RugbyRebels

I was on youtube looking for a rugby highlights video and came across one that claimed to be England's best tries of the pro era. It... wasn't great. Quite apart from the inevitable "inspiring" music that everyone seems to put behind rugby videos, it missed some obvious ones and picked some terrible ones.

However, it did get me thinking about what my definitive list of best tries of the pro era for England would be and I've come up with a tentative list for your contemplation. Would appreciate suggestions, as I'm sure I've missed some obvious ones.

Rees vs New Zealand 1997


Dawson vs Wales 1998


Simpson-Daniel vs Barbarians 2002


Wilkinson vs New Zealand 2002


Cohen vs Ireland 2002


Damned board will only let me do 5 URLs at a time. TBC...

Ashton vs Australia 2010


Ashton vs New Zealand 2012


May vs New Zealand 2014




Also worth noting is this video of Wilkinson taking Ireland apart in 2002 for the next time someone says he was just a boot.


And also this one from Steve Thompson in an England Legends game - fully 80m and he had oxygen and a pint afterwards!


Interesting note was that I couldn't find any later than 2014 that I thought were really exceptional. A lot of quite nice ones, but nothing that would trouble the list in my opinion. Anyone think of some that I've missed?

Puja

Cohen vs Ireland 2002 for me. I love watching some of the old stuff.

That Ashton try against Aus was quality. And not just because I was there.

I was at Twickers for this in 2000 too, which was pretty epic.


Sackey's try vs Argentina in 2006 was excellent, but more individual brilliance than team interplay. Same for Balshaw in that game

Peej wrote:That Ashton try against Aus was quality. And not just because I was there.

I was at Twickers for this in 2000 too, which was pretty epic.

Sackey's try vs Argentina in 2006 was excellent, but more individual brilliance than team interplay. Same for Balshaw in that game

Me too on the Ashton vs Australia try! Jealous of you on the Luger try though - wouldn't've said it was a great try, but certainly one of the most important in the development of the English game.

I had entirely forgotten both of the tries against Argentina and you're right, they are quality. Two shining moments in an awful game though. On a side note, I still miss Shaun Perry - that pass is glorious and I don't care if he couldn't do anything else.

Puja

The one I like the most is the Cohen team effort vs Ireland, but the most important in that lot might be Luger against Australia. There was a really nice strike move try scored against Australia under Robinson by Cueto (I think)

Digby wrote:The one I like the most is the Cohen team effort vs Ireland, but the most important in that lot might be Luger against Australia. There was a really nice strike move try scored against Australia under Robinson by Cueto (I think)

This one?



I did consider it for the list, but came to the conclusion that, while it was very nice for Robinson's era, all that was needed to breach that bar was to be vaguely precise for once, and it wasn't actually that great a try in the overall scheme of things.

Incidentally, I keep a youtube channel almost exclusively for putting up video that I use to illustrate points on here, but because a lot of that is tries from the pre-youtube days, I do actually have a reasonable number of followers. Not entirely sure why - I don't often add content, so it's not the kind of thing that you'd sign up to for regular updates, but clearly there are rugby nerds out there waiting to see if I'll add anything else from my collection of 18 year old .avi files and they're getting a treat tonight from me adding things to put on this thread.

Puja

It’s quite an enjoyable throwback sometimes. Big shirts, people tackling eachother in the face, marvelling again at players that never were like JSD and Allen, England running moves that aren’t just a sequence of screen passes behind a dummy runner. I’d forgotten there were even other options in attack.

Puja wrote:

Digby wrote:The one I like the most is the Cohen team effort vs Ireland, but the most important in that lot might be Luger against Australia. There was a really nice strike move try scored against Australia under Robinson by Cueto (I think)

This one?



I did consider it for the list, but came to the conclusion that, while it was very nice for Robinson's era, all that was needed to breach that bar was to be vaguely precise for once, and it wasn't actually that great a try in the overall scheme of things.

Incidentally, I keep a youtube channel almost exclusively for putting up video that I use to illustrate points on here, but because a lot of that is tries from the pre-youtube days, I do actually have a reasonable number of followers. Not entirely sure why - I don't often add content, so it's not the kind of thing that you'd sign up to for regular updates, but clearly there are rugby nerds out there waiting to see if I'll add anything else from my collection of 18 year old .avi files and they're getting a treat tonight from me adding things to put on this thread.

Puja

That's it. Very good use of space, and I like how we manipulate the Aussie 12 and 13, it's much better than just the ball going down the line

Finally an opportunity to use Farrell's fantastic left to right pass.

I see in the 2006 Argentina match that dire box-kicks, needless penalties and throwing interception passes are not new England skills ...

Cueto vs SA in 2007....

I remember a Delon Armitage try when Cueto volley punted the ball up the field. That was interesting if nothing else.

Jonny May’s individual try against the AB’s from 2014 was pretty special.

Timbo wrote:I remember a Delon Armitage try when Cueto volley punted the ball up the field. That was interesting if nothing else.

Jonny May’s individual try against the AB’s from 2014 was pretty special.

Shit the bed was that really 5 years ago?

Puja wrote:

Peej wrote:That Ashton try against Aus was quality. And not just because I was there.

I was at Twickers for this in 2000 too, which was pretty epic.

Sackey's try vs Argentina in 2006 was excellent, but more individual brilliance than team interplay. Same for Balshaw in that game

Me too on the Ashton vs Australia try! Jealous of you on the Luger try though - wouldn't've said it was a great try, but certainly one of the most important in the development of the English game.

I had entirely forgotten both of the tries against Argentina and you're right, they are quality. Two shining moments in an awful game though. On a side note, I still miss Shaun Perry - that pass is glorious and I don't care if he couldn't do anything else.

Puja

You're right, Balshaw's kick ahead was proper ugly, and it was a very lucky bounce. Jonny's touchline conversion, then dance up the sideline, was glorious

Puja wrote:Ashton vs Australia 2010


Ashton vs New Zealand 2012


May vs New Zealand 2014




Also worth noting is this video of Wilkinson taking Ireland apart in 2002 for the next time someone says he was just a boot.


And also this one from Steve Thompson in an England Legends game - fully 80m and he had oxygen and a pint afterwards!


Interesting note was that I couldn't find any later than 2014 that I thought were really exceptional. A lot of quite nice ones, but nothing that would trouble the list in my opinion. Anyone think of some that I've missed?

Puja

2002 Ireland game arguably the best England performance of the modern era.

richy678 wrote:

Puja wrote:Ashton vs Australia 2010


Ashton vs New Zealand 2012


May vs New Zealand 2014




Also worth noting is this video of Wilkinson taking Ireland apart in 2002 for the next time someone says he was just a boot.


And also this one from Steve Thompson in an England Legends game - fully 80m and he had oxygen and a pint afterwards!


Interesting note was that I couldn't find any later than 2014 that I thought were really exceptional. A lot of quite nice ones, but nothing that would trouble the list in my opinion. Anyone think of some that I've missed?

Puja

2002 Ireland game arguably the best England performance of the modern era.

2003 I think?

Banquo wrote:

richy678 wrote:

Puja wrote:Ashton vs Australia 2010


Ashton vs New Zealand 2012


May vs New Zealand 2014




Also worth noting is this video of Wilkinson taking Ireland apart in 2002 for the next time someone says he was just a boot.


And also this one from Steve Thompson in an England Legends game - fully 80m and he had oxygen and a pint afterwards!


Interesting note was that I couldn't find any later than 2014 that I thought were really exceptional. A lot of quite nice ones, but nothing that would trouble the list in my opinion. Anyone think of some that I've missed?

Puja

2002 Ireland game arguably the best England performance of the modern era.

2003 I think?

Both 2002 and 2003 were beautiful destructions of Ireland, but I agree with Richy that 2002 was better. That masterclass by Wilkinson at 10 and the try from Cohen would sell it on its own.

I'd say the best performance was 13-15 against New Zealand in 2003. Wasn't pretty, but in terms of the quality of opposition, pressure, and sheer execution under duress, I don't think it can be beaten.

Puja wrote:

Banquo wrote:

richy678 wrote:
2002 Ireland game arguably the best England performance of the modern era.

2003 I think?

Both 2002 and 2003 were beautiful destructions of Ireland, but I agree with Richy that 2002 was better. That masterclass by Wilkinson at 10 and the try from Cohen would sell it on its own.

I'd say the best performance was 13-15 against New Zealand in 2003. Wasn't pretty, but in terms of the quality of opposition, pressure, and sheer execution under duress, I don't think it can be beaten.

Well I'd disagree; it was away, it was a GS decider, and it was near perfect all round in quite difficult conditions.

The NZ win was sheer resilience.

To be honest - I get mixed up between the games on 02 and 03 so I will give way to the honorable members.
I do pick those games as the best we've seen to date.
The 03 in NZ was so up there in context it also has to be accepted as huge.

The Dan Luger try against Oz was also massively significant in terms of England starting to be able to beat SH teams, as that was the context then - "You have to regularly beat SH teams".

The 2010 game and Ashtons try was remarkable. At the time I was moved to write on the old scrum.com site something like:
"Have we just won an open shoot out type game, against none other than Australia?".....under Johnson? With John Wells setting up the tedious, tedious pod after pod, dont pass the ball from base until the next 3 pods are in place stuff?

Banquo wrote:

Puja wrote:

Banquo wrote: 2003 I think?

Both 2002 and 2003 were beautiful destructions of Ireland, but I agree with Richy that 2002 was better. That masterclass by Wilkinson at 10 and the try from Cohen would sell it on its own.

I'd say the best performance was 13-15 against New Zealand in 2003. Wasn't pretty, but in terms of the quality of opposition, pressure, and sheer execution under duress, I don't think it can be beaten.

Well I'd disagree; it was away, it was a GS decider, and it was near perfect all round in quite difficult conditions.

The NZ win was sheer resilience.

That NZ away win also saw some truly inept execution, in passing and kicking, but NZ left lots of points out there and an excellent rearguard action nicked the win

Peej wrote:That Ashton try against Aus was quality. And not just because I was there.

I was at Twickers for this in 2000 too, which was pretty epic.


Sackey's try vs Argentina in 2006 was excellent, but more individual brilliance than team interplay. Same for Balshaw in that game

I'd only just moved to Oz when Luger scored in the last few moments v Australia. The early days here were tough having left behind friends and family but Dan's try had me elated for weeks. I clearly remember protests in Australia at the time that the TMO was English. In actual fact, he was Irish.

Robinson vs France in 2002.The distillation of the threat of Jason Robinson in ten seconds- 3 defenders notionally in a position to tackle him, changes direction in mid air, scores under the sticks without a hand laid on him.