Rugby's Most Violent Match of ALL TIME | Wales vs England 1987

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[@rugbydrive]

Go check out my second channel where I post the best shorts on KZbin! www.youtube.com/@rugbydriveshorts

[@robinwilson1433]

Good if only to hear Bill McLaren again - what a commentator!

[@stevetaylor8698]

They'll be dancing in the streets of auchtermuchty tonight.

[@robinwilson1433]

One of Bill's classic phrases - the man with the golden voice! - many thanks. I am pleased it is not only me who remembers him with affection.

[@kendothebarstad]

Paul Thornburn kick, Bill, he has a boot like a siege cannon. There will never a commentator like Bill.

[@robinwilson6405]

Indeed not!

[@colingeddes2172]

Bill mclaren was an absolute brilliant commentator. 1 of the best of all time.

[@markblakeut]

What a shock to see Rob Andrew ignore the overlap and go for the kick.

[@popeyedish]

🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@wobblertv8083]

God he was a hard watch ....Guscot hated playing outside him .

[@tobybarker6808]

best thing about this? Bill McLaren

[@bettyswunghole3310]

Yes! He was a class act!

[@glenoxman7904]

The best ever in my opinion.

[@steaks652]

Nothing good about guys putting there bodies on the line then, in a right old fashioned ding dong of a match.

[@dublinsfaircity]

Yes his commentary is top class.

[@caeserromero3013]

The good old days of accountants, insurance salesmen and middle managers at ICI knocking seven bells out of each other and then getting royally pissed up in the pub afterwards 😂

[@petereyre5188]

..and got pissed all together 😂😂

[@davidpenney2334]

The amount of high tackles the Welsh made was amazing and also using elbows and shoulders in the tackles.. Reckon half the team would if been sent off if it was 2022...amazing...

[@weloveroy]

You must had balls of steel to play rugby back at the 80s.

[@alanjones9775]

Just typical of an eighties Wales v England match. Reds and yellows in abundance if played today.

[@martya.5221]

Looking back at this as someone who played in that era, it was a better game - free flowing, fast and not blighted by the myriad rule changes which seem to make modern rugby more like American football. As for most violent match? That's just clickbait

[@joshuaduarte4505]

Completely disagree. The difference in standard here compared to now is huge

[@JONNYHOTROD]

WHAAAAAAAAAT ITS UNION ABSOLUTE BORING KICKING MESS!!!!!

[@peterwhent66]

I agree. Rugby is a brutefest now. It's all about bulk, straight running and attrition. Bring back the beautiful game.

[@billbonnington7916]

@@peterwhent66 get rid of all the substitutes, then the 130kg gym bunnies will have to learn to run for 80 minutes and lose an awful lot of weight.

[@cullyx2913]

Ah come on,old school rugby in England was a joke…..free flowing 👀 👀….French,Aussie and the mighty AB’s yes,but English rugby come on now.

[@peterwhent66]

I remember the game. The most violent part isn't shown in this video. In one of the early line outs there is a huge fight. Phil Davies had his cheekbone broken by Wade Dooley and another one of the Welsh players (can't remember who) got a broken nose. I think a bunch of England players were banned by the RFU for their part in it. Richard Hill had the captaincy taken from him. Weird that a video entitled "Rugby's Most Violent Match of ALL TIME" doesn't show the violence.

[@Lionboy2930]

Wade Dooley was a policeman at the time... lucky not to get sacked!!

[@petereyre5188]

He was lead copper at the miner's strikes! And paid overtime and free b&b! Glory days!!!

[@johnjkiwi7818]

Certainly there were lots of late tackles and off the ball incidents that today would warrant yellow or red cards but it was nowhere near as violent as the infamous 1971 Lions match versus Canterbury in NZ.

[@robertmiller2173]

Love to all from Christchurch, Canterbury, South Island of New Zealand!

[@thadtuiol1717]

I was at that game and what this doesn't show is how close we came to having the Hillsborough disaster two years early. The bottom tier was badly overcrowded, they were having to pull people out from the front and to the side because they were having breathing difficulties from the crush. I remember one young lad panicked and had thrown up, and a middle aged woman was crying and begging the St. John's guys to pull her out. It's only because rugby crowds are relatively better behaved than football fans that no one died that day. Stadium management in the 80s was a dangerous joke.

[@willytee585]

That was the era I played as well and one thing you notice is how heavy the pitches were even at international level ! Even my local club pitch is like a smoker table these days , what I would have given to play on a good surface , as a winger it was hard work to get moving in a quagmire lol !!

[@tobybarker6808]

Hardly the most violent...clickbait and I fell for it.

[@billbonnington7916]

they left out the nasty bits - Phil Davies was letting his hands go at a line out so Dooley bust his jaw - it was carnage

[@huwlangford2738]

I was there and something that wasn't broadcast was the crush in the bottom tier . It was scary we were pulling people out and it could have been fatal.

[@markbennett9787]

I went to that game, I remember driving from Dorset to Cardiff, it was snowing and on the car radio the dreadful news of the Herald of Free Enterprise ferry disaster was breaking. I remember that tragedy more than the game which was dire because of what the bad weather did to the playing surface.

[@robkane7186]

Herald Of Free Enterprise was the ship. One of my clients was on it.

[@peterscaife362]

I was at this game and I don’t remember it being particularly violent but then again I was in the stands not the pitch. My main memory is of my hub caps being stolen from my car in a car park! On my previous visit to Cardiff Arms Park, as it was then, in 1983 a Welshman behind me, obviously drunk, thought it quite amusing to urinate all over my trousers at the same time as I was trying to convince another Welshman that I didn’t drive to the match in my Rolls Royce! He was convinced I had!! I was only 20 something and I at first thought he was just having a laugh but after a bit I realised he was being serious. This person actually and genuinely thought I, as a 20 something year old, in cheap jeans, had a Rolls Royce. The mind boggles as to what brain washing about the English was done in Wales!

[@MOGGS1942]

No brainwashing needed, just the history books.

[@peterscaife362]

@@MOGGS1942 😂 Yes and obviously all down to me!

[@E171955]

I would argue that the 1980 game at Twickenham was just as, if not more , violent!

[@neilcarpenter2669]

Totally missed out the major punch up when Dooley broke Phil Davies's jaw , normally in those days England just rolled over but that was the first time in ages that they fought fire with fire and was probably the start of England becoming a proper team even though it took a change in management and Captain before they started winning regularly.

[@admiralbenbow5083]

The `87 RWC quarter final was what changed it for England. The penny finally dropped at the RFU.

[@philipmarsden7104]

His jaw was broken by a punch from behind from Dooley. His trademark because he really didn't like squaring up to people who were big enough to hit back. He seemed to be very careful with Stuart Evans....

[@terrystephens8603]

Fought fire with fire shithouse dooley ran and hit Daviesfrom behind like the Herdman he wasn't.

[@nealm4129]

I remember it brilliant!!

[@robkane7186]

The utterly cowardly elbow to Andrews head AFTER his kick

[@leechinnery2791]

Typical Wales,utter cowards....🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@MOGGS1942]

They didn't show Dooley's savage attack on a Welsh player at a throw in. Broke his jaw.

[@unekualconstruction1933]

I confess I'm new to actually watching rugby. Pretty much been a football (soccer) fan all my life, but I can't deny that it's sucked me in and I actually look forward to watching Premiership and Top14 games while I look after my newborn. However, looking at games now and looking at games then...I'm gonna stick with today's "rules". This is just a mess of a game. I don't know where to look, where the ball is, whether there's a foul or penalty being committed. Granted it's beautiful chaos, but chaos nonetheless. And the safety of the players is non-existent. So yes, it's much faster, athletic and "macho", but harder to watch, unsafe and garbled. I feel that it's every generation's job to sh!t on the new rules and reminisce on the old...just the way things are. 🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️

[@davekeating.]

What was the final score, and body count?

[@justsceptic3085]

old good days

[@pauledwards7340]

Violent ! You should of seen the Welsh local derbies between the local towns in the valleys .Pure violence even the crowds joined in !

[@geoffroberts201]

It was during this era that I stopped playing basically because of gratuitous off the ball violence. It’s a physical game but I got sick of off the ball punches and boots. Usually dished out by thugs who weren’t that good.

[@Bruce-1956]

I would think any game against South Africa is the most violent game of 'all time'.

[@jacquelinefox2632]

Missing the Scot pronounce. Legend.

[@Trajan2401]

Nowhere near mate the NZ Cavaliers v Natal match in1986 was far worse even some of the other NZ v SA encounters were worse miss the voice of rugby the late Bill McLaren

[@JSL2000]

Reflecting back, there were games in that era which were a disgrace to rugby and thugs went unpunished as "it was all part of the game". But, tbf, a good 95% of all players played within the spirit of the game at all times.

[@Erictheking07]

This game when Dooley a copper as well , breaks Phill Davies cheek bone I think , not In that clip I don't think.

[@andrewcavenagh9016]

Watch Keith Murdoch in Llanelli's famous win over the All Black's in 1972...

[@bongodrumzz]

At least both sides showed up :)

[@TheNewcastleKnight]

Best thing anit this. That commentators fantastic voice.

[@182Warren]

oh look at that a game involving wales and england with late tackles and a few off the ball incidents who would have thought

[@donallally5504]

You had to be able to mind yourself in those days in Rugby

[@jcreid774]

Music spoils the famous commentator

[@janwallace5005]

As Brian would say "handbags at dawn on the dance floor" now if you really want to see a proper punch up the Lions tours are always a good place to start, the tours of the 1970s were epic.

[@Fuzcapp]

2001: Lions v NSW in Sydney.

[@janwallace5005]

@@Fuzcapp I was thinking of the tours in the 70's lol

[@Fuzcapp]

@@janwallace5005 Yeah - Lions v NZ back in the 60s and 70s were pretty frantic. Lions v Sth Africa also. The match I referred to was the one with the infamous Duncan Mcrae send off. The Welsh tour of Australia - '78 or '79, I can't remember off hand - was the worst I've ever seen. The Brisbane and Sydney tests were insane. The 2001 Lions tour was similar.

[@djelalniyazi4090]

what was the score

[@pauldurkee4764]

There is a terrible irony in PC Wade Dooley committing assault against PC Phil Davies, which you don't actually see. I think some responsibility has to go to the press for hyping the whole situation, not a great advert for rugby.

[@geoffpoole483]

English and Welsh friends of mine went to this game and said it was one of the worst matches they'd seen.

[@pauldurkee4764]

@@geoffpoole483 I remember watching the game on TV, there was so much niggle and off the ball antics, the referee just couldn't get the game under control, definitely one to forget that one. As I mentioned there were quite a few police officers playing that day, Wade Dooley, Phil Davies, Steve Sutton, Richie Collins, not sure if Bleddyn Bowen was playing, that would have been 5 coppers!!!

[@jeffreywoodhead2682]

Don't forget Dean Richards and Inspector Paul Ackford weren't too far away even if not in that match. Scrum training was a proper lodge meeting...

[@geoffbanton4049]

Oh golly gosh! What a to-do

[@waverunner3911]

Then we went on to win the World Cup

[@jonk9697]

Not even the most violent match of the 80's.

[@anthonymoore1705]

thats the type of game i loved watching, modern rugby can't compete with this.

[@Ryan-vv2cd]

seen more Violence on Nickelodeon than that game.

[@JonYuill]

Why the soundtrack?

[@biggest23]

The “Battle of Nantes” between that infamously methed up French side and an All Blacks squad that fought against those mouth chewing, twitching zombies and their massively dilated pupils, needs a little looking at before this game can be described as the most violent of all time.

[@humesy69]

Sounds like you were on the paddock. Not much actual violence. Some very physical play (it's on KZbin). Lots of Kiwi allegation from that game. Nothing proven though.

[@biggest23]

@@humesy69 .......Buck Shelford had his scrotum torn in twain by Eric Champ, who deliberately targeted them while Shelford was trapped in the ruck. The interviews with every All Black regarding the obvious mental & chemical state of Les Frogs follow the same dark pattern. It's almost like science isn't Tigger, where you don't actually have to be present to become aware of the observations of those who were and the easily accessed video of the game. Unless of course you try to argue a point in the same face palming manner as an evolution denying, creationism believer.... which you've just employed, in the hope that it'll assist in portraying yourself as some brilliant point maker. yeah, it didn't because you have to deny the testimony of those who were on the pitch that day, to maintain a tale you need to be granted substance. Their testimony is worth a thousand snides from Captain Unearned - Smugness.

[@patrickoleary2862]

​@@humesy69As I recall Wayne "Buck" Shelford lost several teeth + required surgery to have a testicle relocated. So yeah, not much actual violence.

[@humesy69]

@patrickoleary2862 nothing against Buck but I'd say the WC semi final when he king hit the Welsh 2nd rower was more violent.

[@bibifricotin4051]

French championship, match Toulon- Begles 1991 : another world.

[@joeswift5296]

Suggest watching Dooley punching Phil Davies, he looked like he’d been hit by a tram!

[@KernowekTim]

The ABs vs France: 1986, in Brittany, at the Nantes stadium, was worse for violence than this game was, in my opinion.

[@johnhuwroberts7766]

Brilliant stuff.

[@colinmccarthy7921]

You get the same in Football.(That is Life).We cannot change it.

[@nickybutt9733]

Very very dirty from Jiffy on Andrew

[@muchopomposo.6394]

Was thinking the very same thing..!😂

[@glen6463]

Typical Andrew, had a back line outside him and put a shit kick in to the dead ball area. I still have flashbacks being bored to hell watching Andrew ruin a game of rugby and listening to Starmer-Smith eulogise about his ‘majestic’ talent.

[@thedalz5308]

When rugby was rugby, mud and guts!

[@yankorusev]

Pretty tame

[@Tehui1974]

I've seen way worse than this. France versus Australia in the 80s was brutal in a thug life way. There have been many others.

[@samccarthy75]

Absolutely. The title of the video is plain wrong.

[@admiralbenbow5083]

For the best part of 20 years England had been crap, really crap, and every second year they would get their asses handed to them big time at Cardiff. They were fed up with it. On the flip side was a Welsh team that had been a pale shadow of its 70s self for 6 years and was getting worse by the game. There was a kind of swapping of the guard here. A few of the players who would form part of some of the very strong teams of the 90s are playing here. The now long forgotten joke of the Anglo Welsh quarter final in the `87 RWC was what finally changed it for the English side, when the RFU finally woke up and pulled their finger out, if such a thing was possible. It took the WRU another 7/8 years before the penny dropped.

[@duanepipe5277]

Commentary has never been the same since the Scottish fella left

[@paulwoolerton664]

Nowhere near as violent as the “99” Lions tour of South Africa.

[@MusicLover88321]

lol this is brilliant

[@alansmith8195]

Most violent of all time???!!!

[@bobwatson5970]

I've seen more violence at Hull FC v Hull Kr games.

[@stevetaylor8698]

yes, those rainbow laces can really sting.

[@robertevans8010]

Dooley was a thug on and off the field. Rob Andrew was always a Ballerina with all the acting ability of a Block of cows manure.

[@ianh1263]

Did anyone throw a punch in that ?? Violent games have all in brawls, stomping and the odd elbow or five.

[@34gibus]

je ne vois rien dans ces images qui justifient le titre

[@billhooks69]

This is Rugby as it used to be. Nothing particularly violent to see here

[@matthewleslie4448]

Might be an idea not to edit out the violent bits? You've missed out quite a bit.

[@colinlawler6108]

Violent? No doubt. Most violent? Check out the Battle of Nantes. Buck Shelford's NZ vs France. Didn't see anyone having their scrotum in the England game here...

[@andrewgahan3568]

2023

[@nicolasdejager7845]

Looks pretty tame to me,nobody died.

[@tertiusstiemie]

What was great about those times is that they all had drinks at the reception afterwardsand laughed about all the violence o the field... One of the things that made rugby union the greatest game...

[@librapower7810]

No South Africa vs Lions 2nd test 2009 was way more, I can think of many more , bloody clickbaiter!

[@crespybenoit8313]

Maybe the infamous France - All Blacks 1986 in Nantes 😱, with Wayne Shelford losing teeth and a testicle, among other nasty injuries? Good old fashion rugby before it turns into a pro sport kzbin.info/www/bejne/n4aqgIGQiMaBg5o

[@TheDruzza]

Ahh the bakkies days

[@joshkarena3058]

This is RUGBY, not like what's played now days.

[@bontrent4521]

Whoever made this video has obviously never seen or heard about Llanelli vs The All Blacks 1972.

[@Fuzcapp]

1978 Wales v Australia in Brisbane - easily the most violent match I've ever seen. The Welsh centre that day was a lunatic. Second worst was Lions v NSW 2001 in Sydney. The Lions went out that day to maim potential test players. By the second half NSW had had enough and it was on. Just ask O'Gara.

[@christoduplessis8177]

As a South African I remember watching that NSW Lions game and I remember it veeu differently. NSW came to fight and the Lions tried to play rugby. I definitely wouldn't put anything at the feet of the Lions 😂😂😂 NSW just had fighting ideas that day!

[@Fuzcapp]

@@christoduplessis8177 Well I was at the game and one of my close friends was the cameraman who caught the footage (at ground level) of the McRae-OGara incident. The footage is cut awkwardly, but Ogara clearly ran at Mcrae and tried to take his head off with his elbow. That's what made McRae lose it after the entire game being full of illegalities.

[@christoduplessis8177]

@@Fuzcapp your story doesn't hold up. So you say the Lions tried to take out potential test players and this is best illustrated by them going after McRae, a guy who wasn't close to the Aus team. I remember NSW being so filthy that day that at some point they played with 12 players because they had 3 guys sent off with yellow and red cards for fighting 🙄

[@Fuzcapp]

@@christoduplessis8177 Right - so now you're going to misrepresent what I said. Yes - the Lions 100% went out there to maim players who were in line for test selection - that was going on all game and both sides plus the ref lost complete control of it. The incident on McRae was just part and parcel of 80 minutes worth of foul play, which, admittedly, NSW got suckered into - particularly McRae who by the time OGara tried to elbow his head off, had had enough of the continual foul, dangerous and probably actionable incidents that were not being properly controlled by the ref. A few guys got sin binned in the first half, but the entire game was a disgrace - without any doubt in my mind, started by the Lions forwards. The McRae incident was merely the tail end of a completely putrid game. I still want my money back! Also - you misrepresent the game - Lions players were also sin binned in the first half. I think Mcrae was the only player sent off.

[@christoduplessis8177]

@@Fuzcapp didn't misrepresent anything. At one point NSW played with 12 guys as they had 3 players sent off for throwing punches (McRae with a red and Brendon Cannon and some guy called Blades, can't remember his name) and even at the kickoff Bowman was sent off for an elbow the Grewcock's head (which even in 2001 should have been a red). McRae has said he lost it and it was unprovoked. Grahem Henry called it the darkest day in rugby he was involved with. No one but you believe that it was only NSW that went out there to have a fight. For you to suggest otherwise is disgusting actually. Even claiming to be at the game which from your version sound like you were either drunk or more likely high. The only team that went out to main players was NSW and you trying to make to lie about that is a joke. And this coming from a South African, those British killed a quarter of us in concentration camps in the Anglo Boer was, we can strangle the lot of them with our bare hands.

[@trevorcourtney7457]

Brutal? That was a dance. If you want brutal you should have seen a Hull KR versus Hull derby in the pre Super League days. A tide of blood and snot in the first 20 minutes, and then Rovers won!

[@brucesherborne408]

Tiddlywinks

[@sevmassyn5660]

Thats nothing.. Tucuman vs Springboks

[@danWMO7]

The average tackle today has a bigger impact than that "violence" ever did in the 80's.

[@lordlucan3706]

Everyone laughs at the Bardic republic of Wales.

[@Wolf-hh4rv]

Not remotely close to the most violent rugby match I have seen. Try SA vs Tucuman for starters. SA vs NZ in the 70s

[@moptopbaku6022]

Nowhere near the worst. Any game with South Africa in it beats this.

[@leechinnery2791]

Wankers

[@oldguy8177able]

the worst rugby lesgue match for violence is england/australia games back 70's 80's 90's the poms absolute thugs,some of the aussies bad.

[@spinynormanbest6410]

Haha your funny

[@peterdykzeul3074]

You can't be serious in your description of the game. Look at some of the old All Blacks vs Springboks games before they red carded you for breathing. They were brutal games.

[@brianoliver5640]

Been in worse than that in my hometown lol

[@juanhunglow2220]

Ditto!

[@powerballminep67]

Clickbait title

[@ThePstorm]

Bizzare video. You missed out the most violent bit. Wade Dooley decking Phil Davis? If you are going to proclaim 'The most violent' you really have to show it.

[@martinhowarth81]

Looking back it was total carnage compared from today … at the time never noticed … got to say better today though .. couple of forearm smashes here were totally out of order

[@richrcwx1685]

What, look at your title

[@martinsaul65]

Like a normal junior Sunday league game to me

[@fenixrising75]

But they are all gentlemen who come from the best schools.

[@mludsladiesgentlemen1774]

Except for the coppers. Given it was the 80's I'm surprised all 4 coppers didn't take on look at each other and immediately arrest the Welsh No.14.

[@jca111]

Click bait title

[@davidmichaels8934]

Ah, yes a typical violent Welsh team!

[@alanlane3670]

Anyone for tennis ????!!!!!

[@columarmstrong6947]

More violence in a kindergarten

[@stevesalkas9128]

The best game in the world is Australian rules football afl...nothing close for excitement. Soccer 0.0 after 2 hours .....m

[@jamesandhan]

no scoring at all, no reference to the score, very little violence. don't bother watching!

[@Mr19ian73]

Good grief see worse every week in Super League Rugby League

[@ianbaker8225]

Hardly the most violent game ever,is it? Even my Mrs. can hit harder than that!

[@Nttmf]

Wtf was that all about?

[@markbriten6999]

Oh I don't know the lions tour with jpr williams et al had a call "99" which meant stuff the rugby have a fight. It meant if anyone has a go at one of us we all have a go at them