Worst international match you've attended?

For me:

2007
Scotland 21-9 Wales

Even if you were Scottish it felt like a defeat.

That or Wales Ireland in 2011 Six Nations

What do you mean by worst? Most boring? Most embarrassing? Most frustating?

Not worst game by a long shot but one of the most frustating was England vs Wales in 2008.

Blowing a 10 point lead at half time and basically imploding in the 2nd half.

Wales v France at Wembley. It was just desparate from a Wales point of view.

Ireland vs England in Six Nations this year, Ireland vs Samoa in 2011, Ireland vs Argentina in 2009... seems like thats about a third of the test matches I went to during the Kidney era.

blue note, i sort of agree....but watching live that lil wee fella, Castaignede, running rings around the ginger monster and perhaps showing a masterclass in outsidehalffery, was blydi marvellous.

Risca Rev wrote:That or Wales Ireland in 2011 Six Nations

+1.

For the rugby played

The atmosphere and the company were fantastic OTOH

Edit, that was the one with the dodgy lineout for Wales' winning try right?



Most frustrating would be NZ vs France 2007.


My favourite match attended, NZ vs SA, Dunedin in the late '90s

t1000advancedprototype wrote:For me:

2007
Scotland 21-9 Wales

Even if you were Scottish it felt like a defeat.

I was up there for that game, froze my bollix off, what was I thinking, we needed somwhere to go for my 30th birthday and decided this was the way to go, Gareth Jenkings has a lot to answer for.

England V Argentina in 2009 (the one with the purple kit) is up there. Most entertaining part of the day was making areoplanes with the cardboard they had given the whole stadium to hold up (to make the NIke flash) to see if we could land them on the pitch.

I think the biggest cheer of the day was when someone managed it!!

Wales/Fiji 2010.

Such a frustrating match, we were awful

England vs. Argentina at Twickenham in 2006 I think. The game was dire, so boring. Hodgson kept throwing the game away and was replaced by a debutant Flood.... first touch, a pass which was intercepted and the Argentinian raced home for the try. Jokes (the writing was on the wall, even then).

The Lions vs. Argentina in 05 was also terrible.

gowershowerpower wrote:blue note, i sort of agree....but watching live that lil wee fella, Castaignede, running rings around the ginger monster and perhaps showing a masterclass in outsidehalffery, was blydi marvellous.

Castaignede was sublime that day. But it really was a true low. 51-0. At least when we shipped 90-odd in South Africa later that year, we managed 13 in reply.

Kevin Bowring was our manager for the 51-0 game. He works for the RFU now and you sometimes see him sitting a few rows behind the England coaching staff at Twickenham. Every time I see him, that's the game I remember.

BristolDave wrote:England V Argentina in 2009 (the one with the purple kit) is up there. Most entertaining part of the day was making areoplanes with the cardboard they had given the whole stadium to hold up (to make the NIke flash) to see if we could land them on the pitch.

I think the biggest cheer of the day was when someone managed it!!

I remember doing similar at the 2006 Super14 final - the fog was so thick we could see about 1/3 to 1/2 of the pitch, so when the ball was up the other end (which it was for most of the 2nd half) or over the far side ...

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:

BristolDave wrote:England V Argentina in 2009 (the one with the purple kit) is up there. Most entertaining part of the day was making areoplanes with the cardboard they had given the whole stadium to hold up (to make the NIke flash) to see if we could land them on the pitch.

I think the biggest cheer of the day was when someone managed it!!

I remember doing similar at the 2006 Super14 final - the fog was so thick we could see about 1/3 to 1/2 of the pitch, so when the ball was up the other end (which it was for most of the 2nd half) or over the far side ...

I think fog may have improved it for us!!!!

t1000advancedprototype wrote:For me:

2007
Scotland 21-9 Wales

Even if you were Scottish it felt like a defeat.

That's the first Scotland match I took my wife to see at Murrayfield. I had to apologise afterwards. A horrific spectacle.

Worst match has to be Scotland V Wales 2011. Never seen a more inept performance by Scotland (and that's saying something). Wales came to Murrayfield on the back of a massive losing streak, with injury issues. The Scotland team from 1-15 failed to turn up, handling was atrocious. Tactics, if there were any were even worse,we score a pathetic 6 points.

And a sign of how bad we were is that during the first half Wales had 2 players in the sin bin at the same time, and we couldn't score a try...

2003 RWC warm up - England in Cardiff - England field a scratch team and we could still be playing and not score - it was so embarrassing and the weather was in the 80's which somehow made it worse - England were applauded offf the field whilst the welsh team kept their fastest moves to avoid the abuse being hurled at them. At least the 15 year period of darkness was coming to an end.

I was also at the game when the All Blacks jumped out of the line out to con Squinnterton - Less said the better

GLove39 wrote:Worst match has to be Scotland V Wales 2011. Never seen a more inept performance by Scotland (and that's saying something). Wales came to Murrayfield on the back of a massive losing streak, with injury issues. The Scotland team from 1-15 failed to turn up, handling was atrocious. Tactics, if there were any were even worse,we score a pathetic 6 points.

And a sign of how bad we were is that during the first half Wales had 2 players in the sin bin at the same time, and we couldn't score a try...

That was not only the worst game ive ever watched, but it was one of the worst days in recent years. We got absolutely reeking on an empty stomach on george street, watching trying to drown away the most inept performance ive ever seen, before deciding it would be a good idea to go for an all you can eat jimmy chungs. Mine stayed in my stomach for about 5 minutes, which was five minutes longer than one of my mates.

edit: cant remember what happened after that, somehow woke up the following afternoon in my bed

Imperialbigdave wrote:We got absolutely reeking on an empty stomach on george street, before deciding it would be a good idea to go for an all you can eat jimmy chungs.

I'm fairly certain that was the pre-match preparations the players undertook before that particular game. I'd like to say that was the worst Scotland performance of recent times, but the Tonga game in the AIs of 2012 was a pretty special demonstration on incompetence. Even Kelly Brown was rubbish in that game.

gsp, I see what you mean, but, emotionally, it was a real low point. The strange thing was that Jenks had the better of TC the next time!

Wales Italy last year.

George Clancey was awful

It's going back a long way, and I'm certainly not the first person to say it, but the worst international game I've attended was Scotland v Wales in 1963 - the infamous match with 111 lineouts.

I travelled to Murrayfield from Cardiff and, although Wales won the game 6-0, I have to say it was uniquely appalling to witness. The weather and ground conditions were bad but I've seen much more entertaining rugby played in similar circumstances in the local park.

I doubt if David Watkins at fly-half for Wales got the ball half-a-dozen times. Clive Rowlands at scrum-half banged the ball into touch at every opportunity. Lineouts back then were a free-for-all and the entire match resembled a mud wrestle - punctuated 111 times by the ball being kicked out of play.

The most entertaining incident was actually on the terrace near me, when two Scots fans had a fight after arguing over whether the 100th lineout had been reached!

Any Welsh game at Twickenham through the 90s

Ireland v England 2011 RWC warm up.

BlueNote wrote:Wales v France at Wembley. It was just desparate from a Wales point of view.

I don't know that it was the worst, but it was certainly depressing. Castaignede was just unplayable that day. Still the best performance from a 10 I have ever seen, we couldn't lay a hand on him.

fa0019 wrote:England vs. Argentina at Twickenham in 2006 I think. The game was dire, so boring. Hodgson kept throwing the game away and was replaced by a debutant Flood.... first touch, a pass which was intercepted and the Argentinian raced home for the try. Jokes (the writing was on the wall, even then).

The Lions vs. Argentina in 05 was also terrible.

That Lions one was poor as well - The highlight for me was that I was on one of my stag events before getting married on the Saturday. Got so drunk missed the train home!!

Fiji v Scotland at RWC 2003.

It was a deplorable game of rugby. The ref (Spreadbury) didn't allow much play before he blew his whistle. Thoroughly un-entertaining.

bedfordwelsh wrote:Any Welsh game at Twickenham through the 90s

Fixed!

Linebreaker wrote:Fiji v Scotland at RWC 2003.

It was a deplorable game of rugby. The ref (Spreadbury) didn't allow much play before he blew his whistle. Thoroughly un-entertaining.

How can a game featuring Rupeni Caucaunibuca in his prime possibly be the worst game you've seen????

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwtNxZTsSQ0

He scored a couple of tries that day. What a finisher he was.

Georgia vs. Uruguay in the 2003 world cup. Terrible game. Georgia seemed to have little concept of how to play the game and Uruguay weren't much better.

There was also a Scotland game at Murrayfield where the rugby on offer was poor (doesn't narrow it down) and the crowd spent a large portion of the match making paper aeroplanes out of some pamphlet that had been handed out. The goal seemed to be to get it as far across the pitch as possible. I turned to alcohol at HT and can no longer remember who the match was against, when it was or the score. Not sure if I can claim it to be the worst considering I can't remember much of it.

Or alternatively the 40-0 defeat to NZ in the 07 RWC. It was only terrible because we put out a reserve side (Haddock's logic) and when me and some mates decided to go, the only tickets left were the most expensive ones (£150 I think). It was a decent enough match, but not when you realise you've paid £150 for it.

I don't know if they were officially recognised as test matches but the World XV NZ series was pretty horrific. For our centenary year we were pretty mediocre and were lucky to win 2-1. Not what it could've been.

Lomu's first game against the French was not a good spectacle for me. We lost and it was not a memorable day for Lomu. Maybe an important game in terms of his development but not a good day out.

Can't remember when it was but hearing the Canterbury crowd boo John Kirwan when he came onto the field was a low point as well. You didn't hear boos for Todd Blackadder or Reuben Thorne but I think they could have been more forgivable! (Only joking as you get behind the team at the ground. Express your discontent at other times when selections are announced but when your team is on the ground you're behind everyone).

Worst weather and ground was the Athletic Park dismantling of Australia. 46-6 I think. Atrocious weather and I felt the stadium was going to collapse at any moment and crush us but a finer display of wet weather rugby I have never witnessed.

Wales vs Australia a few years ago, the biggest defeat for Wales at the Millenium

Most frustrating/disappointing was England v Wales RWC 2003 QF/Knock out.. If only we'd have won, things would have been so different on these boards

Wales score 3 tries to England's 1, but thanks to Wilko's boot and penalty count they win 28-17... The Ref must have been really biased that day.... who was he again...... Oh yes, Alain Rolland....

There's a pattern here.....

GLove39 wrote:

Linebreaker wrote:Fiji v Scotland at RWC 2003.

It was a deplorable game of rugby. The ref (Spreadbury) didn't allow much play before he blew his whistle. Thoroughly un-entertaining.

How can a game featuring Rupeni Caucaunibuca in his prime possibly be the worst game you've seen????

Because he lost, glove. !!!!!

Honestly, Fiji were the only team trying to make ground with the ball in hand. Paterson just kicked and kicked and kicked. Fiji were heavily penalised and it was such a frustrating match... riddled with error after error.

Fiji were leading up until the dying minutes until the inevitable happened and Scotland were awarded yet another penalty... which Paterson duly slotted. I remember thinking - this is not what rugby is about; especially in a World Cup. It should have been a little more free flowing (conditions were perfect) but it was over-reffed to the point of it being depressing to watch.

Scotland vs. Wales in the 6N this year was a terrible match. Both teams scared to lose, the ref only watching Scottish infringements at scrum time and the most penalty goal attempts in international rugby history speaks volumes of how poor a game it was.

Looseheaded wrote:Wales/Fiji 2010.

Such a frustrating match, we were awful

Snap, a 10 minute scrum, freezing, full of English rugger bugger students 'supporting' Fiji - was gash

Eng vs NZ 2012

False Dawn!

Maybe, maybe not?

Wales V Canada, at the old arms park with my old man in about 1993, I think, it was on a week night and I have never, ever, seen my farther so upset and disgusted over a rugby match, all I remember from that game was Gareth Rhys jumping around like a school kid after kicking the winning penalty, GUTTING.

BristolDave wrote:England V Argentina in 2009 (the one with the purple kit) is up there. Most entertaining part of the day was making areoplanes with the cardboard they had given the whole stadium to hold up (to make the NIke flash) to see if we could land them on the pitch.

I think the biggest cheer of the day was when someone managed it!!

Dear lord, that game was horrible, we looked and played like a bunch of purple bell e*d*. I have never in my life seen the ball kicked so many times with absolutly no idea of what they were meant to be doing...the team was shocking:

U Monye (Harlequins); M Cueto (Sale Sharks), D Hipkiss (Leicester Tigers), S Geraghty (Northampton Saints), M Banahan (Bath); J Wilkinson (Toulon), P Hodgson (London Irish); T Payne (Wasps), D Hartley (Northampton Saints), D Bell (Bath), S Borthwick (Saracens, capt), L Deacon (Leicester Tigers), T Croft (Leicester Tigers), L Moody (Leicester Tigers), J Haskell (Stade Francais).

a backline of Banahan, hipkiss, gegarthy, paul hodgson and front row of tim payne and belly forming an immensly useless international front row, borthwick captaining the horrible team and chumps like erinlie and andy goode on the bench !!! Worst of all though and perhaps the most hideous thing ever was ugo monye at fullback, it sends shudders down my spine still !!

munkian wrote:

Looseheaded wrote:Wales/Fiji 2010.

Such a frustrating match, we were awful

Snap, a 10 minute scrum, freezing, full of English rugger bugger students 'supporting' Fiji - was gash

I went to a similar game in 2006 ish v Fiji. Dragged the family up to the MS and my god it was dire. 15 -9 I think the score was but Fiji were far the better side. Nicky Robinson was the FH for Wales in that black kit..


Btw....attending a game t1000? Not watched on tv....

Oh, so many to choose from. Any of the England-South Africa AI dirges of the last five or six years, with pride of place perhaps to Andy Robinson's last match in charge of England. What an awful game that was. The RWC quarter of 87 occupies a place in the seventh circle of Hell for me, as does England-Scotland 88, relieved only by Jeffrey and Richards kicking the Auld Mug down Princes Street.

munkian wrote:

Looseheaded wrote:Wales/Fiji 2010.

Such a frustrating match, we were awful

Snap, a 10 minute scrum, freezing, full of English rugger bugger students 'supporting' Fiji - was gash

Wasn't that Samoa game, where the guy ran on in his kecks got the biggest cheer?

Def Fiji on a Friday night, was at bar and there were a load of white blokes wearing grass skirts and fiji tops. It was the boat shoes that gave them away though.

France v Ireland 2012 Six Nations - match abandoned in front of a full stadium. Frozen pitch. Get back on the plane and go home.

Wales v Ireland this year. Full of hope and 20 points down in as many minutes.
As a result, in disgust, I gave my Wales v England ticket to my brother on the way home. What a mistake that was.

red_stag wrote:France v Ireland 2012 Six Nations - match abandoned in front of a full stadium. Frozen pitch. Get back on the plane and go home.

Yes Staggy, that qualifies as being pretty bad.

1992....aus v scotland scg.....dismal

sirtidychris wrote:

BristolDave wrote:England V Argentina in 2009 (the one with the purple kit) is up there. Most entertaining part of the day was making areoplanes with the cardboard they had given the whole stadium to hold up (to make the NIke flash) to see if we could land them on the pitch.

I think the biggest cheer of the day was when someone managed it!!

Dear lord, that game was horrible, we looked and played like a bunch of purple bell e*d*. I have never in my life seen the ball kicked so many times with absolutly no idea of what they were meant to be doing...the team was shocking:

U Monye (Harlequins); M Cueto (Sale Sharks), D Hipkiss (Leicester Tigers), S Geraghty (Northampton Saints), M Banahan (Bath); J Wilkinson (Toulon), P Hodgson (London Irish); T Payne (Wasps), D Hartley (Northampton Saints), D Bell (Bath), S Borthwick (Saracens, capt), L Deacon (Leicester Tigers), T Croft (Leicester Tigers), L Moody (Leicester Tigers), J Haskell (Stade Francais).

a backline of Banahan, hipkiss, gegarthy, paul hodgson and front row of tim payne and belly forming an immensly useless international front row, borthwick captaining the horrible team and chumps like erinlie and andy goode on the bench !!! Worst of all though and perhaps the most hideous thing ever was ugo monye at fullback, it sends shudders down my spine still !!

Damm it Chris I was trying to forget the team - more counselling required!!

Scotland 0- New Zealand 40- Rugby World Cup 07

Cost me an arm and a leg to go to this match (bear in mind I was a paperboy at this point making £15 a week), crap seats, crap weather, dark blue/grey shirts debacle making it really difficult to see who was who, Hadden in his infinate wisdom fielded a weakened team, some decent play by the ABs but never any drama, plus Scotland got humped, worst day out ever