1995 Rugby World Cup

Qualifying

Main article: 1995 Rugby World Cup qualifying

The eight quarter-finalists from the 1991 Rugby World Cup all received automatic entry, as did South Africa, as hosts. The remaining seven of the 16 positions available in the tournament were filled by regional qualifiers. The qualifying tournaments were broken up into regional associations: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Côte d'Ivoire qualified through Africa, Japan through Asia, Argentina through the Americas, Italy, Romania and Wales through Europe, Tonga through Oceania.

Squads

Main article: 1995 Rugby World Cup squads

Referees

• ARG Efraim Sklar
• AUS Barry Leask
• AUS Wayne Erickson
• CAN George Gadjovich
• ENG Ed Morrison
• ENG Steve Lander
• FRA Joël Dumé
• FRA Patrick Robin
• IRE David McHugh
• IRE Stephen Hilditch
• JPN Naoki Saito
• KOR Han Moon-soo
• NZL Colin Hawke
• NZL Dave Bishop
• RSA Stef Neethling
• RSA Ian Rogers
• SAM Felise Vito
• SCO Jim Fleming
• SCO Ken McCartney
• USA Don Reordan
• WAL Derek Bevan
• WAL Clayton Thomas

Venues

The 1995 tournament was the first Rugby World Cup to be hosted by just one country, and thus, all the venues are within the one country. South Africa were given the rights to host the tournament in 1993, after a meeting between the IRB and both the government led by F. W. de Klerk and the African National Congress. In total, nine stadiums were used for the World Cup, most being owned by local municipalities, and the majority of the venues were upgraded prior to the tournament. Six of the nine 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 these games were reallocated to other venues. This reduced the number of venues from 14 to 9. The reasons cited for this change had to do with facilities for both the press and spectators, as well as the security. The change in the itinerary occurred in January 1994. Further changes occurred in April, so that evening games were played at stadiums with good floodlighting. It is also thought that Potchefstroom was an original venue.

Venues were paired:

• Pool 1: Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Stellenbosch
• Pool 2: Durban and East London
• Pool 3: Johannesburg and Bloemfontein
• Pool 4: Pretoria and Rustenburg

Pools & format

The tournament was contested by 16 nations using the same format that was used in 1987 and 1991 and in total 32 matches were played. The competition began on 25 May, when the hosts South Africa defeated Australia 27–18 at Newlands in Cape Town. The tournament culminated with the final between South Africa and the All Blacks at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on 24 June. In total, the tournament ran for thirty days. 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.

Points system

The points system that was used in the pool stage was unchanged from 1991:

• 3 points for a win
• 2 points for a draw
• 1 point for playing

Knockout stage

Pool winners were drawn against opposite pool runners-up in the quarter-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 two days before the final.

A total of 32 matches (24 pool stage & 8 knock-out) were played throughout the tournament over 30 days from 25 May to 24 June 1995.

Pool stage

Pool A

Stransky 63' c Kearns 78' m

McKenzie Snow

Tabua Roff

Wilson Roff (2) Foley Burke Eales (4)

Pool B

Cuttitta Harder (2) Kellett Tatupu

Noriega

Leaupepe Harder Crexell

T. Underwood Vaccari

Penalty try Corral Cilley Gerosa Dominguez

Back Penalty try Umaga

Pool C

I. Evans (2) Moore Taylor

McBride Halpin Kronfeld Bunce Osborne

Geoghegan Corkery Halvey Hogan Penalty try (2) Izawa Hirao Takura

Little Kronfeld

Rush (3) Wilson (3) R. Brooke (2) Osborne (2) Loe Culhane Henderson Dowd Ieremia

Popplewell McBride Taylor

Pool D

Logan (2) Walton (2) Wright Chalmers Stanger Burnell Shiel

Hueber Saint-André

Benazzi Téchoueyres Viars Accoceberry Saint-André Costes Lacroix (2) Camara

Peters G. Hastings

Latukefu Otai Tu'ipulotu

Three minutes into the match between Ivory Coast and Tonga, the Ivorian winger Max Brito was crushed beneath several other players, leaving him paralysed below the neck.

Knockout stage

|10 June – Johannesburg||42||14 |10 June – Durban||36| |12 |11 June – Cape Town||25||22 |11 June – Pretoria||48||30 |17 June – Durban||19||15 |18 June – Cape Town||29||45 |24 June – Johannesburg||15 (a.e.t.)||12 |22 June – Pretoria||19||9

Quarter-finals

Ntamack 80' m

Rossouw Andrews Nu'uali'itia

Lomu Mehrtens Bunce Fitzpatrick S. Hastings

Semi-finals

R. Underwood (2) Kronfeld Bachop Mehrtens

Third-place play-off

Ntamack

Final

Main article: 1995 Rugby World Cup final

The final was contested by New Zealand and hosts South Africa. Both nations finished undefeated at the top of their pools. South Africa defeated Western Samoa in the quarter-finals, and then France in the semi-finals to reach the final; New Zealand defeated Scotland in the quarter-finals, and England in the semi-finals, a game in which Jonah Lomu famously scored four tries for the All Blacks. The final was played at Ellis Park in Johannesburg and refereed by Ed Morrison of England. To this point, New Zealand had led the tournament in production, outscoring their opponents 315–104, while South Africa had outscored their opponents 129–55. The tight Springbok defence would keep the high scoring All Blacks in check – particularly Jonah Lomu and Marc Ellis, who had already scored a then World Cup record seven tries each in the tournament – with neither team scoring a try in the match.

South Africa led 9–6 at half time, and New Zealand levelled the scores at 9–9 with a drop goal in the second half. Though Andrew Mehrtens almost kicked a late drop goal for the All Blacks, the score remained tied at full-time, forcing the game into extra time. Both teams scored penalty goals in the first half of extra time, but Joel Stransky then scored a drop goal to win the final for South Africa.

What happened after the match has become an iconic moment in the history of the sport. Nelson Mandela, wearing a Springbok rugby jersey and cap, presented the Webb Ellis Cup to South African captain François 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.

Statistics

Main article: 1995 Rugby World Cup statistics

The tournament's top point scorer was France's Thierry Lacroix, who scored 112 points. Marc Ellis and Jonah Lomu, both of New Zealand, scored the most tries, with seven each.

Broadcasters

The event was broadcast in Australia by Network Ten and in the United Kingdom by ITV.

Commemorative coins

The South African Mint issued a one-ounce gold proof "Protea" coin with a total mintage of 406 pieces to commemorate the event being hosted by South Africa.

Popular culture

Mandela and Pienaar's involvement in the World Cup is the subject of the John Carlin book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation, its 2009 film adaptation Invictus, and the ESPN TV documentary The 16th Man in 2010.

References

References

1. (14 August 2008). "Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation". Penguin Press.
2. (2003-09-25). "1995 (South Africa)".
3. Irwin, Pirate. (4 October 2007). "Max Brito at end of tether after 12-year struggle". Mail & Guardian.
4. (17 April 2020). "Rugby World Cup 1995: Quarter Final - New Zealand v Scotland". [[World Rugby]].
5. (7 October 2003). "Rugby World Cup history". BBC.