What's the greatest piece of individual skill you have done on a rugby pitch?

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What's the greatest piece of individual skill you have done on a rugby pitch?

It can be in training or a match. Can be an awesome pass or a try saving tackle? Can be a side step or an audacious drop goal let everyone know. Describe it. toot your own flute!!

Mine (and I've decided I'm having two ) the first was my second ever game and I was starting on the wing. Caught the clearance kick right on the touchline took the ball up a bit then stepped outside the first defender in about 2m of space then gased it stepped inside another then was tackled but managed to offload the ball.

Other one was tip in training. I was scrumhalf had a 2m blindside with our winger on it. They had one guy behind the "ruck" so knew we couldn't go blindside normally in 2m of space. Picked the ball and went openside ran a few steps then blindly flicked the ball blind behind me to the winger who scored the try.

Who's got a good one?

I was (am) a prop by the way.

excuses glas, it was irritating as i knew i was on the back foot its just my acceleration is quite good so the ref was shocked i guess

A la Gavin Thomas intercetimg the scrum half's pass off a line out then.

Lads, these are priceless memories thanks for sharing!

Any other stellar moments?

Can't believe I just wrote the word Stellar

I remember coming up to some poor unfortunate front five player and dummied the step twice and the guy plain and simply fell over and I ran past!

When i was a youngster coming through the second XV, the captain was a hard lad, who liked a fight and played full back. He was also a couple of spanners short of a tool set and not a great player!

During one game their fly half kicked to touch from a penalty and Pete was in position on the touchline. He underestimated the length of the kick and found himself backpedalling to try and keep it in. At the last minute he realised he wouldn't reach it with the hands, so attempted the overhead bicycle kick clearance!! Needless to say he missed it by miles and landed at the feet of the crowd (10 people, was a big game!) in a heap and nursing his shoulder. Best thing about it was after everyone had recovered from the laughter, the ref included, you could hear his mum, 'pete, what were you doing you idiot, you nearly took me out and you missed the ball' rinsed by your own mother, all respect from the younger players out the window.

Another i remember was our big brusing lock getting injured during training and breaking his arm. During a ruck, no. Putting in a big hit, no. During the run to the posts and back warm up, someone tap tackled him for a laugh, he fell to the ground and his arm just broke!! 8 weeks in a cast and a lifetime of being called soft!

Enrico Januarie against New Zealand in 2008, Duneden, assess, chip kick, gather, score.

Win the game.

Are you Ricky Januarie?

No, and to be honest not a great fan of him either.

What's your moment of glory so Biltong?

Well as a prop your moments of glory are unfortunately not really often wtih ball in hand.

So I would say my biggest goal on the rugby pitch was actually trying to tackle these little quick buggers who always tried to run away from me.

But there was one moment of glorious individual brilliance with ball in hand. We were attacking in the opposition 22 and I collected the ball at the back of the ruck, sidestepped ( yes, they all expected me to run straight) and then once beaten the tackler, I offloaded a BEEEEaaauty, wide out and the wing scored.

May not be much, but for me to side step and offload in one movement is pretty darn special.

Unfortunately I often left my best stuff on the training pitch but here's one I can remember:

I was 15 and hadn't played rugby for a while due to losing interest after our medallion year. Anyway we're playing a match in training in front of our schools 1st XV coach who hasn't really seen me play before.

With my 1st touch of the ball I dummy through a gap, then in front of me I'm one on one with this guy who's the coaches new golden boy, our 1stXV no8/winger (and still a good player today)... so anyway I know he's bigger, stronger and faster than me so I stop dead and so does he ...I throw a dummy to noone(because we're one on one) which he buys..then I sprint past him and dive in to score just before he can catch me. The coach and everyone is laughing because he was really shown up....

Anyway a bit later in the game the same guy gets the ball and is running up the wing, straight at me...now this guy is a foot taller than me and a few stone heavier and very fast... the coach shouts to him "go on son spread those big legs"...so he comes steaming at me expecting to run over the top of me and get his own back ...but I stop him dean in tracks and lift him off his feet and dump him into touch! I was always a good tackler but hadn't played in a while and clearly his guy had underestimated me and was used to running over the top of people Lomu style.

Twice I'd shown the guy up in front of the coach, who'd though he was the best thing since sliced bread, whereas to him I was a relatively unknown small kid even though I'd played in our medallion team the previous year. It was only training but I remember it really rekindled my love for rugby as I was drifting away from the game at the time.

roddersm wrote:Unfortunately I often left my best stuff on the training pitch but here's one I can remember:

I was 15 and hadn't played rugby for a while due to losing interest after our medallion year. Anyway we're playing a match in training in front of our schools 1st XV coach who hasn't really seen me play before.

With my 1st touch of the ball I dummy through a gap, then in front of me I'm one on one with this guy who's the coaches new golden boy, our 1stXV no8/winger (and still a good player today)... so anyway I know he's bigger, stronger and faster than me so I stop dead and so does he ...I throw a dummy to noone(because we're one on one) which he buys..then I sprint past him and dive in to score just before he can catch me. The coach and everyone is laughing because he was really shown up....

Anyway a bit later in the game the same guy gets the ball and is running up the wing, straight at me...now this guy is a foot taller than me and a few stone heavier and very fast... the coach shouts to him "go on son spread those big legs"...so he comes steaming at me expecting to run over the top of me and get his own back ...but I stop him dean in tracks and lift him off his feet and dump him into touch! I was always a good tackler but hadn't played in a while and clearly his guy had underestimated me and was used to running over the top of people Lomu style.

Twice I'd shown the guy up in front of the coach, who'd though he was the best thing since sliced bread, whereas to him I was a relatively unknown small kid even though I'd played in our medallion team the previous year. It was only training but I remember it really rekindled my love for rugby as I was drifting away from the game at the time.

That's awesome!!!
I can remember something similar happened to me in my first ever game.

I was 21 and it was my first ever rugby game and I was playing fullback against...wait for it....Millmount Prision gaurds!

Needless to say they were a bunch of gigantic, meatheads who just wanted to run over this student team in their way.

Anyway midway through the first half their big ball carrying 12 breaks our line and is one on one with me, he has no one to pass to so I know he's gonna try and beat me. I am 5'7" and was about 10.5 stone. His dimensions were considerably more impressive and this was the first time I'd had to tackle someone in a real game.....and I got him!! The feeling of elation was unparalleled. He tried to run over me and I got hold of his knees and let him fall over me as such!!

Then later we were on our own line and somehow I ended up being the pillar defence. I could see the 6 look at the ball then survey the options to the other side of the ruck then bak to ball then up at me and when he saw me he picked it up and drove for the line less than 1m infront of him! Somehow I managed to hold him up and we went on to win the game because of my two tackles!!!!!!

Playing centre for the first time I got smashed a couple of times as I wasn't used to the speed of the defensive line combined with the weekest passing 10 in history. Made me a target all afternoon. Close to the opponents try line I get hospital pass no. 572 and get smashed to pieces, but I knew what was coming so as the ball came to me I just pushed it along with the tip of my index finger to our full back who was on my shoulder. Me and him were the only ones who knew what happened and even the ref didn't know whether to award a try as he thought it must have been knocked on. A little chat with the touch judge though and try awarded. I feel all fuzzy inside just thinking about it.

Was playing fullback and caught a long clearance in our own half, the lighting fast winger from the oppo was bearing down at speed, then I produce a gaelic football "dummy solo" which the winger went diving for, was in abit of shock as the sideline went mad, as I live in England not many people have seen this trick, started the counter attack!

Funny thing is, I have played gaelic football for 20 years and never even thought about attempting it during a match!

Peter-

I find that is really effective when playing tag especially against the girls cause they end up blocking their faces and not seeing you run by!

not so much a monet of glory for this one, but a moment to remember, in training one time we were doing two on ones, and i was defending, one of the lads against me was about the same height and a bit heavier than but more musculare, and i stopped stupidly preparing to tackle him and well he ran full on into me and i dislocated my shoulder....

but i had the last laugh he found out he had fractured his in the process aswell.


Pete whats a "dummy solo" if i may ask?

welshy824 wrote:

Pete whats a "dummy solo" if i may ask?

I think it is like a pirouetter, only you stand still.

ah ok, i am simple forward

The best, tackling a fly half on his own 22, picking him up and marching him back 10m with by then all sorts of cover hanging on to him trying to ground him. Ripping the ball away and tearing off around the side to score. More brute strength than skill but my favourite try, most of mine tended to be talking the ball on the burst from 5 m out.

The worst; I have to set the scene. I am a very large back rower, for the seventies anyway, 16+ stone at colt level. The club I played for had a third pitch, it was where the circus camped when they were in town, because of the bottom corner it was known as the elephant pitch, even when it was dry the pitch stank.

I wore glasses normally, blind as a bat without them; soft contacts were not available in those days., so it was a blurry world in which I played rugby. It was not dry it was typical filthy cold wet and windy February day, lashing rain, strong winds and just above freezing.

We were in the last few minutes, down by a couple of points. As a good no. 8 should, I was corner flagging anticipating the kick through which duly came. I caught the ball and started to make my way up field. Having little support I had to run infield to try and find some. Amazingly the opposition cover did not seem to be where they should be and a great gap appeared in front of me. Like a true cab horse I went for it, the first opposition I encountered was their fullback on their 22. I just put my shoulder down and went straight through him, knocking him back into the morass of elephant dung that was called a rugby pitch. Absolutely knackered I saw the line and did my best pre -impression of a Chris Ashton swallow dive.

I couldn’t understand why everyone was piling in on top of me, it couldn’t be congratulations. You guessed it, being half blind, knackered on a churned up patch of elephant dung, the line I had seen was the 5m line.

I was never allowed to forget it as it was our only loss all season.

During my teens I was somewhat of the pace due to carrying too much puppy fat (thats what my mum says), Whilst trying to catch up with the game in the opponents 22 the ball was stolen by the opposition and kicked towards myself and the asthmatic, lame and fat kids who had just made it into their half, not wanting to run the ball back I decided to drop kick it and to my amazement it went sailing through the posts due to a nice tail wind, never in all my years since have I kicked a ball so well (better than Wilkinsons in 2003), I remember that my PE teacher wasn't happy as he said I should have been up field trying to secure the ball in the first place.

welshy824 wrote:
Pete whats a "dummy solo" if i may ask?

Basically you shape to kick the ball as if you are clearing it, but instead of smashing it down the field at the last moment, when the ball is at your foot and the defender has dived for the block, kick it back into your hands.

Not the best description!

ah cool, i have noticed alot of the stories here involve people nailing somebody who thinks they are going to replicate the mike catt door matt and Lumo... I do love that feeling when you stop them dead in their tracks and basically tell them to sit back down, in a not so polite manner

Back in 2004 I had a fractured lumbar vertebrae repaired. Then in 2009 I had ACDF (neck) surgery. So, I now have rods and screws in my lower back and neck, and frankly thought my playing days were good and over. But, a year later I was back on the pitch. Early in my first match back I was able to grub through the defense, pick up the ball and off load to a mate for a try. I was in shock that:
1. I still knew what I was doing
2. I was able to spot a crease in the defense
3. I was still quick enough to exploit the crease in the defense
4. I was able to do something which never really worked for me before the surgery
5. I played the whole match
6. I survived the party afterwards (my greatest achievement).

I once punched Gareth Cooper when we were teenagers on the pitch does that count?

Or perhaps one of the rare times i managed to scoop the ball up of the turf one handed while at full pelt. It also went wrong on occasions.

worst piece of skill i did was i charged down a kick from the 10 BUT i left my face exposed so it full on whacked me in the face and as i went to put my hands to my face the ball appeard in them i fell over anyway being slightly dazed, but we recycled posession and i believe we scored from it =)

I remember from a line out straight from kick off, about our 22, our fly half called a miss move to me on the left wing. Missed our two centres and hit me on a curve around the wing and full back. A minor miracle that I caught the 30 metre pass and had the wit to take the right line. Was punctured for the next 20 mins though!

Wasn't a great skill but I came off the bench in the dying minutes of a U15 city cup semi final we were losing by a close margin. Opposition had a lineout and just needed to kick out the ball to win. They won the lineout scrappily and I wrapped my arms around the guy who won it preventing him giving it to scrumhalf. They set up a maul and shoved us back 5m. However even though the maul went backwards, I went forwards and took the ball with me

Made a 10m dash before getting tackled. 2 phases later we scored a winner in the corner (lost in the final).

Training this season, playing touch, last try wins, get the ball 7 metres off the line, defence (winger and 10) coming across. Dummy to the chap on the wing, stepping off my left as I do so, beating the winger, then step off the left again immediatly after, beating the ten, then slide along the ground tos core a truly fantastic try. All the from a 16 stone fatty. Also, there was the time in another game of touch that I got the ball as in midfield, but had nobody outside me, against three defenders, running somewhat sideways to begin with, I stuttered my run, then pushed off the right, breaking through the gap made without having a hand layed on me, thena casual 30 metre sprint to the line. As far as anything actually skillful goes I think that making a kick form halfway on London Welsh's first pitch a few years back was a good moment for me, and sort of helped me think I'm alright at rugby, added points for my wearing of skinny jeans and converse at the time of said kick..If only I could do these things in a game, but alas, I'm a prop, and never have the chances.

red_stag wrote:Wasn't a great skill but I came off the bench in the dying minutes of a U15 city cup semi final we were losing by a close margin. Opposition had a lineout and just needed to kick out the ball to win. They won the lineout scrappily and I wrapped my arms around the guy who won it preventing him giving it to scrumhalf. They set up a maul and shoved us back 5m. However even though the maul went backwards, I went forwards and took the ball with me

Made a 10m dash before getting tackled. 2 phases later we scored a winner in the corner (lost in the final).

Stag, that is where first class rugby let's the grass roots down. In first class rugby the drills for line out mean that it is most unlikely for a man entering the maul correctly stealing ball in a maul, so at lower levels, nobody tries.

I once stopped a rolling maul by running straight into it's side, effectively knocking it over. Ok there were only 4 or 5 in it, but it stopped a try and I wasn't sent off.

As a prop, sprinting 25 metres to crash-tackle - textbook - the other side's star centre near their try line. It had something to do with a local women's hockey team, walking to their changing room and stopping to watch our game from behind the other side's dead ball line!

Getting the ball fairly deep at 2nd receiver with nothing really on, stepped to check the defense, showed a bit of a nothing dummy, took the ball to the line whilst whipping it behind my back 1 handed and chipping it over the defensive line off the back off my heel over my head and sprinting through catching it after 1 bounce then stepping the full-back coming across to score under the posts.