Rugby's greatest rivals

[TRF_stormer2010]

in recent years its been nz and south africa, but overall greatest rivals would have to be nz and australia. its just that australia have fallen off recently

Funny, I'd almost have it the other way around.

 

[TNT88]

Each rugby rivalry is unique, there is no way of measuring them.

At club level its all about how much the players want to beat each other. At test level it's about how much each country's fans want to beat each other.

It would explain why the words 'South Africa' have come up so often in this thread

 

[William18]

in recent years its been nz and south africa, but overall greatest rivals would have to be nz and australia. its just that australia have fallen off recently

If overall means the last 15 years and recent means the last 4 years then you would be correct.

 

[William18]

I LOL at most of the posts on here; people citing 'facts' to demonstrate in some bizarre way what has to be one of the most subjective topics there could be in rugby.

For me as a South African it is obviously SA vs NZ, WP/Stormers vs Northern Tranvaal/Bulls and Paarl Gymnasium vs Paarl Boy's High but I won't disagree with an Englishman or Welshman saying it is Wales vs England or whatever.

The Nz/SA and WP/Bulls rivalries have massive history but has suffered somewhat since the game went pro; SA had dark days for close to a decade after the RWC 1995 and we really let slip against NZ in that time (up to the 1980's SA had 4 matches over NZ from there on out NZ have been totally dominant with SA only being able to beat them in patches with the blackest years the ones between 2000 and 2004) only recently being able to compete again. WP/Bulls the same as the Bulls were easy beats and when they started to pick up we became the easy beats and only in the last 2 years or so has the competition really started up again as I don't see a competition as a rivalry if the teams aren't somewhat a match for each other.



To each his own and what does it matter if your rivalry is 'greater' than the other or not?

I honestly rate New Zealand and South Africa as rugby equals. The only reason our head to heard record is so much better is because we have dominated the professional era where we have played South Africa in the last 15 years about as much as we did in the 75 years before that.

 

[smartcooky]

So far, France is winning in food and weather

I rest my case.

Not just food and weather Charles! France wins in eating cheese and surrendering too!!

*** I was just leaving!! ***

 

[lucky number 7]

Not just food and weather Charles! France wins in eating cheese and surrendering too!!

*** I was just leaving!! ***

Cheese is wonderful...well Wexford cheddar...not the goooey stuff

And the most famous retreat of all time at Dunkirk was made possible by the French defence at Lille ? correct me if I'm wrong

Edit: they also have the best military record of any European nation apparently

 

[Sker]

Thanks for clearing that up Olyy, I really didn't know that. Quite surprised actually.

 

[FlukeArtist]

This is an utterly subjective question, and a totally pointless poll.

You see, the "results" are going to be totally dependant on the nationality of the majority of the posters/voters.
If more SAs complete the poll, the more likely the highest score will belong to an SA game, ditto if more English respond.

To say one rivalry is "bigger" than the other is just arrogance.

The biggest rivalry comes down to personal feeling on the matter.

For example; some people would say Auckland v Canterbury is the biggest rivalry in NZ. And yes, they certainly are the two biggest and most successful provinces.
But for me as an Aucklander, I hate Waikato and love to beat them. And also love beating Harbour in the annual "Battle of the Bridge"

And maybe because I grew up in the 80s and 90s, I have to say that personally NZ v Australia is a bigger game for me than NZ v SA.
Thats probably due to a few factors though; one being Apartheid during my early rugby watching days, the other more significant one being the types of contests that have gone on between NZ and Aus since the nineties and then Aus holding the Bledisloe for 4 years. Plus those epic games in the early '00s. Those are (in my opinion) the greatest games of rugby ever played.

Maybe its just cos Aus play a running style like NZ, and the games are generally better to watch.
But hey; thats just my opinion.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Cheese is wonderful...well Wexford cheddar...not the goooey stuff

And the most famous retreat of all time at Dunkirk was made possible by the French defence at Lille ? correct me if I'm wrong

Edit: they also have the best military record of any European nation apparently

Ah yes, Dunkirk. Seriously, how can the English slag off the French when they actually celebrate one of their retreats?

 

[Peat]

Ah yes, Dunkirk. Seriously, how can the English slag off the French when they actually celebrate one of their retreats?

Because retreating to fight again is far more admirable than surrender. That, and we're wonderful humble people, so we believe in celebrating moments when we weren't absolutely awesome so nobody else feels lessened. Modesty and deprecation and all that.

Without reading the rest of the thread, how the hell is England - Wales not on the list? By far my most hated of the rest of the 6Ns, and I know many feel the same.

Put it this way - I always wants 6N countries to beat the rest, except for Wales. I might even want Australia and South Africa to beat Wales, and they're both fairly loathsome types.

 

[j-dawg]

English? I was under the illusion that it was very much a British thing and yes, even Irish soliders under the british flag were there too, although Dunkirk was overshadowed by the fact that Britain stood alone against the Axis for nigh on a year, including repelling a pre-invasion assault on this island and bankrupting the empire fighting to the end. Where as France..*COUGH* vichy *COUGH*

 

[Feicarsinn]

English? I was under the illusion that it was very much a British thing and yes, even Irish soliders under the british flag were there too, although Dunkirk was overshadowed by the fact that Britain stood alone against the Axis for nigh on a year, including repelling a pre-invasion assault on this island and bankrupting the empire fighting to the end. Where as France..*COUGH* vichy *COUGH*

Britain held due to geography. Had the channel not been there London would have been taken just as quickly. The German army in the second world war was the most effective fighting force since the Roman Legions.

 

[lucky number 7]

Britain held due to geography. Had the channel not been there London would have been taken just as quickly. The German army in the second world war was the most effective fighting force since the Roman Legions.

Also the illusion that the British forces were the underdogs in the battle of Britain is tripe ,they had a vastly superior Air Force.

 

[lucky number 7]

Where was France..*COUGH* vichy *COUGH*

same place it always was ...just under different management ..like the rest of Europe was and still would be had the Yanks not saved our skin.

 

[coonor]

Britain held due to geography. Had the channel not been there London would have been taken just as quickly. The German army in the second world war was the most effective fighting force since the Roman Legions.

Oh yes the Tiger Tank was the most intimidating and destructive tank the world had ever seen and was a key weapon that helped the German's Blitzkreig techniques. Of course WW2 was Germans to win but the invasion of Russia cost them dearly as Hitler met his match as he came up against Stalin who may be considered as even more evil.

Lets not forget that British territory was taken by the Germans so it wasn't just France that Britain retreated from.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Britain held due to geography. Had the channel not been there London would have been taken just as quickly. The German army in the second world war was the most effective fighting force since the Roman Legions.

 

[Peat]

Tbh, if the French had any sense, they'd have settled behind a giant moat themselves and wouldn't have been in that mess. So its all their fault really, for not being as clever a us. Can't be helped.

Also, the Mongols were absolutely a more effective fighting force than the Germans. There's quite a few others with fairly equal claims.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Oh yes the Tiger Tank was the most intimidating and destructive tank the world had ever seen and was a key weapon that helped the German's Blitzkreig techniques. Of course WW2 was Germans to win but the invasion of Russia cost them dearly as Hitler met his match as he came up against Stalin who may be considered as even more evil.

Lets not forget that British territory was taken by the Germans so it wasn't just France that Britain retreated from.

And let us not forget the neutrality of the Irish

 

[lucky number 7]

And let us not forget the neutrality of the Irish

And ?

 

[TRF_Cymro]

And ?

Well .... I don't want to get into it because it may offend some of the Irish posters