Rugby

5 best rugby games of all time

Get ready for the autumn internationals by playing these excellent egg-chasing efforts.

Written by Ben Wilson

3 min readPublished on 22.11.2017 · 15:54 UTC

Rugby-themed video games maintain a long tradition of being awful. Take, for instance, 1993’s International Rugby Challenge – an effort so lacking in action, and packed with basic spelling mistakes, it scored just 2% in Amiga Power magazine. On console, 2003’s World Championship Rugby and 2010’s Rugby League Live are among those to have shanked their big opportunities into touch. Much like supporting England, teases of glory over the last three decades have usually ended in tears.

Finding a handful of credible, playable rugger offerings, then, is a challenging task – but like a timid Namibian suddenly confronted with the haka, we’ve decided to face our fears head on. Here, then – in chronological order – are videogaming’s five best rugby games, starring a Sega classic, a New Zealand legend, and… a bunch of furry critters from Australia.

1. Rugby World Cup 95 (Mega Drive, 1994)

After the phenomenal 16-bit success of FIFA, Electronic Arts had a brainwave: why not make a rugby game with the same engine? Hence this then cutting-edge, now blunt-as-a-spoon Mega Drive exclusive. Unsurprisingly, given its footy origins, fun came from a balanced kicking game, and attributes playing a role in your rucking and mauling power, even if incisive back play was difficult to achieve. Remembered fondly nonetheless, it set the tone for EA’s sadly-all-too-rare dalliances with the sport.

2. Jonah Lomu Rugby (PS1, 1997)

The daddy, the monster, the beast…

Codemasters ingeniously capitalised on the All Blacks winger’s mid-'90s popularity with this end-to-end, almost cartoony interpretation of the sport. All major international squads were represented, tackling (and handing off) delivered satisfying oomph, and Bill McLaren and Bill Beaumont provided genuinely funny (if repetitive) booth work. [McLaren: What a tackle! That could've put him in Ward 4!” Beamount: "I hope not Bill, that's a maternity ward.”] New Zealand developers Sidhe resurrected the Lomu name in 2011, but the game was a shadow of its former, brilliant self.

3. Rugby 08 (PS2, 2007)

The pinnacle (and climax) of EA’s oval-ball offerings. Four preceding PS2 outings had seen the company fine-tune a believable scrum game, while new set pieces enabled you to strategise before line outs rather than repeatedly having to improvise upon catching the ball. Developer HB Studios would later bring the series to PS3 as Rugby World Cup 2011, but without EA’s gamut of club licenses and accurate stadia it felt like a half-cooked imitation.

4. NRL Mascot Mania (Nintendo DS, 2009)

This stakes a formidable claim to the title of best rugby game, full stop – and yet the likelihood is you’ve never heard of it. Until now. A 2009 DS release exclusive to Australia, it centres on the 16 mascots affiliated to Oz’s National Rugby League, tasking you with collecting playing cards by winning rugby-themed mini-games and over-the-top boss battles. Essentially, it’s Pokémon for Southern Hemisphere pre-teens. Go on, pretend you wouldn’t play a football version starring Gunnersaurus…

5. Flick Nations Rugby (iOS/Android, 2012)

By some margin the simplest game to make this list, and yet the most devilish. All you do is boot conversions by swiping upwards on the screen, using one of 15 national sides – but you do it again, and again, and again. Tricksy angles and stronger wind gusts add layers of challenge as you progress, and the old-school beat-your-own-high-score mechanic keeps dragging you back for one more play, long after you’ve forgotten pre-midnight essentials such as dinner, dessert and three-on-three Rocket League.

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