The Joy of Heavy Defeats

I've witnessed some great victories for the Ireland rugby team over the years but the game I remember most vividly is a grand slam decider defeat to England in 2003. I imagine the match has been forgotten by most people, swallowed up as it was by the controversy before kick-off, when Martin Johnson refused to move his team from the left hand side of the red carpet for their meeting with the president.

The sight of Johnson arguing with officials and then of Mary McAleese walking on the grass to meet the Ireland team helped whip up the most hostile atmosphere I could remember and a lot of us in the East Terrace were calling for heads by the time the match kicked off.

As angry as I was, by the end I felt genuine admiration for that England team. They had come to Dublin, insulted the home supporters and then demolished one of the best ever Ireland teams, 42-6, outscoring them by five tries to nil. Most of their inspiration had come from having the slam snatched from them in three of the previous four seasons, and so none of them could countenance the possibilty of defeat but their systematic dismantling of Ireland was wonderful in its ruthlessness.

Just as impressive was New Zealand's 145-17 win over Japan, a result that must have disappointed the International Rugby Board as they strove to make rugby a global sport. The All Blacks have never had any sympathy for plucky little triers and they probably berated themselves for allowing Japan score those seventeen points.

In their World Cup semi-final against Brazil in Rio in 2014, Germany had the match won within half an hour after scoring five goals but they showed similar steel in keeping a clean sheet until the ninetieth minute and adding two more goals of their own in the last twenty minutes. Regardless of how poor Brazil were, it took nerve to win so convincingly in such a big game in the home stadium of the country with the greatest tradition in football. In the Wimbledon Men's final in 1984, John McEnroe put his foot on Jimmy Connors's neck in the first set, winning it 6-1, and kept it there, winning the next two sets 6-1, 6-2.  In the 1989 World Snooker Championship final, Steve Davis filleted John Parrott, winning by 18 frames to 3.

We often hear commentators bemoan one-sided sporting events like the ones mentioned above, the thrashings that suck the atmosphere out of a stadium and leave people with little to say.  But I like it when a player or a team is ruthless.  Maintaining a high standard of performance against mediocre opposition is perhaps the greatest compliment one can pay an opponent. It must take a lot of concentration to continue to play very well when you know you can't be beaten.