Today rugbydownunder.com continues it’s support of those less fortunate souls who live north of god’s own lands and welcome back guest writer & proud ‘Slander’ Damo for his fourth installment on the history of the Rugby World Cup.
In Brief
When: October 01st – November 6th 1999
The Hosts: The 5 Nations although Wales were technically ‘the hosts’
Winners: Macca’s Marauders
Runners up: The Eye Gougers – The Frogs
Third: Saffa’s
Fourth: The Nearlies
McQueen & Country
Australia were convincing winners of the 1999 World Cup. It was never in doubt. Not with players like Warnie, Pidge McGrath, Gilly, Punter and the Waugh boys. Oh, that was the cricket world cup, played in the same part of the world six months or so before RWC 1999. Why do I mention this? Well, we often say that to win a (rugby) world cup you need a good number of players who would make a best world team. Our cricket team obviously had that in spades.
The Wallabies certainly brought some guns to town, with town being the ‘Home’ nations and France as venues, and played from October 1 to November 6 1999. Skippered by Ealsie, the squad included Horan and Little, Joe Roff, George Gregan, Bernie Larkham, Totai and Dave Wilson along with a 22 year old bulldozing # 14 tyro, Ben Tune. World class all of them for sure, but possibly the most important factor (X,Y, or Z – who knows?) were the planning, organisational and management skills of Wallaby coach Rod McQueen. If Alan Jones’ 1984 grand slam tour coaching strategy to bring along an assistant coach and man managers challenged the conventional wisdom, then MacQueen brought about a revolution, and not just in Australian rugby.
MacQueen was appointed coach late in 1997. He bookended a career by winning back the Bledisloe in 1998 3- 0 and beating the BILs in 2001 2 -1. In the uncompromising world of international Test match rugby, Macqueen coached the Wallabies in 43 Tests, winning 34, losing eight, and drawing one for a winning percentage of 79%.
As a coach, Macqueen always insisted on high standards on and off the field.
In 1999 he augmented his management team to achieve the specific goal of winning the Rugby World Cup. He introduced new practices and developed a style of play for the World Cup that he believed would provide a winning formula under the laws of the game as they stood. He introduced defence and scrum consultants to the team and it was Australia’s superiority in these areas that proved critical to the World Cup victory.
The Wallabies base camp in Caloundra intrigued the rugby chattering classes. As Sunny Coast residents, we saw them regularly in coffee shops, on bikes, with family, at training sessions.
I have dwelt a bit longer here on the run up to the RWC for the Wallabies because I think we were seeing a very professional coach and manager take a team into the professional era. He planned to be ahead of the rest- and he succeeded. The legacy of his programs got us to the 2003 final. It could be argued that we have failed to keep up with the best since then. One last, interesting note. Instead of being paid per appearance receiving different amounts according to whether they started games or were reserves, the newly picked Wallabies went a different route, deciding that, regardless of how far they went in the RWC or how many minutes each played, all earnings would be split evenly. MacQueen noted “I think it was a huge decision and typified why that group of people were
successful”.
The Pool Rounds
A major decision taken for the 1999 tournament was to increase the participation from 16 to 20 teams, and from 4 pool groups to 5. Also, the winner of each pool progressed to the last eight automatically, with the remining quarter-finalists determined by three play-off matches, played between the runners-up from each pool and the best third-placed team. Wales, as hosts were automatic qualifiers, as were the 3 top placed teams from ’95 RWC, SA, NZ and France.
To fill the remaining 16 positions, 65 nations played qualifying matches in the years running up to the Cup.
In spite of Australia’s winning record running up to the Cup, the ABs were still considered favourites. The pool games probably reinforced that view with a squad featuring Lomu, Umaga, Cullen, Kronfeld, Dowd and co, they rampaged through the rounds, including a 30-16 win over England and a 100+ point demolition of Italy. Generally the ‘minnows’ were put to the sword during the pool rounds.
Wales opened the tournament with a close win over Argentina at the new Millenium stadium, and in fact, just squeaked into the Quarters, following a loss to Samoa.
Australia, based in Ireland throughout the tournament, were very solid throughout the pool games, with Skipper Eales leading a very physical forward pack and his playing partner returning from the 91 win, Tim Horan, in ominous form. Horan went on to win player of the tournament as well as a year’s supply of Guinness for scoring the fastest try (92 seconds v Romania).
The quarter finalists included the usual suspects, with Argentina in following solid performances and almost faultless kicking off the tee by their 10, Quesada, and Ireland out, being beaten by the Argies in the last pool match.
The Finals
The quarter final results delivered fairly predictable results. England proved to be clueless against the Saffa’s rock solid defence with a tryless 44-21 loss. Clive Woodward sent on the 20 year old Jonny Wilkinson in the 2 nd half looking for some magic- but to no avail. Jonny and his team mates watched Jannie de Beer kick 5x 2 nd half field goals to seal the win.
The Wallabies played well to account for Wales in Cardiff with halves Gregan and Larkham hitting their straps. Flaky France turned up to play in Dublin. The ABs struggled with Scotland but in the scored 4 tries to 2 to win pretty convincingly in the end.
The France/ New Zealand semi is still ranked among the best RWC finals matches. While France saw off the Argies, they had been hot and cold throughout the tournament. It was New Zealand’s match to lose. The opening 45 minutes went to script with the New Zealanders going 24-10 ahead thanks to two barnstorming tries to Jonah and the accurate kicking of fly-half Andrew Mehrtens, but there was a sense that the French were still in the fight. And then , in classic French style, everything they tried, worked. Their #9 and #10 Galthie (now French coach) and Lamaison had the ball on a string and the French racked up 33 unanswered points. A late try to Wilson wasn’t enough.
In comparison Aus/SA semi was equally enthralling, but without the tries. Matt Burke and Jannie De Beer ruled with the boot as they exchanged kicks for goal. In spite of the lack of tries, it was no dour match. Both teams threw the kitchen sink at each other. It was a tense test match. The match went into extra time as the world watched to see what would unfold next. It was non-other than Bernie Larkham who changed the course of the match, breaking the deadlock slotting an incredible 48 metre drop goal, the one and only in his international career, to win the match for the Wallabies.
Nobodies Perfect. The World Cup Final.
November 6 1999. Australia v France at Millenium Stadium Cardiff. 72,500 in attendance. At home we were buzzing. Lots of parties, with the goal to survive till kick off. Australia had been good throughout the tournament and France… well, which team would turn up. Had they played their final the previous week? MacQueen admitted that their planning for the final had always been around playing the All Blacks. A different plan would be needed. It looked like the Wallabies game plan was to squeeze the French into errors, pinning them deep in their own half. This seemed to work – the French were being penalised regularly. It didn’t help that the French were into some ophthalmology (as they did the previous week) and Ealsie told Andre Watson that he would take the team from the field if it continued. The French were on notice. While the Wallaby scrum was under a lot of pressure, as always the defence was rock solid- the Wallabies conceded just one try in the whole tournament.
The team traded penalties over the first hour of the game. Then, around 65 th minute, following some smart backline phase play involving Matt Burke, Bernie, Gregan, Horan and Larkham, Ben Tune bulldozed over the top of the French fullback to score in the corner. Then finally, 80 th minute the coup de gras was inflicted. Lineout about 30 metres out. Jeremy Paul threw to Ealsie, down to Gregan who flicked the ball back inside to Owen ‘Melon’ Finnegan who bashed and crashed his way to score next to the posts. End result 35-12. Mission accomplished. It was ‘Nobody’s’ turn to collect ‘Bill’ from the Queen.
We partied like it was 1999.
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