The Greatest Game of All Time

[barbarian]

So this week on the podcast we went back and discussed the first game of the 2000 Bledisloe, aka 'The Greatest Game of All Time'.

I thought we could all use a distraction from the world and this serves that purpose quite nicely.

Alongside the podcast (which can be found here) I thought a forum discussion would also work.

My starting question to you all - was this the greatest game of all time?

You can watch the game in full here:

 

[wamberal]

The greatest try of all time is the one that Gareth Edwards scored for the Baa Baas against the ABs in 1973. That was so sublime that I have always thought of that as the greatest game.

 

[Tex]

My personal fav is Eales' final game when Kefu blasted over to seal it.

Mainly because of an adolescent's brain hyping up how good the win was.

 

[Rob42]

Yep, I'll go for the 2000 Bledisloe as the greatest of all time. I was in one of the end stands of the stadium, and I just remember sitting with my head in my hands as the ABs went over for their third try after, what, 8 minutes? Surrounded by cheering Kiwis of course.

What I also remember from that game was how loud the cheering was for the Wallabies when they started to come back. It really felt like the Australian fans found their voices for the first time, in desperation. The atmosphere was amazing.

 

[RugbyReg]

The greatest try of all time is the one that Gareth Edwards scored for the Baa Baas against the ABs in 1973. That was so sublime that I have always thought of that as the greatest game.

I think that is one of the great myths of world rugby. I think we see the equivalent of that try a handful of times a season these days. It wasn't even a test match.

 

[Dismal Pillock]

I think that is one of the great myths of world rugby. I think we see the equivalent of that try a handful of times a season these days. It wasn't even a test match.

Until the internets came along I thought the greatest try of all time was Graham Mourie and Stu Wilson "scissors move" in the corner vs Wales. Just cos it was maybe the first try I ever saw. Then I saw a clip years later and the "move" was laughably slow and pedestrian.

 

[barbarian]

Putting the video here for the sake of discussion. It's a pretty good try:

 

[barbarian]

The thing that struck me about the 2000 Bledisloe was the pace of the game. Stoppages were really minimal, with scrums and lineouts setting within 30 seconds of the referee blowing his whistle.

Would be interesting to see what happened if you introduced a 'scrum clock' or something to give teams an incentive to set scrums quickly. I can't see much of a downside.

 

[Rob42]

The thing that struck me about the 2000 Bledisloe was the pace of the game. Stoppages were really minimal, with scrums and lineouts setting within 30 seconds of the referee blowing his whistle.

Would be interesting to see what happened if you introduced a 'scrum clock' or something to give teams an incentive to set scrums quickly. I can't see much of a downside.

Yes, absolutely. And they didn't need the ref to hurry them up, it was just expected. I think scrums slowed right down when they went to the crouch-touch-pause-engage cadence, because the hit was so important, packs wanted to be perfectly set. But the change to the current cadence hasn't improved it. So yes to a scrum clock, and/or stopping the clock in the last 10 minutes for resets.

 

[Penguin]

Putting the video here for the sake of discussion. It's a pretty good try:

That's a great try in any era. We'd be going back for a look at two or three tackles in that period of play these days.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Until the internets came along I thought the greatest try of all time was Graham Mourie and Stu Wilson "scissors move" in the corner vs Wales. Just cos it was maybe the first try I ever saw. Then I saw a clip years later and the "move" was laughably slow and pedestrian.

For me it was Kirky's effort v British Lions in '71 (so before they acknowledged the contribution of Ireland) which possibly hasn't aged well either........

 

[Brumby Runner]

The Bledisloe 2000 game was a cracker, especially in the second half as the Wallabies fought back.

My own favourite was the 2004 Super final when the Brumbies put the Crusaders to the sword. I also have a soft spot for the 2003 RWC semi when Mortlock broke the hearts of the many AB supporters surrounding me at the game.

 

[barbarian]

For me it is the greatest game, but context plays a huge role in my deliberations.

We'd just come off a World Cup win, playing in a packed Olympic stadium with a pretty amazing 30 players on the field (including all-time XV candidates in Eales, Gregan, Larkham, Lomu, Cullen).

Australia in 2000 was also at its peak in a variety of ways, but especially in terms of sport.

There are certainly other games that have a case, but the narrative of this game is so incredible. I don't think I've ever seen a team up 24-0 after eight minutes (in a test match, anyway), let alone a team come back from 24-0 down to level with scores even at half time.

And then the final 10 minutes are also pretty amazing. So many moments within moments.

 

[AFL_Converted]

That game was good, but I felt the defences were too poor for it to be rated the greatest of all time. Some of those breaks should not have happened.

I actually liked the second Bled. game of that series. It was tight all the way through, then the Aussies got those two lineout steals at the end and "Nobody" dobbed the penalty. The whole sequence seemed so unlikely that I could barely believe we won.

It was also very heartening to see one of the Kiwi players (I forget who it was) protect the referee from the Kiwi Yahoo's lobbing drinks at him as he went off the ground.

I'd definitely rate it as the best series I have seen

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

That's a great try in any era. We'd be going back for a look at two or three tackles in that period of play these days.

Also the final pass........

 

[wamberal]

I think that is one of the great myths of world rugby. I think we see the equivalent of that try a handful of times a season these days. It wasn't even a test match.

In the context of the game, the conditions, etc etc it certainly was a stupendous try. Many aspects of the game were totally different: heavy, leather footballs, basically amateur players, heavy grass fields. Clodhopper boots, with heavy studs. Heavy clothing. I could go on.


I was playing the game back then, and this was a gem of the highest order. We were still mostly playing 10 man rugby, forwards basically did not run with the ball, handling skills, tactics, all the things that are so much part of the game today did not exist in anything like the same form. Let alone conditioning, strength, and all the physical side of the game.


Very difficult to compare games from very different eras. Frig me, that's almost 50 years ago.

 

[Derpus]

The thing that struck me about the 2000 Bledisloe was the pace of the game. Stoppages were really minimal, with scrums and lineouts setting within 30 seconds of the referee blowing his whistle.

Would be interesting to see what happened if you introduced a 'scrum clock' or something to give teams an incentive to set scrums quickly. I can't see much of a downside.

When you watch that match you can really see the damage constant stoppages, TMO reviews, scrum resets, etc have done to the intensity of the game.

Really enjoyed the podcast guys.

 

[RedsHappy]

Just a btw, and this may have been posted elsewhere, if so, sorry for duplication, but it seemed to best belong here if anywhere. For the remaining Foxtelians:

"Foxtel Celebrates The Best of Australian Rugby on Dedicated Channel this week"

https://wallabies.rugby/news/2020/03/23/fox-rugby-covid-channel

"FOX SPORTS’ celebration of Australia’s Finest Rugby Moments is available to stream, On Demand, for Foxtel subscribers via internet connected iQ boxes, on smartphones and tablets using the Foxtel GO app, and via Foxtel Now."

 

[Pfitzy]

Yep, I'll go for the 2000 Bledisloe as the greatest of all time. I was in one of the end stands of the stadium, and I just remember sitting with my head in my hands as the ABs went over for their third try after, what, 8 minutes? Surrounded by cheering Kiwis of course.

What I also remember from that game was how loud the cheering was for the Wallabies when they started to come back. It really felt like the Australian fans found their voices for the first time, in desperation. The atmosphere was amazing.

I was up in the nosebleeds near the middle of the field courtesy of a mate. Nearly 110,000 in the venue before the teardown of the olympic sections.

0-24 after 8 minutes and the Kiwis in the crowd were baying. 30 minutes later we fed it right back to them.

Yes. Definitely the greatest game. Not the best atmosphere tho - that was Lions 2013.

 

[Jimmy_Crouch]

We'd driven down from Coffs, had seats a million miles away (10 lane running track and two long jump pits), sat next to a mouthy Kiwi and at 24-nil after 8mins I thought it was going to be the first and only time I saw my Dad cry.