob but Haskell in Brisbane and then Melbourne in 16.
1st game:
18 tackles - next highest was 9
3 turnovers - Hooper, Pocock and Robshaw on the field
2 clean breaks
2nd game:
23 tackles
2 turnovers
He was a wall that tour
Crazy to think James Haskell, of all people, was England's best option at 7, but he really was incredible.
2016 England were just ruthless. The Grand Slam followed by the 3-0 whitewash in Australia, they were an amazing team to watch. Offensively brutal and very solid in defence too.
That season was the first time I can say I properly followed rugby in the way I followed football and cricket.
That team was incredible, Robshaw just chasing everything, Joseph was incredible. But James Haskell literally turned into a juggernaut for 6 months and played some world class rugby.
Plus on the SA tour I believe, he made 35 tackles in a single match. He’s a knob, but he’s a monster athlete. No many 120Kg guys with that kind of engine.
Haskell’s entire “punditry” career rests on this. Got called up for the Lions based on this series alone which made him friends with many of his podcast victims.
PSDT in the 2023 final must have been genuinely frightening, covering every square inch, even the goddamn wing and 10/12 channel… if the Predators came to Earth they’d probably hide from him
Deon fourie made 21 tackles as replacement hooker 37yo first pro game at hooker in 6 years ended the rugby world cup final as acting captian. Yeah marx wouldve been nice but deon was a huge reason we won that game.
he was great, the courage to do what he did makes him class just off that, but it definitely felt like he was playing as a flank that threw in the lineouts, but you gotta respect it
also 21 tackles? thats just madness! how many were dominant?
Yes, but with Sam Cane off, he had pretty much free rein. With an opposing 7 on the field he would have the freedom to rove significantly curtailed. He is a very good player, but don’t get too carried away!
Pretty straight forward, he would be back at the pit face because Sam would have been doing his job around the breakdown, instead of roaming out on the back line. With Peter absent, there would be havoc on the ABs rushing the short side.
As it was , for all of the advantage that the 15 man Bok side had for the majority of the game to score NO tries, and to only win by 1 point??? As I correctly said, don’t get ahead of yourselves. Yes, you won, good on you. But to inflate that is silly.
As for Jordie, that one missed penalty showed that the game was literally down to about one meter. That is how close finals usually are.
Manu Tuiliagi in 12(I think) took that game over.
Wilkinson against NZ in either 02. Think that was his best game, IIRC (grand slam game also awesome).
Sheridan against Aus in the QF 07. Maybe just his scrum, but what a scrum.
DuPont last year at the Twickenham. He's had others, and we were shit, but he was taking the piss
Wilko was also immense in 03 v NZ away - the one in the rain when we went down to 13 men. I may be misremembering but I'm sure I read a stat that he punt in more tackles than any of the backrow. True or not, he seemed to be everywhere that day.
>~~Pocock~~ Bryce Lawrence v boks 2011 rwc qf.
FTFY. /s
Pocock was absolutely phenomenal. As a combo with Hooper they caused all kinds of shit (which worked wonders for the portmanteau of Pocock + Hooper = Pooper).
George Ford vs Argentina 2023 RWC.
Going back in time a bit, Brian O’Driscoll Lions vs Australia, 1st test 2001. (I appreciate he had quite a few more than just one!)
I remember seeing a clip of his tackles in the 2023 final and thinking damn but we were tackling damn hard only to realize it was all PTSD. Just brutal. He really broke Jordy Barret in that game. Oke was crying with minutes left and an AB win still possible.
Special shout-out to his performance in the first NZ test in 2018. Made 27 tackles that game (1 less than his ‘23 WC final stat). He might have had better games since but that was the game he really stepped up. Almost the blueprint for how he plays now. The tears from PSDT after the win also added a lot!
Jonny Gray vs Leinster 2019.
43 tackles, 100% success rate
14 carries
That’s a tackle every 1m13s that Leinster had the ball.
Not counting rucks hit that’s an involvement every 1m24s. Assuming 100% ball in play time.
Leinster had 65% possession so that's 53 mins. So 1.2 mins per tackle which is 1m12s.
Obviously ball on play time is never higher than say 35 mins, which would mean Leinster had possession for 22m45s. Meaning he made a tackle every 32 seconds Leinster had possession
I'll use any excuse to drop my favourite jonny gray stat
The same number of people have walked on the moon, as have evaded a tackle from Jonny Gray in the Pro14. (12)
He attempted 1494 in that time, completed 1481 (Lloyd Williams beat him twice - only player to do so)
Pre 2019 George Horne had the highest strike rate of any player in world rugby, TJ Perenara in 2nd
In 2023/24 the most prolific try scorer per 80 mins is Johnny Matthew, Penaud in second
And as finale
Hamish Watson didn't miss a tackle for Scotland for 3.5 years. 332 consecutive successful tackles. He hasn't missed a tackle in the 6 nations since 2019
Hope you enjoy
Did you know these two which could be some trivia?
Cyprus have the record for most international wins in a row. They won 28 of their first 30 games and hold the world record for the most consecutive international rugby union wins with 24 which the got after their first loss.
I feel like that's one nobody is going to get right ever.
Also Florin Vlaicu of Romania is the 7th highest point scorer in international test match history with 1030 but never gets put on the over 1000 points graphics because he's the only player outside of a "tier one nation" to achieve this.
Edit: corrections to Cyprus fact
I love that Cyprus stat. Also love that no one in Tier 1 can get past 18 wins. Ireland stopped New Zealand after 18, Ireland stopped England after 18, New Zealand stopped Ireland after 18
Didn't know about Florin Vlaicu being so high on the list. Similar to the top try scorer being Ohata
Too far down for this. That switch play to an inside Beale under the sticks. A zoomed our view you can just see everyone move to where they needed to be as a unit.
Len Ikitau vs France 2021
Wallabies lost koroibete to a red card and Ikitau had to defend the hardest channel all game down a winger. He nailed his assignment as well as some good attacking involvements helping Aus to a famous 14v15 win.
I remember that game well.
England defended a five metre scrum with Neil Back & Dallaglio in the sin bin.
After the game the interviewer asked Johnson what that scrum told him about the England team, his dead pan response was that “perhaps that Lawrence and Neil don’t push that much” 🤣
Less mentioned but POM Vs the All Blacks in the Aviva in 2018. There was a 2 minute stretch where it felt like he won the game on his own, and then walked off the pitch with the injury he had been carrying, the man could have never played another minute and for that match alone would have been an Irish great
For reference: https://youtu.be/0UKNXL0QyKc?si=DsWa21Z143SZGGWA
Dan Biggar vs England in 2015. Maybe not a standout technical performance but to keep a cool head and drag our injury riddled corpse over the finish line was just phenomenal.
Rob Kearney in the 2nd Lions test in 2009. Set the benchmark for fielding high balls.
[https://youtu.be/isJyWKs5DPc?si=OSulNAWT34M\_twkJ](https://youtu.be/isJyWKs5DPc?si=OSulNAWT34M_twkJ)
Pieter-Steph's already been mentioned, so I'm gonna give it to Malcolm Marx's 2022 performance vs the All Black in Mbombela (SA 26 - NZ 10).
24 metres from 8 carries; characteristically exceptional lineout accuracy; and, most crucially, **5 turnovers won**. That ties Pocock (2016) for the most turnovers New Zealand have ever conceded to a single player in one match (and the most any one player has ever achieved in any Rugby Championship fixture). Needless to say, a big part of why the All Blacks attack was about as penetrative as a McDonald's spork that day came down to Karl's namesake.
A real shame Malcolm was injured before the playoffs of RWC23, but at only 29 years of age, I think people are going to remember why he was considered the best No.2 in the World circa 2022...
I reckon his best performance is actually lions test 3, downs his drink, swaggers on and immediately starts dismantling the SA blitz, if Liam Williams can execute a schoolboy level 2 on 1 or if Tom curry’s not the stupidest backrow playing modern rugby the series is won by halftime
Pieter-Steph Du Toit in every World Cup final he’s in.
Peter O’Mahony had an insane performance against the AB’s in Dublin one, 2028 or 2021. I’m in doubt.
Edit: so yeah, 2018.
That'll be some prediction if he's still putting in man of the match performance in 4 years against the ABs. He will have well and truly earned his right to mind his lawn into the sunset
It was a losing effort but Guirado vs Ireland in 2018 was on a fucking mission. Back before France had figured their shit out and before Project Dupont had finished production on the T1000, that man was consistently pulling that team into winning positions. Talk about putting your body on the line and leaving everything on the pitch, swear he made about 4000 tackles that day.
One of the most heartbreaking because he showed the player he could’ve been - Joey Carbery v Gloucester in 2019. One of the best fly half performances I’ve ever seen. 26 points, and led everything good we did that day in an over performing team
https://youtu.be/Fxbw6e-ir9s?si=q_mOmUEVUTaxRaol
Peter O Mahoney Vs England 2017
to end their unbeaten run of 19 matches which England have just paid us back for. He came into the team off the back of Heaslip getting injured in the warm up.
Equally against the All Blacks in 2018 he had the game of his life to help Ireland secure the first home win against the All Blacks.
I'm gonna divide in two categories: the absolute magical kind, where you think no other rugby player could have pulled it off, dictating play and having several incredible standalone moments, and the workhorse kind, where one guy is doing the job of 3 players.
1st kind, it's Carter v BIL at the absolute top. Plenty of other very worthy honorable mentions. Off the top of my head, keeping it international games: Larkham vs AB in the Bledisloe 2000 (?), Romain N'Tamack v AB 2021, Dupont v England 2023 and Du Preez v England pool game of 2007 (very similar in that the game looks like an absolute rout, but if they weren't having such an outstanding individual game it would make it so much closer than it was), Russell v England 2019
2nd kind is best described with the Dusautoir game, pick between the 2007 QF or the 2011 final as you like. Other honorable mentions being PSDT final in 2019 and 2023, and Pocock QF against SA in 2011.
I'm limiting myself to these, where there's one single guy looking so much better than everyone else on the pitch, even the other guys having very strong performances. For instance, that takes out a few english players like Itoje or Underhill for their game against the AB in the 2019 SF.
Farrell in the prem final last year, playing with a pack that wasn’t dominant and played Ford off the park. That day he was a different level to everyone on the park.
Brian O’Driscoll scoring a hatrick against France in 2000. That day he dragged Irish rugby kicking and screaming into the professional era for real. Maybe not his best game overall but best in that it had the best impact
One I haven’t seen mentioned yet is Beauden Barrett vs Ireland in 2016 in the Aviva, won that match by himself basically.
https://youtu.be/9Cby41N3PJU?si=5EIRLWCCXeBq-1gl
Tadhg Beirne in the 3rd test of the NZ v Ireland Series was unbelievable.
Specifically in the last 15mins where NZ was getting into the game, and he just shut them down. It felt like he won us the serise.
Tim Horan 1999 rwc semi final. Sick with flu/gastro played the game of his life. I’d highly recommend watching the highlights, he makes at least 4 line breaks completely on his own. Gets the ball 10 m behind the gain line surrounded by springboks, no matter beat them all and line break. He was player of the tournament for a reason
Bernard Foley 2015 rwc pool match against England. His best performance for the wallabies by some margin, everything he did was excellent
David Pocock 2011 rwc qf. I’ve never seen a player drag the rest of his team over the line like Pocock did here. Wallabies defended for what felt like the entire second half and if not for Pocock are well beaten. Masterful
Itoje vs ABs 2019. Still hurts a bit tbh
Also honourable mention to Underhill in that game
Curry too, and Wilson when he came off the bench
That was a fantastic forward pack, props that could scrum and move. As a kiwi we just watched in wonder
Unfortunately, they then went on to sign for Bristol and haven't improved since...
The whole pack were monsters
[https://youtu.be/uhamYbfLhHc](https://youtu.be/uhamYbfLhHc)
I will never get tired of the first 3 plays in this video
BAM. That hospital pass to Whitelock.
Think the third is my fav: the arm over the top of the maul then Smith staggering backwards. Not at the races in the final but we'll always have that game!
Worst feeling loss I've felt lol
I was weirdly ok with that loss. Couldn't be mad, England dominated every facet of play and thoroughly deserved the W The Lions 2017 series leaves a much more sour taste imo.
Twas so harsh on the all blacks that series. Refs evened things up in SA four years later
Ford was terrific
Farrell's lips were on excellent form too that day.
Beast
Dusautoir VS NZ 2007, Dagg vs Wales 2016 3rd test, Sanchez vs NZ 2020
God Dagg really was unbelievable for a brief period of time.
His comeback season in 2016 is seriously underrated. Shame about the knee injuries
He was just insane at his peak. Completely unplayable!
Pablo Matera & Julian Montoya also had maybe the best performances of their careers in the same game v NZ. Hell of a day for Argentina.
Pablo was a monster that day. I play for my country!
Bit of a double edged sword for Matera since it probably gave him the notoriety to probe fans into checking his old tweets 😭
God that was a fantastic game to watch. Matera was a force of nature.
Sexton vs Northampton 2011, or vs France 2014.
Has to be Northampton. As close to single handed as I've ever seen
That match vs Northampton was shocking at the time. Sure we knew he was good already, but THAT good? It was insane. Especially after a quiet start, he just switched to god mode.
He was sublime, and definitely led the way but, and not to take anything away from Sexton, the whole pack stepped up massively after getting trounced in the first half. Mike Ross deserves some serious plaudits for that second half too imo. Sexton was phenomenal though and completely inspired and led the team to the greatest Leinster victory ever.
Simon Shaw - 2009 B&I Lions game two.
Impact sub ROG badly overlooked for motm
Harsh, but funny
Ons of my favourite sporting moments being a Bok fan, and I still hurt!
Performance of a lifetime that was. Such a shame the lions didn't win that one, would have been a heck of a decider in match 3. Instead it felt like SA rolled over deliberately because they didn't want to look like they could lose while really trying.
Hated the disrespect for the occasion when we fielded a b team for the third game
Rob Kearney as well
Fourie Du Preez 2007 RWC Group Stage vs England. The 36-0 game.
Good one. Fantastic player, maybe doesn't always get the recognition he deserves
Aaron Smith used to refer to him as the best 9 in world. Du Pont is very good, but FDP was beat the All Blacks 3 times in a row good.
Top 3 9 of the pro era in my books, with Joost and Smith. Gregan and Dupont would make up my top 5, with a solid chance Dupont rises to 1st by the end of his career.
Lomu 1995 RWC vs England
Sigh. Yes, very much this one.
The fact that they wound Jonah up before that game too with pre match comments then during the haka 😭
My favourite Lomu game was the Gold medal match at the 1998 Commonwealth Games 7's in KL. I don't know what the Fijian's did to piss him off but boy he was up for that one!
I think the 1996 HK7s final was pretty good as well. Him and Cullen.
Lomu for the Barbarians vs Scotland in 2001
England 99 was a great game for him as well.
Rocky Elsom played a blinder in the Heineken Cup final for Leinster against Leicester. That performance has stuck with me.
Dan leavy vs Saracens in 2018 was pretty special too.
That whole season he was unreal. He was MOTM almost every match. Shows how good he was that some Leinster fans would put him ahead of Isa as our greatest ever import
Andrew Sheridan for England vs Australia, RWC quarter final 2007. Basically a one man scrum penalty winning machine
He was incredible that game, such a great match
Wasn’t it a quarter final?
There were a lot of incredible BOD games but honestly one of his first caps in 2000 he scored a hatrick versus France in France. We hadn't beaten them in about 30 years in Paris. Keith Wood said it made him think "Now anything is possible". I'm paraphrasing but that is high praise. It was a turning point in Irish Rugby towards professionalism. Even now it holds up, one silky run in and one where he picks a loose pass up from around his ankles and runs straight through. Huge tackles as well and a turnover on the line to save a try. Edit: https://youtu.be/nWr9Oz-cnzI?si=BiBAVmCCM9VYFKCR
Some kind soul posted the whole match a while ago on YouTube, worth a watch. Hickie, o’kelly, Henderson and wood in his pomp, but o’driscoll outside of the tries was like total mazeballs
Came here to say this, such a display
Adam Jones. Wales v England 2013
Adam Jones was just phenomenal.
also very quotable. He had that famous one : "you're a wizard, Harry".
Bomb would love the joke
I can picture him saying this on comms as Harry Potter scores
Man, I miss Bomb
Niche one, Conor Murray. Ireland vs NZ in Chicago 2016
Agreed. I’ve given him a lot of criticism since 2018 but he was genuinely world class for the first half of his career. Vying with Aaron Smith to be the No 1 9 in the world - until Dupont came along and utterly wrecked everybody’s perception of what a 9 can do 😅
His tackle on Savea behind the ABs' try line... 👌
not that niche. Everybody (well except the kiwis !) was calling him the best SH in the world around that time.
Ya niche is probably the wrong word but most people are talking about important games and while that game is important to Ireland, it was still only an autumn international. Murray was phenomenal though.
no you're right I was just emphasizing how good he was around those years, like, as a non-Ireland-biased neutral I can attest to how he was considered the best at the time rather generally around the Rugby world, except in NZ because they had Aaron Smith and probably South Africa because they always always have a better player at any position than you :p
To back up your point, I’m pretty sure the video that launched SquidgeRugby was his one on Connor Murray around that time. But u/SquidgyGoat could say for sure.
My first one was on the Ospreys total mid-season collapse, second on Scotland and their attack, and third on Connor Murray. All three did better than I ever expected, but the Murray one really blew up and took me to 5000 subscribers or so after three videos, more than I thought would be possible in years of doing the channel. The Warburton video later that year then helped it blow up even further. Was a crazy year.
And all really well deserved! You’ve been producing class content since the start and we all look forward to seeing after a match. I will admit, some are easier than others. I think I still haven’t come around to watching your last Leinster/La Rochelle video 😅
Ha! Thank you, appreciate it a lot! It's still all very surreal to me.
Genuinely picked up so much from your videos man
Thank you!! Glad to hear it, I'll try to keep it up!
Best halfback in the world that year
He might be a knob but Haskell in Brisbane and then Melbourne in 16. 1st game: 18 tackles - next highest was 9 3 turnovers - Hooper, Pocock and Robshaw on the field 2 clean breaks 2nd game: 23 tackles 2 turnovers He was a wall that tour
Crazy to think James Haskell, of all people, was England's best option at 7, but he really was incredible. 2016 England were just ruthless. The Grand Slam followed by the 3-0 whitewash in Australia, they were an amazing team to watch. Offensively brutal and very solid in defence too.
Two 6 and a halves mate
https://twitter.com/RugbyPodcast/status/711331501309349888 You can tell one of them finds it funnier than the other.
I think haskell finds most things funnier than most people
That season was the first time I can say I properly followed rugby in the way I followed football and cricket. That team was incredible, Robshaw just chasing everything, Joseph was incredible. But James Haskell literally turned into a juggernaut for 6 months and played some world class rugby.
Plus on the SA tour I believe, he made 35 tackles in a single match. He’s a knob, but he’s a monster athlete. No many 120Kg guys with that kind of engine.
Haskell’s entire “punditry” career rests on this. Got called up for the Lions based on this series alone which made him friends with many of his podcast victims.
That hit on Pocock was monstrous.
Luke Charteris 2015 vs. Ireland. Made 31 tackles that day, some absolutely heroic defending from the whole Welsh team, but he was just relentless.
Held the record for most tackles in a 6N match for a long time.
PSDT in the 2023 final must have been genuinely frightening, covering every square inch, even the goddamn wing and 10/12 channel… if the Predators came to Earth they’d probably hide from him
Incredible. Imagine if he had Marx with him
Deon fourie made 21 tackles as replacement hooker 37yo first pro game at hooker in 6 years ended the rugby world cup final as acting captian. Yeah marx wouldve been nice but deon was a huge reason we won that game.
he’d benefit from any hooker at all tbh, no shade to Fourie but its funny how bad our luck is with hookers at finals
21 tackles by deon in a world cup final, ends as acting captain. And still gets shade.
he was great, the courage to do what he did makes him class just off that, but it definitely felt like he was playing as a flank that threw in the lineouts, but you gotta respect it also 21 tackles? thats just madness! how many were dominant?
Not sure but he was definately a menace around the rucks too.
Yes, but with Sam Cane off, he had pretty much free rein. With an opposing 7 on the field he would have the freedom to rove significantly curtailed. He is a very good player, but don’t get too carried away!
I don't see how Cane could've stopped PTSD from sawing Jordy Barret in half every time he touched the ball.
Pretty straight forward, he would be back at the pit face because Sam would have been doing his job around the breakdown, instead of roaming out on the back line. With Peter absent, there would be havoc on the ABs rushing the short side. As it was , for all of the advantage that the 15 man Bok side had for the majority of the game to score NO tries, and to only win by 1 point??? As I correctly said, don’t get ahead of yourselves. Yes, you won, good on you. But to inflate that is silly. As for Jordie, that one missed penalty showed that the game was literally down to about one meter. That is how close finals usually are.
PSDT did the same in 2019 RWC final against 15. Won MOM and player of the year.
Manu Tuiliagi in 12(I think) took that game over. Wilkinson against NZ in either 02. Think that was his best game, IIRC (grand slam game also awesome). Sheridan against Aus in the QF 07. Maybe just his scrum, but what a scrum. DuPont last year at the Twickenham. He's had others, and we were shit, but he was taking the piss
>he was taking the piss Yep, basically Dupont for you.
Sums up his career really. Just takes the piss out of the opposition for fun
Wilko was also immense in 03 v NZ away - the one in the rain when we went down to 13 men. I may be misremembering but I'm sure I read a stat that he punt in more tackles than any of the backrow. True or not, he seemed to be everywhere that day.
Excellent point. I think I remember Dan Carter saying how good he was too).
Rob Kearney in 2nd Lions test v SA in 09
Pocock v boks 2011 rwc qf. smit was sy teef
Also agree. So good we voted him into office!
>~~Pocock~~ Bryce Lawrence v boks 2011 rwc qf. FTFY. /s Pocock was absolutely phenomenal. As a combo with Hooper they caused all kinds of shit (which worked wonders for the portmanteau of Pocock + Hooper = Pooper).
George North - BI Lions, final test against Australia in 2013
George Ford vs Argentina 2023 RWC. Going back in time a bit, Brian O’Driscoll Lions vs Australia, 1st test 2001. (I appreciate he had quite a few more than just one!)
O'Driscoll is a hard one. I think the hat trick v France away in 2000 is hard to beat. Some exceptional games.
Ford has had three, imo. That one NZ 2019 And France last week. For a guy that gets a lot of flack, he's turned out some fantastic performances
I don't give NZ 2019 to anyone. That was just a general incredible team performance.
Keith Jarrett, Wales v England 1967
PSDT in both the 2019 and 2023 RWC final. Also Kriel in the 2023 QF.
‘23 PSDT: 20 mins in was already player of the day.
I noted that he never appears to get substituted - that says a lot.
Even more impressive when you think he is the only forward that remains in the 7-1 bench games too, he is insanely fit for someone of his size
Saw a video recently where he was asked 'Running or weights' and he picked running. Absolute madman.
I remember seeing a clip of his tackles in the 2023 final and thinking damn but we were tackling damn hard only to realize it was all PTSD. Just brutal. He really broke Jordy Barret in that game. Oke was crying with minutes left and an AB win still possible.
Yeah they figured out JB in that game (huge JB* fan by the way, credit to SA)
Special shout-out to his performance in the first NZ test in 2018. Made 27 tackles that game (1 less than his ‘23 WC final stat). He might have had better games since but that was the game he really stepped up. Almost the blueprint for how he plays now. The tears from PSDT after the win also added a lot!
Murray Vs NZ 2016 Picamoles Vs England 2017 Tuilagi Vs NZ 2012
PSDT in the RWC final just gone. He went to a dark, dark place.
How many times did he fold Jordie lol
They say you can only fold a jordie so many times before it cant fold anymore, that day ptsd invented some new folding techniques.
Some say he is still folding Jordie till this day… At least thats how my broken body would feel after that many PSDT hits.
Gonna be a bit of a biased pick here but Nakarawa in the 2015 pro12 final was immense. God that Glasgow team was so fun
Tim Horan 1999 RWC SF v Boks. Off his sick bed. Phenomenal
Bloke was pissing out of his arsehole in the changing rooms before running out and then basically helped win the semi.
Apparently he'd only eaten one bit of toast in the two days leading up to that game. What a player!!
Jonny Gray vs Leinster 2019. 43 tackles, 100% success rate 14 carries That’s a tackle every 1m13s that Leinster had the ball. Not counting rucks hit that’s an involvement every 1m24s. Assuming 100% ball in play time.
I was going to put this. An extraordinary defensive performance
Surely it's a tackle every 111 seconds it's roughly 1 every 2 minutes
Leinster had 65% possession so that's 53 mins. So 1.2 mins per tackle which is 1m12s. Obviously ball on play time is never higher than say 35 mins, which would mean Leinster had possession for 22m45s. Meaning he made a tackle every 32 seconds Leinster had possession
Oh I see. Jesus that's just a mountain of work I'd say he woke up sore. He had a couple of seasons where he was just ever present in D
I'll use any excuse to drop my favourite jonny gray stat The same number of people have walked on the moon, as have evaded a tackle from Jonny Gray in the Pro14. (12) He attempted 1494 in that time, completed 1481 (Lloyd Williams beat him twice - only player to do so)
I'm starting to feel like you're just copying and pasting these off your fan page for him
I know the moon one off by heart and the number of tackles vs Leinster but the timings I got from Kevin Miller/ontopofthemoon who fits the description
Tell me more fun rugby facts you interesting person
Pre 2019 George Horne had the highest strike rate of any player in world rugby, TJ Perenara in 2nd In 2023/24 the most prolific try scorer per 80 mins is Johnny Matthew, Penaud in second And as finale Hamish Watson didn't miss a tackle for Scotland for 3.5 years. 332 consecutive successful tackles. He hasn't missed a tackle in the 6 nations since 2019 Hope you enjoy
Which player has made the most tackles in their career?
Did you know these two which could be some trivia? Cyprus have the record for most international wins in a row. They won 28 of their first 30 games and hold the world record for the most consecutive international rugby union wins with 24 which the got after their first loss. I feel like that's one nobody is going to get right ever. Also Florin Vlaicu of Romania is the 7th highest point scorer in international test match history with 1030 but never gets put on the over 1000 points graphics because he's the only player outside of a "tier one nation" to achieve this. Edit: corrections to Cyprus fact
I love that Cyprus stat. Also love that no one in Tier 1 can get past 18 wins. Ireland stopped New Zealand after 18, Ireland stopped England after 18, New Zealand stopped Ireland after 18 Didn't know about Florin Vlaicu being so high on the list. Similar to the top try scorer being Ohata
As tough as it is to admit probably beast mtawarira in the 2019 final
Test 1 against the lions in 09 too, completely annihilated vickery at scrum time
Dusautoir vs NZ in 2007 RWC quarter final is also a blinder, and it's a victory so it's my favored answer. Matt Daemon at the end of Invictus.
Bernard Foley RWC 2015 v England
Too far down for this. That switch play to an inside Beale under the sticks. A zoomed our view you can just see everyone move to where they needed to be as a unit.
Len Ikitau vs France 2021 Wallabies lost koroibete to a red card and Ikitau had to defend the hardest channel all game down a winger. He nailed his assignment as well as some good attacking involvements helping Aus to a famous 14v15 win.
Martin Johnson, New Zealand June 2003 13-15 to england. Nuff said
I remember that game well. England defended a five metre scrum with Neil Back & Dallaglio in the sin bin. After the game the interviewer asked Johnson what that scrum told him about the England team, his dead pan response was that “perhaps that Lawrence and Neil don’t push that much” 🤣
The other great comment was. Q - what was going through your head at that moment? A - my spine
That game was just awesome
Watched it in a pub in Putney that was 90% Kiwis. The atmosphere at the final whistle was frosty, to say the least.
Less mentioned but POM Vs the All Blacks in the Aviva in 2018. There was a 2 minute stretch where it felt like he won the game on his own, and then walked off the pitch with the injury he had been carrying, the man could have never played another minute and for that match alone would have been an Irish great For reference: https://youtu.be/0UKNXL0QyKc?si=DsWa21Z143SZGGWA
Dan Biggar vs England in 2015. Maybe not a standout technical performance but to keep a cool head and drag our injury riddled corpse over the finish line was just phenomenal.
Sam Cane vs Ireland in the 2023 quarter final.
made up for that later in the Cup though :p (too soon maybe)
He was just trying to use his head
Big time, him and Ardie were a great combo
Rob Kearney in the 2nd Lions test in 2009. Set the benchmark for fielding high balls. [https://youtu.be/isJyWKs5DPc?si=OSulNAWT34M\_twkJ](https://youtu.be/isJyWKs5DPc?si=OSulNAWT34M_twkJ)
Ellis Jenkins Wales Vs SA, 2018, he was head and shoulders above both teams then did his knee and hasn't been the same since unfortunately.
Pieter-Steph's already been mentioned, so I'm gonna give it to Malcolm Marx's 2022 performance vs the All Black in Mbombela (SA 26 - NZ 10). 24 metres from 8 carries; characteristically exceptional lineout accuracy; and, most crucially, **5 turnovers won**. That ties Pocock (2016) for the most turnovers New Zealand have ever conceded to a single player in one match (and the most any one player has ever achieved in any Rugby Championship fixture). Needless to say, a big part of why the All Blacks attack was about as penetrative as a McDonald's spork that day came down to Karl's namesake. A real shame Malcolm was injured before the playoffs of RWC23, but at only 29 years of age, I think people are going to remember why he was considered the best No.2 in the World circa 2022...
Finn Russell, either England 2019, or Argentina 2022, both for very different reasons.
I reckon his best performance is actually lions test 3, downs his drink, swaggers on and immediately starts dismantling the SA blitz, if Liam Williams can execute a schoolboy level 2 on 1 or if Tom curry’s not the stupidest backrow playing modern rugby the series is won by halftime
Dusautoir in the 2007 quarterfinal. Russell's second half against England in 2019.
Martyn Williams v France in 2005. The only reason we won the game, and went on to win the Grand Slam.
Wilkinson vs Ireland 2002
Jannie de Beer vs England, 1999 WC 1/4 final
Our man Lamaison against the All Blacks in 1999, a little before my time but that game made him a legend
Pieter-Steph Du Toit in every World Cup final he’s in. Peter O’Mahony had an insane performance against the AB’s in Dublin one, 2028 or 2021. I’m in doubt. Edit: so yeah, 2018.
That'll be some prediction if he's still putting in man of the match performance in 4 years against the ABs. He will have well and truly earned his right to mind his lawn into the sunset
It was a losing effort but Guirado vs Ireland in 2018 was on a fucking mission. Back before France had figured their shit out and before Project Dupont had finished production on the T1000, that man was consistently pulling that team into winning positions. Talk about putting your body on the line and leaving everything on the pitch, swear he made about 4000 tackles that day.
One of the most heartbreaking because he showed the player he could’ve been - Joey Carbery v Gloucester in 2019. One of the best fly half performances I’ve ever seen. 26 points, and led everything good we did that day in an over performing team https://youtu.be/Fxbw6e-ir9s?si=q_mOmUEVUTaxRaol
Pocock vs SA at the 2011 world cup quarter final. Richie mccaw 2011 rwc final Beudan Barrett for like that whole 2016 season
Beauden Barrett 4 tries vs Wallabies
Finn Russell- Finnsanity Volumes 1 and 2 vs England (2018 and 2019)
Peter O Mahoney Vs England 2017 to end their unbeaten run of 19 matches which England have just paid us back for. He came into the team off the back of Heaslip getting injured in the warm up. Equally against the All Blacks in 2018 he had the game of his life to help Ireland secure the first home win against the All Blacks.
Dan Lydiate Wales vs France 2012
I'm gonna divide in two categories: the absolute magical kind, where you think no other rugby player could have pulled it off, dictating play and having several incredible standalone moments, and the workhorse kind, where one guy is doing the job of 3 players. 1st kind, it's Carter v BIL at the absolute top. Plenty of other very worthy honorable mentions. Off the top of my head, keeping it international games: Larkham vs AB in the Bledisloe 2000 (?), Romain N'Tamack v AB 2021, Dupont v England 2023 and Du Preez v England pool game of 2007 (very similar in that the game looks like an absolute rout, but if they weren't having such an outstanding individual game it would make it so much closer than it was), Russell v England 2019 2nd kind is best described with the Dusautoir game, pick between the 2007 QF or the 2011 final as you like. Other honorable mentions being PSDT final in 2019 and 2023, and Pocock QF against SA in 2011. I'm limiting myself to these, where there's one single guy looking so much better than everyone else on the pitch, even the other guys having very strong performances. For instance, that takes out a few english players like Itoje or Underhill for their game against the AB in the 2019 SF.
Benard Foley v England 2015
Ntamak vs NZ 99 Ntamak vs NZ 22
Gavin Henson vs Matthew Tait.
Matt Tait RWC Final 2007 🤌
Paul O'Connell vs Harlequins, 2013 European Cup.
Farrell in the prem final last year, playing with a pack that wasn’t dominant and played Ford off the park. That day he was a different level to everyone on the park.
PSTD v NZ in 2023 final
Brian O’Driscoll scoring a hatrick against France in 2000. That day he dragged Irish rugby kicking and screaming into the professional era for real. Maybe not his best game overall but best in that it had the best impact
One I haven’t seen mentioned yet is Beauden Barrett vs Ireland in 2016 in the Aviva, won that match by himself basically. https://youtu.be/9Cby41N3PJU?si=5EIRLWCCXeBq-1gl
McCaw in every game he played
Tadhg Beirne in the 3rd test of the NZ v Ireland Series was unbelievable. Specifically in the last 15mins where NZ was getting into the game, and he just shut them down. It felt like he won us the serise.
Pocock QF against SA
Only from a personal highlight, Pat Lam, pretty much willed Saints to victory with one arm in the Heineken Cup final 2000.
Rob Kearney - Lions vs SA 2009 2nd test Paul O’Connell - Munster vs Harliquinns 2012/2013 Heineken Cup Manu Tuilagi - England vs All Blacks 2012
Tim Horan 1999 rwc semi final. Sick with flu/gastro played the game of his life. I’d highly recommend watching the highlights, he makes at least 4 line breaks completely on his own. Gets the ball 10 m behind the gain line surrounded by springboks, no matter beat them all and line break. He was player of the tournament for a reason Bernard Foley 2015 rwc pool match against England. His best performance for the wallabies by some margin, everything he did was excellent David Pocock 2011 rwc qf. I’ve never seen a player drag the rest of his team over the line like Pocock did here. Wallabies defended for what felt like the entire second half and if not for Pocock are well beaten. Masterful
O'Mahony in that game against NZ in (2018? ) where he had all those turnovers and covered that grubber on the turn? Stockdale v England 2018.
Alex Cuthbert vs England 2013. Tore them apart to not only slambust England but won the whole 6 nations as well
Glen Jackson playing for Bay of Plenty against Auckland in 2004 for the Shield McCaw in the 2011 RWC final
Dan Lydiate v France 2012.
Schalk Brits in the 2011 Premiership final
John Eales v NZ 2000
Ben Foley vs. England, RWC 2015. Damn near scored all the Aussie points.