What's the best game you've been to?

[meast]

Far, far too many to mention.

Recently, though England v Samoa at Arsenal, was an absolute joy to attend.

I was at that Wakey v Fev game as a neutral.

[Gerrumonside ref]

- GB vs Aus at Wembley (we only needed 12 men!) 1994

- Saints dramatic win in the World Club Championship versus Brisbane Broncos in the wintry conditions at the Reebok

- Saints 75-0 Wigan

 

[Keep The Faith]

1 hour ago, daz39 said:

I'd hazard a guess at either London or Bramley?

London broncos, 

they did it midweek 

 

 

[meast]

6 hours ago, Keep The Faith said:

 

 

Only 3 teams won at keighley in 1994/95 season Batley, Huddersfield and which other club?

Seem to remember Either St Helens or Warrington playing them in one of the cups, could be wrong though   

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

1 hour ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

1/Vegas Baby both matches 

2/ Broncos v Raiders 1997

3/ GBv France April 1990

4/ Ile Sur Tet v Lescure May 2023

5/ Peckham v Ealing London Cup Final 1981 (I think) wasn't selected :(((((((

Disappointingly parochial range of choices, Paul.  Couldn't you spread the net a bit geographically wider?

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

From my initial introduction to TGG in the early 1960s, Wigan -v- St Helens, Challenge Cup, 2nd round, at Central Park, on Saturday, 27th February, 1965.  A great contest before over 39,000.  Only one try, when Brian McTigue slipped a gem of a short pass to Roy Evans who galloped about 45 yards to touch down under the sticks.  7-2 to Wigan who went on to beat Workington Town, Swinton and Hunslet to take the cup.

Nowadays, I very rarely get to see live games, so from more recent times, the gem has to be seeing Les Dracs beat Warrington at Wembley in the 2018 cup final.  There was a moment, well into the second half, when yet more Wire pressure led to a kick on the last dropping down just under the Catalans' posts.  Remi Casty jumped and took it cleanly and with an amazing look of determination on his face, which I will never forget.  I knew then that we would win.

A highlight before the match had been in a bar near the Wembley ground where a middle-aged Wire supporter, looked at me in my Dracs' replica shirt of about two seasons before and said, very deliberately, "Do-you-speak-English?"  "Yes, I do, thanks", I said in my best Queen's English, and we had an amicable conversation about why a Brit would support a French team.  When I pointed out that, in my youth, I had been an out-and-out cherry-and-whites' fan, I think she thought Catalans Dragons was something of an improvement on that!

[bobbruce]

9 hours ago, Andy JG said:

1978 Challenge Cup Final Leeds v St Helens.. my first wembley, a truly brilliant game in front of 96,000 , in the balance until the final hooter, and having watched it again numerous times , it stands comparison with any of the more modern day classics.

 

. 

 

 

And all Noonan had to do was catch the ball. 

[Keep The Faith]

2 hours ago, meast said:

Seem to remember Either St Helens or Warrington playing them in one of the cups, could be wrong though   

Actually Warrington did in the regal trophy 

but I was on about the same league teams… 

 

[Gooleboy]

Many Featherstone cup upsets down the years and Wembley appearances, especially the 3rd round win at Warrington in 73. Too many to mention involving other clubs, one that sticks in the memory is Dewsbury upsetting Leeds in the Championship Final. Many great international games, but that Australia v NZ WC semi final at Elland Road was brilliant. But my first Wembley Final was very special, Hunslet v Wigan, what a match that was!

[Snowys Backside]

1 - Wigan v Manly 87

2 - Leigh beating Warrington 17-10 at Wilderspool in the same season to stay up

3 - Championship Final. Leigh 16 Whitehaven 16 2004 with Leigh blitzing Haven in extra time 16-0. 
 

4 - Last years Challenge cup final but I was on Holiday

[Tex Evans Thigh]

From a pure quality of game perspective the 2013 semi final. I was absolutely gutted but felt privileged to have been there and witnessed it.

Personal level Fev beating Wigan in '93 will stay with me forever and was the game where I really realized the magic of sport. Shame we're trying our best to kill those moments as a sport but hey ho.

Fev v Cas 2012 

Randomly I was at the 2004 3 or 4 nations game between Aus and NZ with about 10k fans there when NZ turned them over. I absolutely loved that game for a multitude of reasons. It wont rank high on any list but in terms of games I've been to personally, that was great.

[George Watt]

Best game in Aus...... GB beating Aus in the third Test at the SCG in 1970 to win the Ashes Series 2-1. The last occasion GB won the Ashes.

Best game in England.... Wigan v Hull at Wembley in 1985. Came from Aus to see the Kenny/ Stirling match up.

[Derwent]

26th June 1992, Princes Park Melbourne, Australia 10 GB 33. Doesn’t get any better than that.

[Rowan]

As an oldie,  far too many to remember but for sheer joy the 1992 Test in Melbourne when GB beat the Aussies33-10. Brilliant performance - 8,000 travelling GB fans in the rain-sodden crowd. Dave Hadfield's comment to the guy who played Jim Robinson in Neighbours summed it up: "This is more unbelievable than any of your Neighbours scripts."

At home I would go for the 1985 Challenge Cup Final

[JonM]

Thinking some more about this, I'd also add Oldham v Featherstone in the 2nd division Premiership Final at Old Trafford. Oldham 22 - 0 up, then Rovers then staged a brilliant fight back to lead 26 - 22, only for Des Foy to find a gap from nowhere and pass it to the support to level the scores. Easy kick to win, but the Oldham player scuffed it and it just scraped over the bar. Remember that much more clearly than Widnes beating Hull (or Bradford, I forget which year it was) straight afterwards. 

Saints v Bradford 19-18 in the 2002(?) Grand Final was another cracker.

 

[Chris22]

I could spend all day thinking about this. But my instinctive answer was the GB v Australia test match at the JJB in 2003. It's remembered for the Adrian Morley red card but was a brilliant game aside from that.

[sam4731]

That one.

[doc]

Wales v Western Samoa @ Vetch Field Swansea, 1995 World Cup. 

[Aerosaint]

Wigan v Penrith 2024. I was trying to convince the family  how great Rugby League is, so we travelled up from Herts...  The stars aligned - the look on the kids faces when NO TRY was shown at the end was beautiful... my wife also enjoyed the Panthers warming up 10 yards from our seat! They're hooked now.

[gingerjon]

10 hours ago, doc said:

Wales v Western Samoa @ Vetch Field Swansea, 1995 World Cup. 

That would probably count as the best atmosphere I've ever been involved with whilst only watching on TV.

Student bar. Mix of English and Welsh. Only a handful of RL supporters. By the end, it felt like hundreds of people all entirely involved with the game.

[GeordieSaint]

2002 GF was amazing. WC SF in 2013. 1999 GF was something else too. 

This is too hard… simply too many great games.

[Andy JG]

On 27/03/2024 at 23:28, Snowys Backside said:

1 - Wigan v Manly 87

2 - Leigh beating Warrington 17-10 at Wilderspool in the same season to stay up

3 - Championship Final. Leigh 16 Whitehaven 16 2004 with Leigh blitzing Haven in extra time 16-0. 
 

4 - Last years Challenge cup final but I was on Holiday

Your 2nd game was brilliant..... last game of the season...lose and get relegated, win and stay up...

 

WARRINGTON 10		–	17 LEIGH
Match URL	www.rugbyleagueproject.org/matches/16889
Status	Completed
Date	Monday, 20th April, 1987
Referee	Ray Tennant (Castleford)
Venue	Wilderspool (Warrington)
Crowd	4,829
WARRINGTON	SCORESHEET			LEIGH
Keith HOLDEN		T	2	John HENDERSON
Paul BISHOP	3	G	4	Chris JOHNSON
		FG		Milton HUDDART
WARRINGTON	TEAMS			LEIGH
Brian JOHNSON	1	FB	1	Chris JOHNSON
Des DRUMMOND	2	W	2	Neil McCULLOCH
Joe ROPATI	3	C	3	John HENDERSON
Ronnie DUANE	4	C	4	James LEULUAI
Mark FORSTER	5	W	5	John KERR
Keith HOLDEN	6	FE	6	Michael DAVIS
Paul BISHOP	7	HB	7	Mike FORD
Bob ECCLES	8	FR	8	David EVANS
Mark ROSKELL	9	HK	9	Gary HUGHES
Robert JACKSON	10	FR	10	Darren RAMSDALE
Alan RATHBONE	11	2R	11	Derek PYKE
Tony HUMPHRIES	12	2R	12	Milton HUDDART
Andy MOSSOP	13	L	13	Tony COTTRELL
		B	14	Phil JOHNSON
Mark ROBERTS	15	B	15	Andy COLLIER
Tony BARROW		HC		Billy BENYON

 

From memory we were getting beat 10-8 more or less on the 80th minute....i think we win a scrum ball, and Leuluai puts John Henderson in for a try...cue bedlam in the Leigh end...converted by Chris Johnson, and from the kick off Warrington kicked it out on the full , Johnson kicked the penalty from the half way line and the hooter went. Amazing.

Leigh were dead and buried that season but won 8/10 of their last league matches. A surprising home defeat to Salford left us needing to win last 2, both away at Oldham and Warrington.. we hammered Oldham by 50 odd , leading to the Easter Monday at Wildespool.

What a great memory your post triggered !!       

[bobbruce]

1/ Saints v Hull KR premiership final Meninga at his best. 
 

2/ Wigan v Manly WCC 87

 

3/ Saints v Bradford CC final 96 finally getting to see them win the CC cup. I was too young to go in 76 but did go to see us lose in 78,87,89 and 91. Plus plenty of quarter and semi final defeats. 

[Snowys Backside]

3 hours ago, Andy JG said:

Your 2nd game was brilliant..... last game of the season...lose and get relegated, win and stay up...

 

WARRINGTON 10		–	17 LEIGH
Match URL	www.rugbyleagueproject.org/matches/16889
Status	Completed
Date	Monday, 20th April, 1987
Referee	Ray Tennant (Castleford)
Venue	Wilderspool (Warrington)
Crowd	4,829
WARRINGTON	SCORESHEET			LEIGH
Keith HOLDEN		T	2	John HENDERSON
Paul BISHOP	3	G	4	Chris JOHNSON
		FG		Milton HUDDART
WARRINGTON	TEAMS			LEIGH
Brian JOHNSON	1	FB	1	Chris JOHNSON
Des DRUMMOND	2	W	2	Neil McCULLOCH
Joe ROPATI	3	C	3	John HENDERSON
Ronnie DUANE	4	C	4	James LEULUAI
Mark FORSTER	5	W	5	John KERR
Keith HOLDEN	6	FE	6	Michael DAVIS
Paul BISHOP	7	HB	7	Mike FORD
Bob ECCLES	8	FR	8	David EVANS
Mark ROSKELL	9	HK	9	Gary HUGHES
Robert JACKSON	10	FR	10	Darren RAMSDALE
Alan RATHBONE	11	2R	11	Derek PYKE
Tony HUMPHRIES	12	2R	12	Milton HUDDART
Andy MOSSOP	13	L	13	Tony COTTRELL
		B	14	Phil JOHNSON
Mark ROBERTS	15	B	15	Andy COLLIER
Tony BARROW		HC		Billy BENYON

 

From memory we were getting beat 10-8 more or less on the 80th minute....i think we win a scrum ball, and Leuluai puts John Henderson in for a try...cue bedlam in the Leigh end...converted by Chris Johnson, and from the kick off Warrington kicked it out on the full , Johnson kicked the penalty from the half way line and the hooter went. Amazing.

Leigh were dead and buried that season but won 8/10 of their last league matches. A surprising home defeat to Salford left us needing to win last 2, both away at Oldham and Warrington.. we hammered Oldham by 50 odd , leading to the Easter Monday at Wildespool.

What a great memory your post triggered !!       

A 13 year old catching the 593 and 19 Buses to Warrington with a group of other kids. 
 

That wouldn’t happen today for sure but yes, a fantastic game and the Railway end in the second half went absolutely mad. That second try came from a scrum against the head too !

[Andy JG]

5 minutes ago, Snowys Backside said:

A 13 year old catching the 593 and 19 Buses to Warrington with a group of other kids. 
 

That wouldn’t happen today for sure but yes, a fantastic game and the Railway end in the second half went absolutely mad. That second try came from a scrum against the head too !

My memory is that we were deep in our own half and Phil Johnson launched either a penalty to touch or a touchfinder,  wind assisted, which set up the position for the said scrum from which we scored.

I used to own both the Oldham and Warrington games on VHS, but have become lost in house moves etc...