Today we welcome back honorary NSWelshman & guest writer ‘Damo’, for installment #VI (that’s the equivalent of ‘6’ for those edumecated up north) of the history of the RWC.
The Big Men Triumph.
In Brief:
When: Set 7th to October 20th
The Hosts: The Escargot Hunters (with help from Cardiff & Edinburgh)
Winners: Saffas
Runners Up: Soap Dodgers
Third: Argies
Fourth: Frogs
It is an interesting time to look back at the events and outcome of the 2007 RWC as the 2023 qualifying nations finalise squads for the imminent return to France, 16 years later.
Both England and France bid to host the tournament. It was announced in April 2003 that France had won the hosting rights, with the structure remaining as it was for RWC 2003. It was also announced that ten French cities would be hosting games, with the final at the Stade de France. French Sports Minister Jean-François Lamour said that “The organisation of this World Cup will shine over all of France because ten French towns have the privilege of organising matches and to be in the world’s spotlight.” French cities to host games were Bordeaux, Lens, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes, St. Etienne, Toulouse and Paris, with the final at the Stade de France. You could almost smell the cheese and taste the wine!
As was often the case the form of various teams coming in to the world cup was a little uncertain, with players being rested and squads being sorted. The ABs had won the Tri Nations series, suffering only a narrow loss to the Wallabies in Melbourne. But both the ABs and the Saffas were fielding less than full strength sides.
Earlier that year, the Six Nations was equally topsy turvy. In the build-up to the competition, Ireland were favourites for the Grand Slam. However, despite having started strongly with a win against Wales, they lost to France 20–17 in Dublin. In turn, Ireland went on to beat England, who subsequently won against France. France took out the tournament ahead of Ireland on points differential. Italy actually finished 4th, beating both Wales and Scotland.
The tournament, beginning with the opening ceremony at Stade de France and an inauspicious loss by the home side 17-12 to Argentina, posed some interesting questions. Could England, with a new coaching regime, repeat the glory of 2003? Could New Zealand, who went into pretty much every RWC as favourites, finally rid themselves of the “choking” jibes and take out the ‘Cup’? Could France take advantage of their home grounds and fans?
And what of the Wallabies? Not a great Spring tour the previous year, with a draw against Wales and a loss in Dublin. A win against an understrength All Blacks in the Tri Nations. There had been rebuilding since 2003,and Australia’s success was patchy throughout this period, leading to Eddie’s sacking and John Connolly being appointed head coach in 2006. Gregan, Larkham, Gits, Sharpie, Lote and co were still there, with a number of players recently blooded, including Rocky Elsom, Stephen Moore, Adam 2 Dads. The Wallabies also brought an uncapped 20 year old Berrick Barnes as a back up 10/12. Hopefully not an omen for 2024, but the Wallabies had been struggling at scrum time- with what was considered an underpowered front row. It was to prove costly.
As we have seen in our RWC stories so far, the pool rounds did not see many surprises or upsets. The most notable performances; Argentina topping Pool D, accounting for both France and Ireland along the way and South Africa demolishing England 36-0 in their pool match. The ABs were marching through the pool rounds as usual and the Saffas were imposing their monster forward pack and lightning speed out wide ominously (and no doubt deriving great benefit from their ‘technical advisor’ Mr E. Jones). The Wallabies won their 4 pool matches soundly, without being brilliant. The big downside however was the loss of Stephen Larkham to injury early in the pools.
The Knockout.
It was to be a fun night, albeit a little nervous. Quarter final dinner party, drinks and sleep over – our group included both Wallaby and All Black supporters. By early Sunday morning the blackest thing was our collective mood. Four more years.
A clinical kicking performance from Jonny Wilkinson(again) and our flaky front row did for Australia in Marseille. The match featured an appalling scrumathon, often with 3 or 4 resets. The Australian front row started competitively but as the game wore on, they we’re dominated, with Andrew Sheridan particularly ruthless, and Wilkinson added two 2 nd half penalties to his 6 point first half. Australia actually led 10-6 at half time on the back of a good 15 odd phase try in the corner to Tuqiri. The Wallabies created many more try scoring opportunities than their opponents but couldn’t finish it. Barnes played really well, as did Mortlock, Elsom, Smith and Vickerman. Mortlock had an opportunity to write himself into World Cup folklore when he lined up a long-range penalty shot with just two minutes remaining, but hooked what would have been the match-winning kick wide to the left of the posts.
All Blacks v France. We have noted before that France sometimes play their ‘final’ too early in the
competition. So it proved in 2007. The All Blacks looked the better side throughout most of this match, but Les Bleu managed to hold on to the scoreboard with intense physicality. Carter was sublime but Dusautoir and Bonnaire were everywhere. Of course, as most of us will remember the French lead came as the result of a pass to Freddie Michalak in the 70 th minute which was forward by a postcode. However, I’m thinking that most AB supporters would admit it shouldn’t have come to this and the match should have been already wrapped up.
The other two QFs weren’t so dramatic. Tournament surprise packet Argentina got up 19-13 in arm wrestle with Scotland and Fiji’s fairy tale ended, but not before they scared the daylights out of the Saffas scoring a long range try in the 58 th minute and then an even longer range offloading master class try off the kick off to draw level 20-20. In the end SA had too much firepower and ran out 37-20 winners.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to suggest that Antipodean interest in RWC 2007 waned a bit following the quarter round. The England v France SF was frantic and violent. One of the chief protagonists was Sebastien Chabal who came on in about the 20 th minute and proceeded to smash all in his path, defensively or with ball in hand. In the end it was the English forwards (Kay, Sheridan, Moody, Shaw) and Jonny’s boot which again held sway. Keeping France tryless was no mean feat. Final score 14-9.
In a game that was touted to possibly throw up another upset, the Springboks performed well to brush aside Argentina and reach their second World Cup final since 1995, the year they won it. Scoring four tries in total, the South African side absorbed the tremendous pressure of the Argentinian scrum to take control of the game and lead 24-6 at half time. The Argentinian backs weren’t threatening enough, with star player Juan Martin Hernandez having a below par game. Bryan Habana, who would later be named player of the RWC, scored twice, the first a brilliant chip and chase, the second an intercept. This was his eighth try for the tournament – equaling Jonah’s record.
The Final
So, 20 th October in front of 80,000 spectators at Stade de France, England would meet South Africa, these teams having despatched the other 18 Cup pretenders in the preceding 7 weeks.
It was clear the 2 sides shared a game plan. Forward packs belt the hell out of each other and #10’s kick the leather off the ball and see what happens. What happened in the end, no tries. Percy and Fran Steyn kicked 5 penalties to Jonny’s 2. 15-6. Just after half time England forgot the game plan and decided to keep the ball in hand. Centre Matthew Tait bolted up the middle and was brought down a few metres out. The ball went left via Wilkinson and winger Mark Cueto was over in the corner- or was he? In a more recent interview referee Alain Rolland still isn’t sure, Cueto still believes he scored, Prince William in the crowd was sure it was a try, but after more than 2 minutes of looking at it 100 times oz TMO Stu Dickinson said no.
In the end South Africa just executed their game plan the better and came out on top. Interviewed some years later hooker John Smit talked about the 4 years of focus to get to that final. “We probably played within ourselves. We could probably have gotten ourselves in better places to run the ball, but in the end we trusted what we knew we could do” he said. Lawrence Dallaglio (who was on for just 15 minutes) added to the perspective of the outcome saying that, on reflection maybe not enough of the England side came out with a true belief that they could win.
Highlights:
