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1995 Rugby World Cup

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This article is aout the rugby union event for the rugby league event see 1995 Rugby League World Cup.

The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted by South Africa, and had the distinction of being the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country.

Nelson Mandela, wearing a Springbok baseball cap, presented the William Webb Ellis Cup to South African captain Francois Pienaar to the delight of the capacity crowd at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on 24 June, 1995. The victory was not without controversy however, the majority of the New Zealand team was struck down by food poisoning the day before the final and it is alleged that this was done on purpose.[1] [2]

Qualifying

The eight quarter-finalists from the 1991 Rugby World Cup all received automatic entry, with the other teams selected from a qualifying series around the world. Eight of the 16 positions available in the tournament were filled by regional qualifiers. The qualifying tounaments were broken up into regional associations - Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Côte d'Ivoire qualified through Africa, Japan through Asia, Argentina and Canada through the Americas, Italy, Romania and Wales through Europe, Tonga through Oceania.

Teams

Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania

Venues

The 1995 tournament was the first Rugby World Cup that was being hosted by just the one country, and thus, all the venues are within the one country. In total 10 stadiums were used for the World Cup, a lot of them were owned by the domestic rugby unions, and alot of the venues were upgraded prior to the tournament. Six of the 10 stadiums were South African Test grounds. The four largest stadiums were used for the finals, with the final taking place at Johannesburg's Ellis Park.

There were games originally scheduled to have been played in Brakpan, Germiston, Pietermaritzburg and Witbank, but the game were reallocated to other venues. This reduced the number of venues from 14 to 10. The reasons cited for this change were to do with facilities for both the press and spectators, and security. The change in the intinary occured in January of 1994. Further chagnes occured in April, so that evening games were played at stadia with good floodlighting. It is also thought that Potchefstroom was an original venue.

Venues
Venues
City Stadium Capacity
(approx.)
Johannesburg Ellis Park 60,000
Pretoria Loftus Versfeld 50,000
Cape Town Newlands 50,000
Durban Kings Park Stadium 50,000
Port Elizabeth Boet Erasmus Stadium 45,000
Bloemfontein Free State Stadium 30,000
Rustenburg Olympia Park 30,000
East London Basil Kenyon Stadium 22,000
Stellenbosch Danie Craven Stadium 16,000

Format

The tournament was contested by 20 different nations, and in total 32 matches were played. The competition commenced on May 25, when the hosts South Africa defeated Australia 27-18 at Newlands in Cape Town. The competition culminated with the final between South Africa and the All Blacks at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on June 24, in total, the tournament running for around one month. The nations were broken up into four pools of four, with each pool consisting of two teams that were automatically qualified and two that went through the qualifying tournaments. Pool winners are drawn against opposite pool runners-up in the semi-finals, for example the winner of A faces the runner up of B, and the winner of B face the runner-up of A. The whole finals stage adopts a knock-out format, and the winners of the quarter-finals advance to the semi-finals, where winner 1 faces winner 2, and winner 3 faces winner 4. The winners advance to the final, and the losers contest a third/fourth place play-off the day before the final.

Final

The final was contested by the hosts, South Africa, and the All Blacks of New Zealand. Both nations finished at the top of their respective pools, both 3-0 undefeated in the pool stages. South Africa defeated Western Samoa in the quarter finals, and then France in the semi-finals to reach the final; the All Blacks defeated Scotland in the quarter-finals, and England in the semi-finals, a game in which Jonah Lomu famously scored four tries. The final was played at Golden Lions' Ellis Park in Johannesburg and refereed by Ed Morrison of England. South Africa led 9-6 at half time, but the All Blacks levelled the scores at 9-all with a penalty goal in the second half. Though Andrew Mehrtens almost kicked a late drop goal, the score remained unchanged at full time, forcing the game into extra time. Both teams scored penalty goals in the first half of extra time, but it was Joel Stransky who landed a drop goal to win the final.

What happened after the match would go onto become an iconic moment in the history of the sport. Nelson Mandela, wearing a Springbok baseball cap, presented the William Webb Ellis Cup to South African captain Francois Pienaar to the delight of the capacity crowd. The moment is thought by some to be one of the most famous finals of any sport.[3] Manela's presentation was listed as one of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments on a British television programme.

Results

Pool A

Team Won Drawn Lost For Against Points
Template:RSAru 3 0 0 68 26 9
Template:AUSru 2 0 1 87 41 7
Template:CANru 1 0 2 45 50 5
Template:ROMru 0 0 3 14 97 3

Pool B

Team Won Drawn Lost For Against Points
Template:ENGru 3 0 0 95 60 9
Template:WSAMru 2 0 1 96 88 7
Template:ITAru 1 0 2 69 94 5
Template:ARGru 0 0 3 69 87 3

Pool C

Team Won Drawn Lost For Against Points
Template:NZru 3 0 0 225 45 9
Template:IRLru 2 0 1 93 94 7
Template:WALru 1 0 2 89 68 5
Template:JAPru 0 0 3 55 252 3
NZru34–9WALru
Tries: Marc Ellis, Walter Little, Josh Kronfeld
Con: Andrew Mehrtens (2)
Pen: Andrew Mehrtens (4)
Drop goals: Andrew Mehrtens
Pen: Neil Jenkins (2)
Drop goals: Neil Jenkins
Ellis Park

Pool D

Team Won Drawn Lost For Against Points
Template:FRAru 3 0 0 114 47 9
Template:SCOru 2 0 1 149 27 7
Template:TONru 1 0 2 44 90 5
Template:CDIru 0 0 3 29 172 3

Knock-out stages

 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
10 June - Kings Park Stadium, Durban
 
 
Template:FRAru36
 
17 June - Kings Park Stadium, Durban
 
Template:IRLru12
 
Template:RSAru19
 
10 June - Ellis Park, Johannesburg
 
Template:FRAru15
 
Template:RSAru42
 
24 June - Ellis Park, Johannesburg(a.e.t.)
 
Template:WSAMru14
 
Template:RSAru15
 
11 June - Newlands, Cape Town
 
Template:NZru12
 
Template:ENGru25
 
18 June - Newlands, Cape Town
 
Template:AUSru22
 
Template:NZru45
 
11 June - Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
 
Template:ENGru29 Third place
 
Template:NZru48
 
22 June - Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
 
Template:SCOru30
 
Template:FRAru19
 
 
Template:ENGru9
 

Quarter-finals

1995-06-11
ENGru25–22AUSru
Tries: Tony Underwood
Con: Rob Andrew
Pen: Rob Andrew (5)
Drop goals: Rob Andrew
Tries: Damian Smith
Con: Michael Lynagh
Pen: Michael Lynagh (5)
Newlands

Semi-finals

Third/fourth place play-off

Final

1995-06-24
RSAru15–12NZru
Pen: Joel Stransky (3)
Dop goals: Joel Stransky (2)
Pen: Andrew Mehrtens (3)
Drop goals: Andrew Mehrtens
Ellis Park

References

  1. ^ "Monkey business". Rugby Heaven. Retrieved 6 October. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ "Springboks poisoned at 1995 Cup: Luyt". rugby.com.au. Retrieved 6 October. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "Rugby World Cup history". BBC. Retrieved 7 October. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)