How Many Countries Have You seen In Test Rugby?

First topic message reminder :

Just having a think about this earlier- the number of teams I've seen in Test Rugby. Thought I would publish my list and people could publish theirs and we could have a bit of a competition to see whose is longest. If you saw them once or a hundred times, it doesn't make a difference. All must be countries who appear on the IRB Rankings, with the exception of the British and Irish Lions. Sound fair? Every country is worth one point, if you saw a country (or the Lions) in a midweek match or an A international thats worth half a point. But you can't count the same country twice. i.e. if you saw the All Blacks beat Munster and Ireland thats still just 1 point.

Ok? Ok.

This is just meant to be a bit of fun but I'll be updating a league table. NO LYING!

Table

PenfroPete, 21 points (20 countries + the Lions)
GunsGerms, 19 points (18 countries + Pacific Islanders)
tigertattie, 19 points (19 countries)
EWT Spoons, 19 points (19 countries)
LordDowlias, 19 points (17 countries + the Lions + the Pacific Islanders)
LondonTiger, 17.5 points (17 countries + the Lions)
hjumpshoe, 17 points (16 countries + the Lions)
BigWilly, 17 points (16 countries + the Lions)
Swperb, 16.5 points (17 countries)
offload, 16 points (16 countries)
doctor-grey, 16 points (15 countries + the Lions)
bedfordwelsh, 16 points (15 countries + the Lions)
BristolDave, 16 points (15 countries + the Lions)
GLove39, 16 points (16 countries + Pacific Islanders)
debaters1, 16 points (15 countries + Pacific Islanders)
the goon, 15 points (15 countries)
Notch, 14 points (15 countries)
thomh, 14 points (14 countries)
Glas a Du, 14 points (14 countries)
Jenifer McLadyboy, 14 points (14 countries)
Pete330v2, 13 points (13 countries)
dailym, 12 points (12 countries)
beshocked, 13 points (12 countries + Lions)
Risca Rev, 12 points (12 countries)
The Saint, 11 points (10 countries + the Lions)
captain carrantuohil, 11 points (11 countries)
kiakahaaotearoa, 10 points (10 countries)
Gibson, 10 points (10 countries)
Mickado, 10 points (10 countries)
fa0019, 10 points (9 countries + the Lions)
tomhughesnice, 9 points (9 countries)
bsando, 8 points (8 countries)
MetalTiger, 8 points (8 countries)
Shifty, 7 points (8 countries)
ScarletsSpiderman, 7 points (7 countries)
mckay1402, 7 points (6 countries + the Pacific Islanders)
Breadvan, 6.5 points (7 countries)
Biltong, 5 points (5 countries)
asoreleftshoulder, 4 points (4 countries)
Looseheaded, 3 points (3 countries)
Geordie Falcon, 1.5 points (2 A games and a club vs country)
Thomond, 1.5 points (3 club vs country)

You're counting club v country now? I have three of them on the lsit Munster v All Blacks and Oz and Ireland playing Munster before the 99 WC......

I cannot beleive Thomond, a well respected and knowledgable rugby fan has never been to see an international, my daughter has been to see more internationals than him.

Been to a lot of underage ones, live about 2 or 3 hours away from Dublin and having your weekends busy doesn't help. A lot of big Munster games would be a similar distance away, so it can often be a case of Munster or Ireland. For people this neck of the woods it wouldn't be that odd for them not to have gone to an Ireland game, we tend to care more about Munster anyway!

Notch, do the Moari's count ?

I think you could argue that if Samoa count then NZ Maori should count too.... Samoa have more NZ born and raised players in their squad then they have Samoan born and raised, checked this afternoon and is almost fully a team of AB nearly men.

How many of the games that you saw to support your team did they win? That should count towards points and help boost my score. Only Conrad Smith has a higher winning percentage than me. Lucky underwear you see. My lucky underwear naturally. Not Conrad's. He plays with no gruds. Frees up his running and makes him find the gaps.

Need Wales to get the 6N+4N set. Saw the Lions smash us in 93. Got Samoa vs Ireland too.

You greedy buggers take out the World Cup games and then we'll talk. I haven't seen a WC game yet. Had a ticket to the 07 final but won't go there. Actually since we have such a crap record at WCs it's probably better for my mental health that I haven't yet.

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:How many of the games that you saw to support your team did they win? That should count towards points and help boost my score. Only Conrad Smith has a higher winning percentage than me. Lucky underwear you see. My lucky underwear naturally. Not Conrad's. He plays with no gruds. Frees up his running and makes him find the gaps.

You couldn't lend your lucky underwear to Scott Johnson could you???

No but I can lend you Conrad's mate...

fa0019 wrote:I think you could argue that if Samoa count then NZ Maori should count too.... Samoa have more NZ born and raised players in their squad then they have Samoan born and raised, checked this afternoon and is almost fully a team of AB nearly men.

Samoa are in IRB rankings, Maori aren't... I've only made two exceptions. British and Irish Lions and Pacific Islanders.

Thomond wrote:You're counting club v country now? I have three of them on the lsit Munster v All Blacks and Oz and Ireland playing Munster before the 99 WC......

I always was! Read the article.

Notch wrote:

fa0019 wrote:I think you could argue that if Samoa count then NZ Maori should count too.... Samoa have more NZ born and raised players in their squad then they have Samoan born and raised, checked this afternoon and is almost fully a team of AB nearly men.

Samoa are in IRB rankings, Maori aren't... I've only made two exceptions. British and Irish Lions and Pacific Islanders.

Ah, well as we were then. 

Notch wrote:

Thomond wrote:You're counting club v country now? I have three of them on the lsit Munster v All Blacks and Oz and Ireland playing Munster before the 99 WC......

I always was! Read the article.

I missed that not so bad so, that should improve at the next world cup hopefully!

Question, have Ireland played Tonga in Ireland in say, the last 20 years? If so I might well be able to add them to my list as when I was a kid, i tended to get the less "glamourous" games as my older sisters would have called dibs on the Boks or ABs etc.

Full Internationals
Samoa
Fiji
Tonga
USA
Canada
Russia
Italy
Ireland
Scotland
England
Wales
France
New Zealand
Australia
South Africa
Argentina

I'm gonna go watch someone play the USA and then find a Zambia game somewhere so I can dethrone Penfro

debaters1 wrote:Question, have Ireland played Tonga in Ireland in say, the last 20 years? If so I might well be able to add them to my list as when I was a kid, i tended to get the less "glamourous" games as my older sisters would have called dibs on the Boks or ABs etc.

 I know that pain all to well! Back when I was growing up in Edinburgh in years where we had England and France coming to Murrayfield, my brother and I would fight over it. One year I got Ireland and Wales and he only got Italy, he wasn't happy.

I've seen Ireland A vs Tonga, but we didn't give them a full test. If your memory is hazy get yourself to ESPN scrum.com and check out their stats. They have brilliant stats and you should be able to find any game you can only hazily remember.

The only time Ireland played Tonga before the millennium was in 1986.

Ireland had only played less than 20 other national sides in that period also.

I think my first game was the all blacks in 1974 rather than the one we drew in 1973 (and would have won with modern scoring)

One that stands out was Willie John's last home game where me and my mate were stading beside Eamonn Andrews when he was waiting to run on with his big red book (this is your life). We were waiting to run onto the pitch.

My Da was not into live sport. we had to go into town and find our own tickets and makke our way to Lansdowne road. (you try telling the young people of today that and they won't believe yah)

Have seen all the 6n and rc teams many times. Along with Fiji. Samoa. Pacific Islands. Canada. possibly a few more. I'll have to look them up.

At least you saw a few points in your first live game, jen. In fact you saw more in that 74 match than I saw in my first two as a ten year old back in 77. Leave weekend from boarding school, fly to Dublin as a treat to watch Ireland 0 England 4. Two weeks later - school trip to Twickenham to see England 3 France 4. For a while, I thought double digits were banned.

I just had a look at the fixtures. My first game was actually Tom Kiernan's last. I remember Tony Ensor taking over in the following home game.

It sticks out in my mind that I saw Kiernan play. (he was a huge name at the time)

I thought the game was the following year.

disneychilly wrote:Need Wales to get the 6N+4N set. Saw the Lions smash us in 93. Got Samoa vs Ireland too.

You greedy buggers take out the World Cup games and then we'll talk. I haven't seen a WC game yet. Had a ticket to the 07 final but won't go there. Actually since we have such a crap record at WCs it's probably better for my mental health that I haven't yet.

Yeah Disney it helps to complete the box set, In 2011 I think I went to something like nine tests in just over three weeks.

Non but i did watch Sir Clive's boys win the world cup in 03 on tv.
Don't ask me who we played in the group stages but i do know we beat the French in bad weather or something?
I watched us kill the NZ allblacks kiwis last year online as well.

If this was watching club rugby, Id be well in.  (next thread Notch?)

6-N:  Scotland, France, Wales  & England. Must get to Rome. 4pts
AI's:  Argentina, Fiji, Australia, Samoa, South Africa. Never seen the AB's live.  5pts

So 9 pts for Gibbo.

Nice thread. Evokes nice memories.  

I've only seen England, Wales, and Fiji. BaaBaas dont count I assume.

I need to watch more live games

The emotion of 2006 seeing Scotland win the Calcutta Cup was incredible. Nothing will beat the high of supporting Scotland (at least for Scottish games) in Paris in 1999 moving to the last 5 Nations win. But in 2006 it was what could be described as an ugly win. But being among those Scottish supporters, I was reminded that winning is the most important thing and that the longer you have to wait for that win, the more special it is.

Athletic Park and I'm shady about the year. 94 or 95 I can't recall. Best display of wet weather rugby I have seen live and on TV for that matter. A comprehensive dismantling of Australia. I have seen probably more complete performances from NZ in better conditions but that was wet weather rugby at its best.

Just saw it on youtube. It was 1996.

Good thread!

Scotland, Ireland, Wales, England, France, NZ, Australia, South Africa

Wales, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Italy (all at Cardiff and all away, except Italy) - 6 pts
Romania, Samoa, Argentina, Japan, Canada, Fiji, Tonga (all at Cardiff) - 7 pts
NZ, Aus, SA in Cardiff - 3 pts
BaaBaas in Cardiff - 0.5 pt
Lions (v Argentina, Cardiff 2005) - 1 pt
Wales / England combined v Scot / Ire combined (in Cardiff, 1980/81?) - 1 pt (0.5 pts each?!)
So - 18.5 pts?

For me,

All 6 nations sides
All 4 nations sides
Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Pacific Islanders
Romania, Georgia, Uruguay
Japan, USA
And if they count (which I suspect they don't) then also the Baa Baa's.

These aren't in any order by the way.

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:The only time Ireland played Tonga before the millennium was in 1986.

Ireland had only played less than 20 other national sides in that period also.

I think my first game was the all blacks in 1974 rather than the one we drew in 1973 (and would have won with modern scoring)

One that stands out was Willie John's last home game where me and my mate were stading beside Eamonn Andrews when he was waiting to run on with his big red book (this is your life). We were waiting to run onto the pitch.

My Da was not into live sport. we had to go into town and find our own tickets and makke our way to Lansdowne road. (you try telling the young people of today that and they won't believe yah)

Have seen all the 6n and rc teams many times. Along with Fiji. Samoa. Pacific Islands. Canada. possibly a few more. I'll have to look them up.

  Tell me about it. I can remember when I would go down to the Arms Park in the early ninetees as a spotty teenager and getting a walk up ticket for a 5N game in the standing area. I could not imagine people just jumping on a train nowdays and getting a ticket at the ground.

We used to go into Elverys sports shop in town and buy schoolboy tickets. Aged 10 and up. Then we would walk the few miles to LR on matchdays.

Middle class 10 yearolds would not be let out on their own these days. They would have no clue about buses or public transport because their mammies would drive them everywhere.

Did I mention that our fathers used to murder us and dance on our graves singing Alleluia?

BigWilly wrote:Wales, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Italy (all at Cardiff and all away, except Italy)  - 6 pts
Romania, Samoa, Argentina, Japan, Canada, Fiji, Tonga (all at Cardiff) - 7 pts
NZ, Aus, SA in Cardiff - 3 pts
BaaBaas in Cardiff - 0.5 pt
Lions (v Argentina, Cardiff 2005) - 1 pt
Wales / England combined v Scot / Ire combined (in Cardiff, 1980/81?) - 1 pt (0.5 pts each?!)
So - 18.5 pts?

I make it 17. Not counting the BaaBaas or combined sides as test matches. Still very cool that you've seen those though.

Hmmm I've a pretty poor effort here Ireland v France,S.A. and Australia.

Really need to fix that.

I think we should set a minimum of 10 points before you can express an opinion on certain threads that can be reserved for the elite...

*blows out match and stands back*

Tricky one to recall:

Romania, Italy, Australia, SA, Ireland, Wales, England, France and Scotland.

So 9.

Glas a du wrote:I think we should set a minimum of 10 points before you can express an opinion on certain threads that can be reserved for the elite...

*blows out match and stands back*

Should I take it personally that you post that directly after I gave my (weak) score.  

You may, but I have to say I was trying to cast the net a lot wider!

I won't bother adding my list or calculating as it's nothing special- most of the 6N teams, Oz and NZ, PI nations, etc., all in Cardiff.

But I thought I'd add an odd/unusual one;

I saw Newport RFC v Uruguay in 2001 at Rodney Parade. Newport won 59-5. Cracking game!

Notch wrote:

BigWilly wrote:Wales, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Italy (all at Cardiff and all away, except Italy)  - 6 pts
Romania, Samoa, Argentina, Japan, Canada, Fiji, Tonga (all at Cardiff) - 7 pts
NZ, Aus, SA in Cardiff - 3 pts
BaaBaas in Cardiff - 0.5 pt
Lions (v Argentina, Cardiff 2005) - 1 pt
Wales / England combined v Scot / Ire combined (in Cardiff, 1980/81?) - 1 pt (0.5 pts each?!)
So - 18.5 pts?

I make it 17. Not counting the BaaBaas or combined sides as test matches. Still very cool that you've seen those though.

England/Wales vs Ireland/Scotland!? That would be brilliant. Would never happen in professional era now though. A combined top 4 would be pretty cool. Say, NZ/England (1 & 4) vs SA/Aus (2 & 3).

Griff wrote:I saw Newport RFC v Uruguay in 2001 at Rodney Parade. Newport won 59-5. Cracking game!

Thats a bit like me; I saw Ulster beat Portugal 62-6 in 2008!  

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/rugby/526.php

Ulster team:
(15-9) Bryn Cunningham; Timoci Nagusa; Darren Cave; Ian Whitten; Mark McCrea
Ian Humphreys; Cillian Willis

(1-8) Bryan Young; Neil Hanna; Declan Fitzpatrick; Matt McCullough; Ed O'Donoghue; Thomas Anderson; David Pollock (Capt); Robbie Diack

Replacements:
(16-25) Nigel Brady; Justin Fitzpatrick; Jarlath Carey; Kieron Dawson; Isaac Boss; Niall O'Connor; Paul Steinmetz; Chris Henry; James Sandford; Chris Cochrane

Portugal team:
(15-9) Lourenço Kadosh; Aderito Esteves; Diogo Gama; Francisco Mira; Gonçalo Foro; Pedro Cabral; José Pinto

(1-8) Gustavo Duarte; Joao Correia (Capt); Juan Severino; Valter Jorge; Gonçalo Silva; Julian Bardi; Antonio Duarte; Eduardo Acosta

Replacements:
(16-25) Laurent Balague; Bernardo Duarte; Joao Junior; Nuno Taful; Diogo Fialho; Afonso Sousa; Frederico Oliveira; Miguel Leal;Yannick Ricardo; Vasco Gaspar

Forgot that I saw RGC V Georgia. So I'm up to 17 now.  

6Ns I have seen Ireland, France, Italy & Scotland all once each. Not been to Wales game yet. The plan this year is Ireland again (the wife only let's me do 1 match per year:( )

Been to see SA, Austrailia & Fiji.

Also seen Tigers against SA and NZ Maori.

Jeff: Only grounds I have not been to are Newcastle & Sale (so seen all teams).

Rabo teams in ERC: Watched all of them at some point or another with the exception of Zebre & Connaught.

Top14 in ERC: Only those Tigers have played in last few years.

Oh... and a couple of baabaas games... don't know if they count?

Someone mentioned Georgia above, which reminded me that I saw ireland hockey them by about 80 points while trying to qualify for the 1999 RWC (I think, wasn't 1995 and I'm pretty sure that we'd qualified by right in 2003 by virtue of Pool runner up in 1999. So I'm 17! i also think this is the Tonga match that I was wondering if it had happened and that I'd been at it etc. The clouds of Time merged the Tongan red with the maroon of Georgia. Apologies to both countries!

Full internationals

Japan
Zimbabwe
Samoa
Romania
Georgia
Fiji
Tonga
USA
Canada
Italy
Scotland
England
Wales
France
New Zealand
Australia
South Africa
Argentina
Ireland (does your own team count?)
Barbarians (do they count)
Pacific Islands select (does this count?)

I think Penfro has won the thread.

GunsGerms wrote:Full internationals

Japan
Zimbabwe
Samoa
Romania
Georgia
Fiji
Tonga
USA
Canada
Italy
Scotland
England
Wales
France
New Zealand
Australia
South Africa
Argentina
Ireland (does your own team count?)
Barbarians (do they count)
Pacific Islands select (does this count?)

That's impressive. Did all of these games involve Ireland? Or was there the odd one in there that did not?

The first test I ever saw was the 78 wallabies vs the ABs at Eden park.
As a school side we got to train with them, catching balls, running around making a general nuisance.
Geoff Richards...no one will know that name... was for me inspirational as a 15 year old, kenny wright, paddy bach, tony melrose, steve tuynamin (spelling), mark loane...awesome...Greg Cornelson scoring four.......FOUR....what... FOUR tries vs the AB's.

Even recall Stu Wilson and John Ashworth getting one each.

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:

GunsGerms wrote:Full internationals

Japan
Zimbabwe
Samoa
Romania
Georgia
Fiji
Tonga
USA
Canada
Italy
Scotland
England
Wales
France
New Zealand
Australia
South Africa
Argentina
Ireland (does your own team count?)
Barbarians (do they count)
Pacific Islands select (does this count?)

That's impressive. Did all of these games involve Ireland? Or was there the odd one in there that did not?

All of them included Ireland plus I saw Australia play NZ in Landsdowne road and SA play the BaBas in Landsdowne.

I have also seen NZ play Leinster also in Landsdowne.

Tonga I have actually not seen. I copied someone elses post but forgot to remove them.

Ireland always comes first!!!

Unless they've had 12 Guinness...