- Mick Doyle’s heart attack in 1987.
- The Rose of Tralee being used as the “Irish anthem” in 1987.
- Frano secretly going out to Kentucky Fried Chicken for dinner in 1987 because the food in the team hotel was horrible, and running into the rest of the squad there, who all had exactly the same idea.
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Gordon Hamilton’s try. I was on the south terrace. The old ground just erupted.
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Was that year they were beat in the semi?
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Was in the quarter final in the Millennium Stadium in 2007 when Michalak came on and turned the match around for the French against the All Blacks?
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They’d have to get to a semi to lose one so, eh, no.
But you are pretty much guaranteed a quarter final aren’t you?
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Well in a way no, but in another way that’s entirely different, yes.
Ok, so you only have to win one game of significance to get to a semi final? I’d be shocked if Ireland, the great rugby nation that it is, has never managed to win a game of note at the world cup?
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Yes that may be. But you’re choosing to gloss over some amazingly glorious defeats by doing so. And glorious defeat is almost as good as a win.
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1995 WC semi final between South Africa and France delayed coz of a downpour and a load of black fellas charging onto the field with brushes to sweep off the excess rain water… At that stage singing Die Stem would have been appropriate but that gesture really showed up the whole unity thing for the joke it was
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@GeoffreyBoycott,
have you ever had the pleasure of Nick Popplewell, Neil Francis and Paul Wallace’s company?
The Canada South Africa match in 95 was another stand out, the Canucks seem to have an issue with the racists
Before the start of the 2014 association football World Cup I was thinking back to the various finals and the key moments - Uruguay stunning Brazil in 1950, West Germany coming from 2-0 down to beat the Magical Magyars of Hungary 3-2 in 1954, Pele announcing his arrival on the world stage with a magnificent goal in 1958, football coming home in 1966 as one World Cup was added to two World Wars, Carlos Alberto sprinting into the picture at the last moment to smash the ball home in Mexico in 1970, the Dutch scoring before the Germans had touched the ball in 1974, the ticker tape hurricane of Argentina '78, Tardelli’s face in '82 that made every woman and man in the world want to make love to him, Diego on top of the world in '86 as Burruchaga slid home a dramatic late winner.
But when I compare it to the wonderful, memorable finals we’ve had in the Rugby World Cup, none of the above can compete.
'87 and France’s last second consolation try in a blowout. '91 and England’s heroism in dragging a far superior Australian side down to their level, and nearly succeeding. '95 and a New Zealand team who’d spent the previous two days on the toilet coming agonisingly close to winning by superior disciplinary record in a glorious festival of tactical kicking. '99 and France flopping. 2003, 'nuff said. 2007, another classic celebration of tactical kicking between a South African team who’d got there the hard way (by beating Fiji and Argentina) and perhaps the greatest England side of all. 2011 and New Zealand showing that you can’t win a World Cup without a great number 10, or a referee playing for you.
Unbelieveable final memories.
Nobody likes to see unsavory incidents like this but still, knocked the fuck out
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The 1991 Scotland England semi final at Murrayfield if i remember was a magnificent occasion, surpassed only by Samoa beating Wales in the same tournament and Argentina beating “Ireland” in France on some midweek night in 1999.
Zimababwe were a fine side in 1991, why were they done away with @Sidney?
Did Frank Bunce and yer man Bachop play with Western Samoa bacl then?
23 years before the Scottish Independence Referendum, the Hastings family’s true allegiance was clear to see that day at Murrayfield, when Gavin missed a simple kick in front of the posts that would have put Scotland 9-3 up with 20 minutes left. Rob Andrew did the rest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H69Eg3xIt8
Zimbabwe (or as I prefer to call them, Rhodesia) were done away with because of anti-white racism, @mickee321. Shameful.
Brian Robinson raped and pillaged them in '91 like a rampaging gang of Mugabe’s thugs ransacking a white farm.