Top 32 nilled matches.

As we all know Australia was nilled by New Zealand last weekend fr the first time in 50 years, that got me thinking about the biggest nilled scores between the Six nation teams and four nation teams.

List:

SA 101-0 Italy on the 19th of June 1999
Australia 76-0 England on the 6th of June 1998
New Zealand 60-0 Ireland on the 23rd of June 2012
England 51-0 Argentina on the 3rd of November 1990
France 51-0 Wales on the 5th of April 1998
Australia 49-0 South Africa on the 15th of July 2006
South Africa 44-0 Scotland on the 24th of November 1951 (equivalent in today 62-0)
New Zealand 40-0 Scotland on the 23rd of September 2007
South Africa 38-0 Ireland on the 30th of November 1912 (equivalent in today 58-0)
England 37-0 France on the 28th of January 1911 (equivalent in today 51-0)
South Africa 36-0 England on the 14th of September 2007
South Africa 33-0 Ireland on the 23rd of June 1998
Australia 31-0 Wales on the 2nd of June 2007
France 31-0 Scotland on the 21st of March 2004
New Zealand 29-0 Anglo-Welsh on the 25th of July 1908 (equivalent in today 47-0)
Wales 29-0 Ireland on the 9th of March 1907 (equivalent in today 40-0)
Scotland 27-0 France on the 22nd of January 1910 (equivalent in today 41-0)
Australia 26-0 Argentina on the 12th July 1986
France 26-0 Italy on the 17th of April 1960 (equivalent in today 34-0)
South Africa 26-0 Italy on the 21st of June 2008
England 25-0 Wales on the 4th of January 1896 (equivalent in today 39-0)
France 25-0 Italy on the 21st February 2004
Wales 25-0 England on the 14th of January 1905 (equivalent in today 39-0)
England 24-0 Wales on the 7th of March 1992
France 24-0 Italy on the 10th of April 1955 (equivalent in today 32-0)
Ireland 24-0 France on the 24th March 1913 (equivalent today 36-0)
New Zealand 24-0 Scotland on the 14th of June 1975 (equivalent today 28-0)
Wales 24-0 Australia on the 10th November 1973 (equivalent today 27-0)
England 23-0 Ireland on the 20th January 1990
England 22-0 France on the 30th January 1909 (equivalent in today 34-0)
Wales 22-0 England on the 12th January 1907 (equivalent in today 34-0)
New Zealand 22-0 Australia on the 25th August 2012

So up to last weekend there have been 31 occasions of a bigger nil beating.

That is one hell of a thrashing of Italy by the Boks. NZ beat Japan in the 95 World Cup with more points but Japan scored quite a few points including a try.

You have to be quite disciplined and defensively sound to hold a team out. But maybe the more points you put on a team, the more the white flag goes up and the easier it is to dominate. I think the only motivation for the Italians in 99 was let's try to keep them under 100. Unfortunately the Boks were probably saying let's try to bury them over a 100 points. No prizes for guessing which one was more effective motivation...

I recall NZ beating SA 28-0 in NZ too. Can't remember the year I'm afraid. I remember Cullen diving to take a chip kick to score under the bar that's all.

When teams get nilled it's quite often because it gets to the stage when it's not worth going for a 3-point penalty even if it's right in front of the post.

Sometimes sides do take this option though just to get some points on the board.

Obviously not against a top level side but I remember England beating Romania 134-0. Charlie Hodgson scored a lot of points that day!

Nillings between SA and NZ

SA 17-0 NZ in 1928
SA 13-0 NZ in 1960
NZ 13-0 SA in 1965
NZ 28-0 SA in 1999 (sorry disney)
NZ 19-0 SA in 2008

No worries mate. Man that game in 1928 must have been a big wake up call for us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI103KEHqic

FYI Biltong. A great wee doco.

sugarNspikes wrote:When teams get nilled it's quite often because it gets to the stage when it's not worth going for a 3-point penalty even if it's right in front of the post.

Sometimes sides do take this option though just to get some points on the board.

Obviously not against a top level side but I remember England beating Romania 134-0. Charlie Hodgson scored a lot of points that day!

It's what Australia should've done with 30 minutes still left in the match last Saturday.

I remember the NZ Japan WC game in 95. Japan got a penalty in front of the sticks 89-0 down and they kicked it. Little did they know they'd get two tries out of the game as well.

France 51-0 Wales on the 5th of April 1998, I was at Wembly for that game on a Sunday afternoon what a sad day, and it was before pubs were allowed to be open all day on a Sunday . Still not as bad as 93 - 13 against the boks in Pretoria.

Nice vid disney. Is that Herschelle Gibbs the Protea in that vid?

Fitzpatrick seems to have aged more than 20 years!

Not sticking exclusively to the topic but special mention should go to the 1891 British Lions in SA, they conceded a solitary try in their first tour match & proceeded to nil their opponents in the remaining 19 games (including the 3 test series).

Galted wrote:Not sticking exclusively to the topic but special mention should go to the 1891 British Lions in SA, they conceded a solitary try in their first tour match & proceeded to nil their opponents in the remaining 19 games (including the 3 test series).

Must have been mostly Welsh players then.

It sure is Kia. Pretty bloody talented kid eh. Loved watching that run chase when Aussie hit 431 and lost. Gibbs got 175 then. He could have been one of the greats cricket wise, sadly never quite made it. Dropping a World Cup will do that...

France 51-0 Wales on the 5th of April 1998

Hard to imagine, but on their day, they would have won that.

anotherworldofpain wrote:France 51-0 Wales on the 5th of April 1998

Hard to imagine, but on their day, they would have won that.

bugger off

No one doubts your tenacity AWOP.

Shame I didn't get to see him play any test rugby disney. Looked like he could've been a speedy flyhalf. Great cricketer though. There's a long list of World Cup brain farts for SA but you'd be hard pressed to beat Alan Donald's.

When are the Anglo-Welsh gonna tour again?
I miss those old style tours (Circa 1908)!

One 'nil' stat that's always stood out for me is the 1905 AB tour of GB.

Of the 35 matches 22 had the opposition at '0`.

8 was the highest scored against them.975 points for and only 54 against. They did lose3-0 to Wales the only loss.

Wouldn't be a better for and against record anywhere near it.

Taylorman wrote:One 'nil' stat that's always stood out for me is the 1905 AB tour of GB.

Of the 35 matches 22 had the opposition at '0`.

8 was the highest scored against them.975 points for and only 54 against. They did lose3-0 to Wales the only loss.

It WAS a try, apparently.

Depressing to see how many times Scotland have been nilled
I remember a few days before the 44-0 loss to New Zealand seeing Scotland beat Romania 42-0, brings back fond memories!

the wales match doesnt really concern me, its been talked about enough, unfortunately it glosses over how successful that tour was- 8 points against the highest in 35 matches and 22 'nil' matches is nothing short of incredible.

Heres the full tour:

Devon 55- 4
Cornwall 41- 0
Bristol 41- 0
Northampton 32- 0
Leicester 28- 0
Middlesex 34- 0
Durham 16- 3
Hartlepool Clubs 63- 0
Northumberland 31- 0
Gloucester 44- 0
Somerset 23- 0
Devonport Albion 21- 3
Midland Counties 21- 5
Surrey 11- 0
Blackheath 32- 0
Oxford University 47- 0
Cambridge University 14- 0
Richmond 17- 0
Bedford XV 41- 0
Scotland 12- 7
West of Scotland 22- 0
Ireland 15- 0
Munster 33- 0
England 15- 0
Cheltenham 18- 0
Yorkshire 40- 0
Wales 0- 3
Glamorgan 9- 0
Newport 6- 3
Cardiff 10- 8
Swansea 4- 3
France 38- 8
British Columbia 43- 6
British Columbia 65- 6

Total Points 976- 59

Does reflect the Welsh leg proved to be the toughest part of the tour...but look at the 0's- amazing for one tour.

Maybe the injuries were starting to take there toll by the time they got to Wales.

Possibly... though the before and after Welsh leg matches had normal transmission resuming.

I'd say Welsh rugby was probably the strongest of the 5 nations at the time looking at the scores- just an assumption...

Wales probably topped the IRB rankings that year.

Heres the 1905 season for Wales:

Sun, 14 Jan 1905 5N WAL v ENG 25-0 7:0 5-0 Cardiff Arms Park H
Sat, 04 Feb 1905 5N WAL v SCO 6-3 2:1 4-1 Inverleith A
Sat, 11 Mar 1905 5N WAL v IRE 10-3 2:1 4-0 Swansea H
Sat, 16 Dec 1905 TO WAL v NZL 3-0 1:0 4-1 Cardiff Arms Park H
Sun, 13 Jan 1906 5N WAL v ENG 16-3 4:1 5-0 Richmond A

so agree Laurie- Wales should have topped the IRB rankings that year with a 100% record that year...the England results from both the Wales and NZ sides, along with the county results on the tour suggest England rugby in general wasnt too hot at the time perhaps...

So a devalued year then Taylorman

Dunno...that's just how's the numbers came out. Thought it was topical.

Would love to have seen footage of some of those matches using todays technology..rather than the old black and white film which makes it look like an old comedy.

Taylorman wrote:Possibly... though the before and after Welsh leg matches had normal transmission resuming.

I'd say Welsh rugby was probably the strongest of the 5 nations at the time looking at the scores- just an assumption...

I think it was more a function of the tour. It was the longest international tour in History. Wales were obviously the top European side of that decade. By all accounts the standard of the Welsh teams was on average higher, but there were some good English sides. Probably the biggest factor was the length of the tour, having to play regularly and the travel. By all accounts the wheels were coming off by the time the team hit Wales. The AB's had to be talked into to staying on for the Welsh section. As a result later tours (e.g. the boks and wallabies) had shorter tours with better itineraries.

Yeah the 1924 tour was a little shorter.
Those two tours, combined with the 21 and 37 SA sides made sure rugby was instilled into the NZ psyche so I think we have a lot to thank them for.

Wales beat Spain 54-0 in 1994 so that should be on there.