Best of the Noughties

[MunsterMan]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

OK, so what exactly constitutes "best" in a sport as multi-dimensional as rugby union? Context is all: every one of the games below meant a massive amount to the participants and not one was just a free-scoring try-fest. If a match touches the soul, the try-count is almost irrelevant …

10 Argentina 34 France 10 (Paris 2007; World Cup third-place play-off)

Should really be Australia v New Zealand in 2000 â€" when the Wallabies trailed 24-0 after 11 minutes in front of a record crowd of 109,874 in a game which ultimately finished 39-35 to the All Blacks. Wales v New Zealand (2003 World Cup) Blue Bulls v Sharks (2007) and Toulouse v Leinster (2006) were also compelling. But has there ever been a game in which the supposed underdogs came out so intent on making a point? Gloriously, riotously, gratuitously entertaining.

9 Australia 17 England 20 (aet) (Sydney 2003; World Cup final)

Memorable as much for the dramatic final act as Australia's refusal to lie down with the match seemingly lost. Even if Jonny Wilkinson's winning drop-goal had sailed wide it would still have been a classic psychological thriller.

8 Wasps 27 Toulouse 20 (London 2004; Heineken Cup final)

At times Toulouse played as well as it is possible to do in a European final against top-drawer opposition, offloading at will and toying with the opposition. Then came Rob Howley's hopeful chase up the Twickenham touchline and Clément Poitrenaud's fatal misjudgement. Sensational.

7 Australia 13 British and Irish Lions 29 (Brisbane 2001)

A sea of red greeted the Wallabies as they ran out for the first Test at the Gabba and Jason Robinson's stunning early try was one of those occasions when fantasy and reality become blurred. Then Brian "Waltzing" O'Driscoll started to dance. It was a privilege to be there.

6 France 18 Wales 24 (Paris 2005)

The second-half comeback to end them all. Wales could have been 30 points down at half-time but it was a different game after the interval. Two tries from Martyn Williams and an inspired display from Stephen Jones ultimately kept their country on course for a first grand slam for 27 years.

5 Munster 33 Gloucester 6 (Limerick 2003, Heineken Cup pool stages)

A one-sided contest in isolation but as dramatic a sporting event as anything I've ever seen. They called it the Miracle Match for a good reason; Ronan O'Gara swears he was unaware about the importance of the final conversion; had he missed, Munster's four tries would have been in vain. Unforgettable.

4 Stade Français 30 Leicester 34 (Paris 2001, Heineken Cup final)

Proof that major finals do not have to be tight, cagey affairs. Rarely has there been a more partisan "neutral" venue than the Parc des Princes; the pre-match din was as ear-splitting as any final before or since. Just when Diego Domínguez's boot seemed to have buried the Tigers, Austin Healey's inspired line-break put Leon Lloyd over in the corner. Leicester's finest hour, no question.

3 Toulouse 25 Munster 31 (Bordeaux 2000; Heineken Cup semi-final)

This, in many ways, was where Munster really embarked on their decade-long adventure. On a roasting hot afternoon in the Stade Lescure, Toulouse would have beaten most teams in the world. Munster emphatically refused to buckle and gradually seized the day with thrilling tries by Ronan O'Gara and Jason Holland. Almost as good as the pre-match lunch, but that's another story.

2 Munster 32 Wasps 37 (Dublin 2004; Heineken Cup semi-final)

A glorious spring day and a truly mesmerising contest. Two sides in their prime, both renowned for their willpower, produced the mother of all Heineken Cup semi-finals, ultimately settled by Trevor Leota's late belly flop as Wasps roared back from 10 points down. It was the day the professional club game stepped out of the shadows of international rugby to announce itself as a world-class spectator attraction.

1 South Africa 28 British and Irish Lions 25 (Pretoria 2009)

Deserves a place among the great Lions matches of any era. The Lions had to win the second Test to keep the series alive and will forever believe they would have won had their two Welsh props, Adam Jones and Gethin Jenkins, not been invalided out of the fray. Schalk Burger and Ronan O'Gara would love to rewrite history but Morne Steyn's match-winning penalty is already enshrined in Springbok legend.[/b]

More awards here - http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/...st-of-noughties

 

[MunsterMan]

Obviously very NH dominated, all absolutely amazing games, even the Wasps semi I try not to remember .

 

[feicarsinn]

What a stupid list. Far too many northern games in there or rather, a lack of southern games. Anyway the best moment of the decade was sometime in Autumn 07' in Wales...

 

[cyRil]

Yeah, can't believe the quarter-final isn't up there!!

 

[Olyy]

The list was written by a British paper, so it makes sense they only have NH matches in there

 

[dullonien]

Utterly pointless list. Someone obviously loves the HC and Munster and Leicester in particular. I'd possibly have two games from the 2007 WC in there. The France v NZ Quarter obviously, for the sheer against all odds upset (just remember the tackle stats!). I'd also seriously consider the Wales v Fiji game aswell. As a spectacle it had everything, from one of Shane's amazing finishes, to the fact that Fiji got the upset (great for everyone but us Welsh).

 

[Nickdnz]

I'd rate the Australia vs New Zealand game in 2000 as the greatest game of all time. The list is pretty bad, and not a single All Blacks, Super 14 or ANZC match in the entire list of greatest games of the decade. Sorry, but the matches may have been very good (I can't pretend to have seen them all), but a decade of greatest games, without a NH team playing, seems pretty likley.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuEhwAOwB1U

 

[stormer2010]

One blow-out game that had me entertained was the Blue Bulls against the Reds in Super rugby where the Bulls had to win by a huge margin to make the play-offs which they did and eventually won the tournament. Just looked it up, the final score was 92 - 3 and they needed 72 point winning margin but it was to secure a home semi-final. Still a highly entertaining game.

 

[fcukernaut]

The 2000 Bledisloe in Sydney was the first real test match I ever actually saw, and I don't think I've seen a better one since. But I will mention of games that were completely disregarded by this horrible list:

2000 Bledisloe Cup match in Wellington: 25-24 Wallabies
Everyone remembers the game in Sydney but the the game in Wellington may have even been better. John Eales breaking every NZ fans heart at the death? Unbelievably long extra time? Bit of controversy never hurts.

2008 Tri-Nations game in Dunedin: 30-28 South Africa
This game was fantastic and ended with pure brilliance by Januarie

2003 World Cup All Blacks vs Wales: 57-37 All Blacks
The Guardians list said something along the lines of "not necessarily try-fests", but everyone was entertained by this game and the absolute disregard for defence.

2005 Lions Tour 2nd Test: 48-18 All Blacks
The game wasn't particularly good in that the Lions offered no resistance whatsoever but the 33 point haul by Carter was the most dominant performance by an international 10 I've ever seen and for that reason alone it gets the mention.

2001 Australia vs NZ Moari: 41-29 Aussie
A scratch side that had maybe a half dozen All Blacks at the time pushed the Wallabies to the limit and if it weren't for a terribly stupid penalty Troy Flavell that had a try called back about 70m it would have been even closer.

2007 World Cup: Georgia vs anyone they played
The Argentina 3rd place game the epitomy of underdogs? Pfft give me any of the near upsets by Georgia. I don't care if they play terribly flashy rugby, the games themselves had excitement and had everyone rooting for them.

2001 Ranfurly Shield Canterbury vs Wellington: 31-29 Canterbury
Wellington were up big at the end of the first half and Canterbury came back in the second half when Ben Blair ran around Jonah Lomu to tie the game, hold the shield, get a bonus point for 4 tries or more and then kicked the game winner from the corner.

Those are a few off the top of my head, I'm sure I'll remember a few more

 

[cyRil]

NB: All Blacks beat us 53-37, just to make that clear!!
Still one of the best games I've ever seen.

 

[fcukernaut]

I can't believe I forgot this one:

2001 Bledisloe Cup in Sydney: 29-26 Wallabies
Totai Kefu scores a try right near the posts at the last gasp to steal another victory away from the All Blacks.

You know what? This whole decade has just been the All Blacks tearing my heart out time after time

 

[dullonien]

Just remembered that the Blues v Leicester Semi final from last years HC should probably be in there. It combined one of the best comebacks I've personally seen, with pure drama with the game going down to penalty kicks. The fact that it was a HC semi made it the best game of rugby I've ever witnessed.

 

[feicarsinn]

Here's Scrum.com's attempt:

Ireland 17-15 Wales, Six Nations, Millennium Stadium, 2009

Ireland's 2009 Grand Slam was a cathartic release for a squad that had been destined for a chapter in history marked 'so near and yet so far'. Triple Crown successes in 2004, 2006 and 2007 had been celebrated accordingly but all Irish eyes were on ending their long wait for a clean sweep of Europe's top competition.

Jackie Kyle had inspired Ireland's last Grand Slam in 1948 and the great fly-half was on hand in Cardiff to watch Ireland scrap to a brutal victory over Wales in Cardiff. The ferocity of the tackling slowed the first-half to a tense slugfest, which yielded a 6-0 lead for Wales thanks to the boot of Stephen Jones.

The second-half burst into life and the running was coming from the men in green. The inspirational Brian O'Driscoll burrowed over to score a try almost identical to the one that sunk England weeks earlier before wing Tommy Bowe scythed through the Wales defence from a Ronan O'Gara cross-kick. Jones kept Wales in touch from the kicking tee, but O' Gara found a drop-goal to secure the narrowest of leads with moments remaining. Every great story needs a villain and Jones stepped up to take a penalty with the last kick of the game. The ball fell just short, handing Ireland their victory.

Australia 35-39 New Zealand, Tri-Nations, Stadium Australia, 2000

First, some stats. This game was watched by a world record crowd of 109,874. The All Blacks scored 24 unanswered points in the opening nine minutes. Australia responded with 24 unanswered points of their own before the half-time whistle. There were 10 tries in all, with the decider coming after 83 minutes of thrilling action.

The try went to the big fella, Jonah Lomu. A man born for the big stage, he settled a game packed with enough incident and drama to fill an entire Tri-Nations series. The opening salvo from the All Blacks shocked the huge crowd, with Christian Cullen, Pita Alatini and Tana Umaga all crossing the Wallabies' line. The World Champions responded with the vigour that brought them their most dominant streak over the All Blacks in Bledisloe Cup history, with Stirling Mortlock, Chris Latham and Joe Roff biting back to level the scores.

Jeremy Paul and Justin Marshall traded second-half tries before Jonah set the seal on things by barrelling along the touchline to score out wide. The Wallabies responded by taking another bona-fide classic 24-23 in their next meeting, with skipper John Eales kicking a last-gasp penalty for the eventual Tri-Nations champions.

Australia 17-20 England, Rugby World Cup final, Stadium Australia, 2003

Clive Woodward may have a lot to answer for following the debacle of the 2005 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, but his enduring achievement in the sport came with England's triumph at the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

Martin Johnson led one of the all-time great packs; Jonny Wilkinson provided the finishing touch with an arching drop-goal to break the hearts of the Wallabies, who were within touching distance of becoming the first side to retain the Webb Ellis trophy. Elton Flatley and Wlikinson had engaged in a game of cat and mouse, trading penalties to complement a try apiece from Lote Tuqiri and Jason Robinson.

The finish has become iconic, as Wilkinson rocked back in the pocket and ended the south's long dominance of the World Cup.

France 18-24 Wales, Six Nations, Stade de France, 2005

A burst every bit as good as Ireland's four years later helped Mike Ruddock's furiously entertaining Wales to the pivotal victory in their 2005 Grand Slam, over reigning champions France in Saint-Denis. The visitors were 15-6 down at half-time and reeling from a ferocious spell of Gallic flair, but openside Martyn Williams emerged as Wales' saviour.

His burst of two tries just after the break epitomised the attacking intent of this Welsh side, one coming after a rollicking break from fly-half Stephen Jones, who would seal the win with a nerveless penalty and drop-goal. His joyous hack behind to end the game also closed out a painfully intense closing period as the French scrum inched closer to the Welsh posts and a penalty try. It never arrived and weeks later Wales celebrated their first Grand Slam since 1978 and the vintage side of Gareth, Gerald, JPR, Phil et al.

Sharks 19-20 Bulls, Super 14 final, Kings Park, 2007

A matter of months later, South Africa were lifting their second Rugby World Cup ***le with victory over England in Paris but it's the Bulls' thrilling finish against their intense rivals, the Sharks, on their home patch that lingers in the memory.

The cast was the same, Bryan Habana scored the clinching try, Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield waded in up front and Percy Montgomery chipped in from the kicking tee. It was the first time that a South African franchise had won the tournament since its Super 10 origins and the final cemented Habana's place in the top-tier of world stars. His break through a tired Sharks line handed Derick Hougaard the chance to win the tournament from the tee, and he did just that.

Cardiff Blues 26-26 Leicester Tigers, Leicester won 7-6 on penalties, Heineken Cup semi-final, Millennium Stadium, 2009

A genuine one-off, Cardiff's heartbreaking exit from the 2009 Heineken Cup was as emotionally draining an occasion as you could have imagined. Two tries in the last six minutes from Jamie Roberts and Tom James, with touchline conversions to boot from Ben Blair, had hauled the Blues back from the dead after Scott Hamilton and Geordan Murphy had all-but sealed the Tigers' place in the final.

The penalty shootout that followed was a painstaking study rarely seen in the oval-ball game and after James had hooked wide a potentially winning kick for the Blues when Johne Murphy faltered, it fell to Martyn Williams to keep his side in it. The venerable flanker pulled his shot horribly wide and Leicester No.8 Jordan Crane did not err when his chance came to secure the spoils.

South Africa 28-25 British & Irish Lions, Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria, 2009

It had everything. Schalk Burger sparked one of the year's enduring controversies with his attack on the eyes of Luke Fitzgerald, Rob Kearney scored a momentous try for the Lions and Bryan Habana, JP Pietersen and Jaque Fourie did the same for the Boks.

Stephen Jones kept the Lions in it with a majestic 20-point haul as the game reached massive, dangerous levels of physicality. The winning points came from the boot of Morne Steyn after a now infamous tackle in the air from Ronan O'Gara, the Bulls pivot disappointing an army of travelling fans and drawing to a close a game that a stands scrutiny at the end of this decade, and for that matter any other.

Honourable mentions go to: Either of Munster's magnificent Heineken Cup final victories in 2006 or 2008 or for that matter their miracle match against Gloucester, the Scarlets turning over Toulouse 41-34 in 2007, Fiji breaking Welsh hearts at the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Dan Luger helping England past the Wallabies in 2000, the British & Irish Lions' clashes with Australia in 2001, Nick Evans dropping Harlequins to victory over Stade Francais in 2009, Wales ending their Twickenham hoodoo in 2008, The Bulls crushing the Chiefs in the 2009 Super 14 final, South Africa taking the points away from Dunedin in 2008, New Zealand seeing off Wales after an emotional haka stand-off later that year, Ireland thrashing England at Croke Park in 2007 and Italy routing Scotland at Murrayfield. Here's to the next 10 years.

 

[dullonien]

Much, much better attempt there. Still missing the France v All Blacks match, but it's still alot better.

 

[Woldog]

Reds vs Bulls 2008 was pretty dominant

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

Australia 35-39 New Zealand, Tri-Nations, Stadium Australia, 2000[/b]

Erm didn't Australian win that game?? other wise why would anyone care that Eales kicked a goal...

 

[Nickdnz]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Woldog @ Dec 18 2009, 11:13 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Reds vs Bulls 2008 was pretty dominant

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE

Australia 35-39 New Zealand, Tri-Nations, Stadium Australia, 2000[/b]

Erm didn't Australian win that game?? other wise why would anyone care that Eales kicked a goal...
[/b][/quote]
No they lost. But won the series.

 

[Woldog]

OH ya was thinking about the wrong game lol.

 

[Fa'atau82]

What about the best 10 players of the decade?

10 players for each nation. I can't think of a complete list right now, but i'd say off the top of my head..

New Zealand: Dan Carter, Carlos Spencer, Tana Umaga, Richie McCaw, Mils Muliaina, Joe Rokocoko, Ma'a Nonu..
South Africa: Os Du Randt, Bakkies Botha, Schalk Burger..
Australia: George Gregan, Elton Flatley, Matt Giteau..
France: Frederic Michalak, Vincent Clerc, Fabien Pelous, Yannick Jauzion, Christophe Dominici, Cedric Heymans..
Italy: Diego Dominguez, Martin Castrogiovanni, Alessandro Troncon, Mauro and Mirco Bergamasco..
England: Jonny Wilkinson, Jason Robinson, Richard Hill, Matt Dawson, Will Greenwood, Lewis Moody, Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio..
Wales: Stephen Jones, Martyn Williams, Shane Williams..
Ireland: Keith Wood, Brian O'Driscoll..
Scotland: Chris Paterson, Bryan Redpath, Euan Murray.. f*** knows!
Argentina:J M Hernandez, Ignacio Corleto and so many more!
Samoa: Simo Sititi, Earl Va'a, Brian Lima, Alesana Tuilagi..
Fiji: Vilimone Delasau, Rupeni Caucaunibuca 'Caucau', Norman Ligairi, Simon Raiwalui, Seru Rabeni..
Rest of the World: Pierre Hola, Finau Maka, Daisuke Ohata, Rodrigo Capo Ortega, Kirill Kulemin, Todd Clever, Mike Hercus, Mike McDonald, Jamie Cudmore, Oriol 'raspberry' Ripol, Kees Lensing, Marius Tincu and many many more..

 

[feicarsinn]

Players eh? Hmmm I'll give it a go:
Brian O'
Richie McCaw
Dan Carter
Johnny Wilkinson
Striling Mortlock
George Gregan
Fabien Pelous
Sergio Parisse
Bakkies Botha
Jason Robinson

There are loads more that could go in there but it's hard to say any of those boys don't deserve a place. If I've forgotten anyone big do tell.

 

[Fa'atau82]

You forgot Nate Rowlan. US-Irish Prop who never made it to a RWC this decade. You must have heard of him.