Today we welcome back guest writer and one of only five people from QPRQ with a keyboard, ‘Damo’ to rugbydownunder.com for his second instalment of the History of The RWC.
Take it away Damo.
RWC ’91 in brief:
When: October 3rd – November 2nd 1991.
The Hosts: Our 5 Nations brethren
Winners: The Green & Gold macripods
Runners up: The Soapaholics
Third Place: The AB’s. They didn’t ‘choke’ we just beat them.
Fourth Place: The Jocks.
The ’87 RWC felt a bit like a bit of a test run of the concept. In 1991 I think we experienced the real McCoy. The 8 quarter finalists from the 1987 RWC ( NZ, France, Wales , Australia, England, Scotland, Fiji and Ireland) were automatic qualifiers to be joined in the draw by the 8 who had to successfully qualify (Western Samoa, USA, Canada, Zimbabwe, Romania, Japan, Italy and Argentina- again the Saffas would stay at home). As in ‘87, the tournament featured 4 pools of four, with games being played in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and France.
Australia brought a very settled squad to RWC ’91, and it pains me to say, in contrast to our recent experience, it was a squad brimming with exciting youth, skills and leadership. Their low key Ireland base Bob Dwyer had been coach since 1988 and in that time he had introduced an exceptional group of youngsters to Wallaby colours including Phil Kearns, famously selected out of Randwick 2nd grade (Eddie Jones was the 1st grade incumbent), John Eales, Rod McCall, Tim Horan and Jason Little. Some idea of how settled things were was the fact that the front row of Kearns, Tony Daly and Ewen McKenzie played together in 16 out of 18 tests in 1990 and 91, including the world cup final. And, of course, there was Campo.
In contrast to the ’87 edition, the pool phase contests were a lot tighter. Western Samoa famously edged out Wales 16-13 in front of 45,000 at Cardiff. Australia, during the pool games played smart and uncompromising, accounting for the Argies 32-19, thrashing Wales 38-3, following a 9-3 scare against Western Samoa. That the Wallabies let in only 3 tries in the whole tournament and Campo scored 6 tries (Horan scored 4) on his way to Player of the Cup award was instructive as to the quality of Australia’s all round game plan. New Zealand had come to the tournament as favourites again, although there were some who believed a number of their stars were fading. Most of the forward pack were nearing or past 30, which in amateur rugby days was ancient. Nevertheless the AB’s rolled through the pools and quarter final undefeated, including a win in the opening game against England- although they were not nearly as convincing as in ’87. Apart from their opening glitch against the ABs England won their way through to the final undefeated, with big margins against minnows USA and Italy. They had a powerful forward pack led by Mike Teague and a quality backline that included skipper Will Carling, Jeremy Guscott, Rob Andrew (wallabies tormentor 4 years later) and Rory Underwood.
The Finals
The finals series featured some tight physical encounters. None more so than the England v France QF. France were looking for revenge at Parc de Prices for their defeat to their 100 Years War foe earlier in the year, giving up the 5 Nations Grand Slam. It was described by one journalist as “an 80-minute history play, a piece of pure malevolent theatre”. Everybody was smashing everybody. English 14 Nigel Heslop put and up and under to Blanco, tackled him late and in the ensuing melee was knocked out. England finally got up 19-10 in extra time. As a postscript, after the game France coach Daniel Dubroca grabbed Kiwi referee David Bishop by the throat, spitting at him and repeatedly calling him a cheat in an out-of-control rage. Dubroca was subsequently sacked.
Australia’s QF against Ireland in Dublin proved to be something special with Campese in serious form. At half-time the score was 6-6, after Campese had scored a 4 point try and Ralph Keyes kicked two goals. Then Campese scored another try. Michael Lynagh converted both and then kicked a penalty goal and Australia led 15-12 – five minutes to go. Then suddenly Ireland broke out, setting flank Gordon Hamilton free on the left. Hamilton scored. 16-15 to Ireland. Keyes converted. 18-16 to Ireland. Then with about 3 minutes left, well I’ll let John Eales explain:
“The absolute terror in everyone’s eyes when Ireland scored that try with a couple of minutes to go. Michael Lynagh pulled us in because Nick Farr-Jones was off the field and really laid it out to us. ‘OK guys, there’s three minutes to go, we’re going to kick the ball deep, we want to force them to kick into touch, we’re going to play a lineout, we’re going to play this move, and we want to score a try, we’re not going to aim for an equaliser. And it’s exactly what happened, even to the extent that Michael scored the try himself.” Leadership!
England bored Scotland 9-6 in the one semifinal and the other was back at Lansdowne Road where Campese and some other Aussies played the lacklustre All Blacks. Two tries singled Campese out as the star of the rugby world. First, going left, he raced low across the face of the whole New Zealand backline and scored. Then he attacked down the right near the right touchline with desperate All Blacks in his face when, looking straight at them, he flicked the ball back over his shoulder to Timmy Horan who scored. A conversion and a penalty by Michael Lynagh and the Wallabies led 13-0 at the break. It was enough to win, as it turned out, as all the All Blacks could muster were two Grant Fox penalties as they went down 16-6.
RWC FINAL
It all came down to this- on a fine London Saturday afternoon . Both teams had arrived in front of 56,000 spectators at Twickenham following tough, grinding quarter final and semi final encounters. Surprisingly, both teams managed to get through the knockouts with basically their best sides available to play. Welshman Derek Bevan had the whistle.
In the lead-up to the Final, England ran the gauntlet of much criticism and taunting for their “boring” style of play, especially after their drab semi-final against Scotland, which was in sharp contrast to the Wallabies’ thrilling, creative victory over New Zealand in Dublin. No surprise that Campo joined on this pile on in the media. The English brains trust of coaches Geoff Cooke and Roger Uttley, along with captain Will Carling decided the final would be a good time to try something different. England who had been so conservative changed and ran the ball. In a reversal of styles, the Wallabies did not. But, as would happen again in 1999 and 2003, the Australian defence was unyielding- including stunning piece of cover defence by Eales on Rob Andrew late in the game. They were not about to bow to the running Jeremy Guscott and Co, even if they were acting out of character. That said, only a controversial intrusion by David Campese stopped a probable try. Peter Winterbottom passed to Rory Underwood who would have had a clear run to the line, had a Campese’s extended hand not got in the way. The referee awarded a penalty , which was kicked by Webb, but did not award a penalty try, as many (Poms) argue to this day he should have done.
Instead the Wallabies got the only try of the Final. Andrew put a chip ahead into Australia’s 22. Tim Horan took it and somehow beat everyone and bolted down the right touch. He chipped ahead for Campo to chase and forced Web to carry the ball into touch. Willie Ofahengaue won the ensuing line out on the England line and the Wallaby pack drove prop Tony Daly over for the only try of the match. Most of us remember the bit of rugby folklore of Bob Dwyer watching Farr Jones and Noddy fluffing around in midfield in the dying moments of the game and yelling “kick the ball to the shithouse!” Right in front of the Queen. Princess Anne and Prince Edward. Noddy moments later did just that and inside England’s quarter Mr Bevan ruled ‘time’. Not long after, aforesaid Queen handed Nick ‘Bill’ and our celebrations began.
Ticker tape parades ensued back home and we all got the chance to meet ‘Bill’.
