1995 Rugby World Cup

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This article is about the rugby union event. For the rugby league event, see 1995 Rugby League World Cup.

1995 Rugby World Cup
Marc Ellis
(7 tries each)
← 1991
→

The 1995 Rugby World Cup (

Afrikaans: Rugbywêreldbeker 1995), was the third Rugby World Cup
. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country.

The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in South Africa following the end of

apartheid. It was also the first World Cup in which South Africa was allowed to compete; the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB, now World Rugby) had only readmitted South Africa to international rugby in 1992, following negotiations to end apartheid. The World Cup was also the last major event of rugby union's amateur era; two months after the tournament, the IRFB opened the sport to professionalism
.

In the

François Pienaar
.

Qualifying

Main article: 1995 Rugby World Cup qualifying
Africa Americas Europe Oceania/Asia

The eight quarter-finalists from the

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

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.[1] 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
class=notpageimage|
Location of the 9 stadium hosting rugby matches at the 1995 World Rugby World Cup
 Johannesburg Pretoria Cape Town
Ellis Park Loftus Versfeld Newlands
Capacity: 60,000 Capacity: 50,000 Capacity: 50,000
Durban Bloemfontein
Port Elizabeth
Kings Park Stadium Free State Stadium Boet Erasmus Stadium
Capacity: 50,000 Capacity: 40,000 Capacity: 38,950
Rustenburg East London Stellenbosch
Olympia Park Basil Kenyon Stadium Danie Craven Stadium
Capacity: 30,000 Capacity: 22,000 Capacity: 16,000

Pools & format

Pool A Pool B Pool C Pool D

 South Africa
 Australia
 Romania
 Canada

 England
 Western Samoa
 Italy
 Argentina

 New Zealand
 Ireland
 Wales
 Japan

 France
 Scotland
 Tonga
 Ivory Coast

The tournament was contested by 16 nations using the same format that was used in

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

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1  South Africa 3 3 0 0 68 26 +42 9
2  Australia 3 2 0 1 87 41 +46 7
3  Canada 3 1 0 2 45 50 −5 5
4  Romania 3 0 0 3 14 97 −83 3
Source: [2]
25 May 1995
South Africa 27–18 Australia
Try: Hendriks 37' m
Stransky 63' c
Con: Stransky (1/2) 64'
Pen: Stransky (4/4) 5', 21', 29', 45'
Drop: Stransky (1/3) 49'		ReportTry: Lynagh 33' c
Kearns 78' m
Con: Lynagh (1/2) 34'
Pen: Lynagh (2/3) 3', 17'
Newlands, Cape Town
Attendance: 44,778
Referee: Derek Bevan (Wales)
26 May 1995
New Zealand
)
30 May 1995
Johnson (3)
Try: Gurănescu
Pen: Ivanciuc
Newlands, Cape Town
Attendance: 45,000
Referee: Ken McCartney (Scotland)
31 May 1995
Port Elizabeth
Attendance: 16,000
Referee: Patrick Robin (France
)
3 June 1995
Australia 42–3 Romania
Try: Smith
Wilson
Roff (2)
Foley
Burke
Con: Burke (2)
Eales (4)		Pen: Ivanciuc
Danie Craven Stadium, Stellenbosch
Attendance: 15,542
Referee: Naoki Saito (Japan)
3 June 1995
Port Elizabeth
Attendance: 31,000
Referee: David McHugh (Ireland
)

Pool B

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1  England 3 3 0 0 95 60 +35 9
2  Western Samoa 3 2 0 1 96 88 +8 7
3  Italy 3 1 0 2 69 94 −25 5
4  Argentina 3 0 0 3 69 87 −18 3
Source: [2]
27 May 1995
Basil Kenyon Stadium, East London
Attendance: 7,868
Referee: Joël Dume (France
)
27 May 1995
Argentina 18–24 England
Try: Arbizu
Noriega
Con: Arbizu
Pen: Arbizu (2)		Pen: Andrew (6)
Drop: Andrew (2)
Kings Park Stadium, Durban
Attendance: 35,000
Referee: Jim Fleming (Scotland)
30 May 1995
New Zealand
)
31 May 1995
England 27–20 Italy
Try: R. Underwood
T. Underwood
Con: Andrew
Pen: Andrew (5)		Try: Cuttitta
Vaccari
Con: Dominguez (2)
Pen: Dominguez (2)
Kings Park Stadium, Durban
Attendance: 45,093
Referee: Stephen Hilditch (Ireland)
4 June 1995
Basil Kenyon Stadium, East London
Attendance: 7,571
Referee: Clayton Thomas (Wales
)
4 June 1995
England 44–22 Western Samoa
Try: R. Underwood (2)
Back
Penalty try
Con: Callard (3)
Pen: Callard(5)
Drop: Catt		Try: Sini (2)
Umaga
Con: Fa'amasino (2)
Pen: Fa'amasino
Kings Park Stadium, Durban
Attendance: 35,000
Referee: Patrick Robin (France)

Pool C

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1  New Zealand 3 3 0 0 222 45 +177 9
2  Ireland 3 2 0 1 93 94 −1 7
3  Wales 3 1 0 2 89 68 +21 5
4  Japan 3 0 0 3 55 252 −197 3
Source: [2]
27 May 1995
Moore
Taylor
Con: N. Jenkins (5)
Pen: N. Jenkins (4)
Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
Attendance: 15,000
Referee: Efrahim Sklar (Argentina)
27 May 1995
Australia
)
31 May 1995
Francis
Geoghegan
Corkery
Halvey
Hogan
Penalty try (2)
Con: Burke (6)
Pen: Burke
Try: Latu
Izawa
Hirao
Takura
Con: Yoshida (4)
Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
Attendance: 15,000
Referee: Stef Neethling (South Africa)
31 May 1995
Little
Kronfeld
Con: Mehrtens (2)
Pen: Mehrtens (4)
Drop: Mehrtens
Pen: N. Jenkins (2)
Drop: N. Jenkins
Ellis Park, Johannesburg
Attendance: 45,000
Referee: Ed Morrison (England)
4 June 1995
Japan 17–145 New Zealand
Try: Kajihara (2)
Con: Hirose (2)
Pen: Hirose		ReportTry: Ellis (6)
Rush (3)
Wilson (3)
R. Brooke (2)
Osborne (2)
Loe
Culhane
Henderson
Dowd
Ieremia
Con: Culhane (20)
Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: George Gadjovic (Canada)
4 June 1995
Ian Rogers (South Africa
)

Pool D

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1  France 3 3 0 0 114 47 +67 9
2  Scotland 3 2 0 1 149 27 +122 7
3  Tonga 3 1 0 2 44 90 −46 5
4  Ivory Coast 3 0 0 3 29 172 −143 3
Source: [2]
26 May 1995
Western Samoa
)
26 May 1995
Tu'ipulotu
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Attendance: 22,000
Referee: Steve Lander (England)
29 May 1995
France 54–18 Ivory Coast
Try: Lacroix (2)
Benazzi
Téchoueyres
Viars
Accoceberry
Saint-André
Costes
Con: Deylaud (2)
Lacroix (2)
Pen: Lacroix (2)		Try: Soulama
Camara
Con: Kouassi
Pen: Kouassi (2)
Olympia Park, Rustenburg
Attendance: 10,000
Referee: Han Moon-Soo (South Korea)
29 May 1995
Australia
)
3 June 1995
Tu'ipulotu
Olympia Park, Rustenburg
Attendance: 15,000
Referee: Don Reordan (United States)

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.[3]

3 June 1995
Australia
)

Knockout stage

 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
10 June – Johannesburg
 
 
 South Africa42
 
17 June – Durban
 
 Western Samoa14
 
 South Africa19
 
10 June – Durban
 
 France15
 
 France36
 
24 June – Johannesburg
 
 Ireland 12
 
 South Africa (a.e.t.)15
 
11 June – Cape Town
 
 New Zealand12
 
 England25
 
18 June – Cape Town
 
 Australia22
 
 
Pretoria
 
 New Zealand45 Third place
 
 
Pretoria
 
 Scotland30
 
 France19
 
 
 England9
 

Quarter-finals

10 June 1995
France 36–12 Ireland
Try: Saint-André 79' c
Ntamack 80' m
Con: Lacroix (1/2) 80'
Pen: Lacroix (8) 7', 19', 30', 40', 49', 51', 71', 73'		ReportPen: Elwood (4) 4', 15', 23', 39'
Kings Park Stadium, Durban
Attendance: 20,000
Referee: Ed Morrison (England)
10 June 1995
Johnson (2)
Try: Tatupu
Nu'uali'itia
Con: Fa'amasino (2)
Ellis Park, Johannesburg
Attendance: 54,169
Referee: Jim Fleming (Scotland)
11 June 1995
New Zealand
)
11 June 1995
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Attendance: 28,000
Referee: Derek Bevan (Wales
)

Semi-finals

17 June 1995
South Africa 19–15 France
Try: Kruger
Con: Stransky
Pen: Stransky (4)		Pen: Lacroix (5)
Kings Park Stadium, Durban
Attendance: 49,773
Referee: Derek Bevan (Wales)
18 June 1995
England 29–45 New Zealand
Try: Carling (2)
R. Underwood (2)
Con: Andrew (3)
Pen: Andrew		ReportTry: Lomu (4)
Kronfeld
Bachop
Con: Mehrtens (3)
Pen: Mehrtens
Drop: Z. Brooke
Mehrtens
Newlands, Cape Town
Attendance: 43,414
Referee: Stephen Hilditch (Ireland)

Third-place play-off

22 June 1995
New Zealand
)

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

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.

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.[5]

24 June 1995
a.e.t.)
 New Zealand
Pen: Stransky (3)
Drop: Stransky (2)		ReportPen: Mehrtens (3)
Drop: Mehrtens
Ellis Park, Johannesburg
Attendance: 59,870
Referee: Ed Morrison (England)

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.

Top 10 point scorers
Player Team Position Played Tries Conv­ersions Penal­ties Drop goals Total points
Thierry Lacroix  France
Fly-half
 6 4 7 26 0 112
Gavin Hastings  Scotland
Full-back
 4 5 14 17 0 104
Andrew Mehrtens  New Zealand
First five-eighth
 5 1 14 14 3 84
Rob Andrew  England
Fly-half
 5 0 5 20 3 79
Joel Stransky  South Africa
Fly-half
 5 1 4 13 3 61
Michael Lynagh  Australia
Fly-half
 3 2 5 9 0 47
Simon Culhane  New Zealand
First five-eighth
 1 1 20 0 0 45
Neil Jenkins  Wales
Fly-half
 3 0 7 8 1 41
Diego Domínguez  Italy
Fly-half
 3 1 5 7 1 39
Marc Ellis  New Zealand
Wing
 5 7 0 0 0 35
Jonah Lomu  New Zealand
Wing
 5 7 0 0 0 35

Broadcasters

The event was broadcast in

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

  1. ISBN 978-1594201745
    .
  2. ^ a b c d "1995 (South Africa)". 25 September 2003. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  3. ^ Irwin, Pirate (4 October 2007). "Max Brito at end of tether after 12-year struggle". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 9 January 2010.
  4. ^ Rugby World Cup 1995: Quarter Final - New Zealand v Scotland. YouTube.com. World Rugby. 17 April 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Rugby World Cup history". BBC. 7 October 2003. Retrieved 7 October 2006.

External links

External videos
video icon Rugby World Cup 1995: Pool A - Australia v South Africa on
YouTube
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