Biggest Upsets of the Decade

The end of 2019 marks the completion of the ten year decade of 2010-2019. 2020 is to therefore be not only the start of the RWC 2019-2023 cycle, but also the start of a new decade of international competition.

There were memorable matches played throughout the 2010-2019 period and ARN has selected ten memorable upset results involving countries from the Americas, and ten others which consider the rest of the world.

Only capped internationals are considered for this list. For this reason Brazil’s win over the Argentina XV is excluded as is Munster’s win over Australia.

 

AMERICAS

1 – Argentina 37-25 South Africa, Rugby Championship 2015, Durban
Argentina’s first win in the Rugby Championship came in 2014. The following year saw Los Pumas defeating the Springboks for the first time, and doing so in South Africa. Also making history in the win was Juan Imhoff who became the first ever player to score a hat-trick against South Africa.

2 – USA 23-18 Japan, PNC 2015, Sacramento
The USA Eagles completed a second half comeback to upset Japan in California in 2015. The match was less than two months before RWC 2015, a tournament in which they met again. The win was the only time the Eagles have beaten Japan since RWC 2003.

3 – Mexico 35-27 Paraguay, ARCh 2019, Medellín
In the opening fixture of the 2019 edition of the Americas Rugby Challenge, Mexico defeated Paraguay 35-27 in a historic upset. Las Serpientes were deserved winners and put everything into completing the result.

4 – Brazil 24-23 USA, ARC 2016, São Paulo
Brazil claimed the biggest result of the inaugural Americas Rugby Championship by defeating the USA 24-23 at home. The 42nd ranked Brazil used spirited play to take down the 16th ranked USA in an improbable win.

5 – Brazil 24-23 Canada, ARC 2017, São Paulo
Brazil showed that lightning can strike twice. Os Tupis backed-up their 2016 win over one North American country by beating another in 2017. In a scene eerily reminiscent of 2016 vs the USA, at the same venue, Moisés Duque calmly converted a 79th minute try to give Brazil the lead.

6 – Guadeloupe 39-17 Dominican Republic, RAN Trophy 2018
In the 2018 RAN Trophy the Dominican Republic defeated Curaçao 46-17 while Curaçao were 7-5 winners over Guadeloupe. Yet the script did not follow a pattern as Guadeloupe went on to defeat the Dominican Republic 39-17.

7 – USA 30-29 Scotland, June Internationals 2018, Houston
The USA created history in June 2018 as they upset Scotland by a score of 30-29 at Houston’s BBVA Compass Stadium. A magnificent performance from the Eagles saw them earn their first Tier 1 victory in the modern era, and first win over a leading nation since the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris.

8 – Argentina 23-19 Australia, Rugby Championship 2018, Gold Coast
After a 35 year wait, Argentina returned to winning ways over the Wallabies in Australia. The 23-19 triumph also saw history being made as it marked the first time in Rugby Championship history that Argentina won two matches. It was a team effort with the result confirmed with a last-gasp tackle from Tomás Lavanini on Israel Folau.

9 – Uruguay 32-25 USA, ARC 2019, Seattle
One team who improved tremendously during the RWC 2015-2019 cycle is Uruguay. Los Teros produced a series of wins over Canada and in 2019 defeated the USA in Seattle. The win was Uruguay’s first ever away victory over the Eagles and saw five tries being run in from the South Americans.

10 – Uruguay 30-27 Fiji, RWC 2019, Kamaishi
The biggest scalp in the history of Uruguayan rugby was recorded in Kamaishi, Japan in Los Teros’ opening match of RWC 2019. Santiago Arata, Manuel Diana, and Juan Manuel Cat scored tries but it was the goal-kicking and organization from Felipe Berchesi which saw Los Teros beating a team who had downed France ten months earlier.

 

GLOBAL

1 – Australia 26-24 New Zealand, November Internationals 2010, Hong Kong
In 2010 Australia were not having the best of years while New Zealand were unbeaten in nine test matches before facing the Wallabies in Hong Kong. Australia recorded a two point win, doing so with utility James O’Connor landing a late penalty.

2 – Samoa 32-23 Australia, RWC 2011 warm-up, Sydney
The 2010-2019 will likely be looked back on as the fall of Samoa. The 2019 version of the team is far behind that of the side which upset Australia in Sydney in a RWC 2011 warm-up match. While the result was an upset it is important to add context that Samoa comfortably defeated Fiji, and Namibia at the RWC itself while Australia finished third.

3 – Tonga 19-14 France, RWC 2011, Wellington
Tonga opened RWC 2011 with a loss against Canada but closed with a win over France. The loss against the Canadians meant that Tonga could not make the Quarter Finals before they had faced France. The dead rubber saw France play far below their best with Tonga pouncing to secure a significant upset victory.

4 – Madagascar 57-54 Namibia, RWC Qualifier 2012, Antananarivo
The decade saw some upset results in Africa. The RWC 2019 qualifier of Tunisia 18-14 Zimbabwe narrowly missed out on making this Top 10 list. One that was never in debate is Madagascar’s amazing three-point win over Namibia in Jun2 2012. The Makis win was a genuine shock, and certainly the most significant from the island country in history.

5 – England 38-21 New Zealand,  November Internationals 2012, London
Heading into their 2012 clash at Twickenham Stadium, New Zealand were firm favorites against England. Not only had New Zealand dominated England for a number of years, but they were reigning world champions with England having exited RWC 2011 at the Quarter Finals and having had mixed results in 2012.

6 – Japan 34-32 South Africa, RWC 2015, Brighton
The most talked about upset result of the decade is Japan’s history-making win over South Africa in RWC 2015. Nobody saw the result coming yet four years later the Japanese would prove it to not have been a one-off performance. Be that as it may this was the epitome of David vs Goliath.

7 – Ireland 40-29 New Zealand, November Internationals, Chicago
Ireland’s long-awaited first win over New Zealand was recorded in Chicago, Illinois. It saw an excellent Irish side defeating an excellent All Blacks team. Those in attendance at Soldier Field will forever be able to say that history was made in front of them.

8 – Italy 20-18 South Africa, November Internationals 2016, Florence
Had Japan not defeated South Africa in RWC 2015 then this result would arguably have been regarded as a replicate. With South Africa going on to win RWC 2019 this result goes beyond Italy’s Six Nations victories to be placed as their biggest win of all-time.

9 – Fiji 21-14 France, November Internationals 2018, Paris
The decade was a poor one for France. Les Bleus failed to spark with those joining the team during the years not being the same level as those in the team as the decade began. Fiji’s win at the Stade de France in 2018 was a case in point. The well-prepared Pacific Islanders were deserved winners and showed why teams needed to lift their game against then in Japan 2019.

10 – Japan 19-12 Ireland, RWC 2019, Shizuoka
Pre RWC 2019 Ireland, and Scotland were predicted to make it out of Pool A into the Quarter Finals. Americas Rugby News predicted otherwise, with Japan named to make the final 8. Yet, even then Japan did more than that as they won all of their pool matches. The win over Ireland was monumental, and took the RWC to new heights.