1995 Rugby World Cup Totally Explained

Everything about 1995 Rugby World Cup totally explained

ť This article is about the rugby union event. For the rugby league event see 1995 Rugby League World Cup. Thierry Lacroix (112) | preceded by = 1991 Rugby World Cup | succeeded by = 1999 Rugby 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. It was also the last major event of the sport's amateur era; two months after the World Cup final, the International Rugby Football Board (now the International Rugby Board) opened the sport to professionalism. Nelson Mandela, wearing a Springbok rugby shirt and 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.

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.

Teams

Africa	Americas	Asia	Europe	Oceania
(Africa) (Host/Champions)	(Americas) (1991 Quarter-finalist)	(Asia)	(1991 Runner-up) (1991 Quarter-finalist) (1991 Quarter-finalist) (Europe 2) (Europe 3) (1991 Semi-finalist) (Europe 1)	(1991 Champion) (1991 Third place) (Oceania) (1991 Quarter-finalist)

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 9 stadiums were used for the World Cup, most being owned by the domestic rugby unions, and the majority of the venues were upgraded prior to the tournament. Six of the 9 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 were to do with facilities for both the press and spectators, and security. The change in the itinerary occurred in January of 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.
For the Pools, 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 JohannesburgPretoriaCape TownDurbanPort ElizabethBloemfonteinRustenburgEast LondonStellenbosch

City	Stadium	Capacity (approx.)
Ellis Park	62,000
Loftus Versfeld	50,000
Newlands	50,000
Kings Park Stadium	50,000
Boet Erasmus Stadium	38,950
Free State Stadium	40,000
Olympia Park	30,000
Basil Kenyon Stadium	22,000
Danie Craven Stadium	16,000

Format

The tournament was contested by 16 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 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 for South Africa.
   What happened after the match would go onto become an iconic moment in the history of the sport. Nelson Mandela, wearing a Springbok rugby shirt and 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. Mandela's presentation was listed as one of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments on a British television programme.
   After the defeat, New Zealand coach Laurie Mains claimed that many of the New Zealand players had been suffering from food poisoning 48 hours prior to the game, affecting their performance in the final. He accused a mysterious waitress known as "Suzie" for deliberately poisoning the All Blacks' water in the week before the final. However, no evidence has been found supporting his claims.

Pool stage

Pool A

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