Rugby Shock upsets

Rugby-Shock-upsets

Top Shocks in the Rugby World In The Last 30 Years

Every so often in the sports world, you get some huge shock losses of the favourite team/competitor that not only completely upsets the general sports watching public, but the sports betting NZ public members too.

The loss of the South Africans to Japan, 32 – 34 in the 2015 World Cup pool stage was a stunning loss, but it’s not the most shocking loss, here are our top four upsets:

Number four:

France vs New Zealand 43 – 30 (1999)

This was the second in a row shock loss of the favourites in a World Cup, having lost to the South Africans in 1995.

The game:

The All Blacks were highly uncoordinated in their game, with the French trouncing the kiwis in a massive shock win. Though they started out strong and seem to dominate the first half, the French team came back in the second half and suddenly managed to score 26 points in 13 minutes, putting them ahead. The sudden scoring by the French seemed to complete stun the New Zealanders and they simply could not recover.

An amazing victory for the French underdogs.

Number three:

New Zealand vs South Africa 12 – 15 (1995)

This is the first shock loss of the Kiwis in a World Cup final, with the underdogs South Africa not really being considered as Champions. This is an emotional event for many South Africans as it had a great impact on the racial tensions in the country at the time.

The game:

South Africa’s line up was made up of average rugby players, but New Zealand had rugby players like Jonah Lomu, a rugby legend.  With New Zealand underestimating the South African, they may have taken it too easy, while the scrappy South Africans kept up and eventually defeated the All Blacks.

This shock win was a sweet victory for the South Africans, as a team and country that were then the underdogs

Number two:

Australia vs Wales 1987 21 – 22 (1987)

The Australians seemed to be despondent over their loss to France and did not put up any fight in this semi final match against Wales. But getting beaten by the Welsh, a much weaker team then them, was truly a poor showing by the Australians.

The game:

This 1987 World Cup semi final game was a tight match, with the Welsh winning by only a point but the lack of spirit by the Australians was obvious. And that is why their loss to Wales is more shocking then their loss to France earlier in the World Cup, a bit of a sulk seemed to be happening.

Number one:

Ireland vs Australia 15 – 6 (2011)

This shock loss by the 2011 World Cup favourites, Australia to the Irish was a massive shock. Especially as Ireland had not even previously managed to make it to a quarter final in the World Cup

The game:

The Irish put huge pressure on the Australians during the scrums and with the great performance by Johnny Sexton (kicking two penalties and a drop goal); the Irish did the unthinkable and upset the International rugby world by beating the Cup favourites.

This was and still is Ireland’s top performance in any World Cup to date, and possibly Australia’s most dismal performance to date.