World of Boxing and Rugby Union
Rugby Union World Cup - 1991
Quick facts about the finals:
Venue - Eden Park
Participating - 16
Countries
Result - New Zealand 29 - France 9
Captain - Nick Farr-Jones
Coach - Bob Dwyer
Referee - Derek Beven (Wales)
The second World Cup took place in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France, the first time in the Northern Hemisphere and once again 16 nations took part.
For this tournament the IRB invited all member unions to enter qualifying rounds. The eight 1987 quarterfinalists automatically were guaranteed berths while 32 other nations competed for eight other spots. South Africa was still unable to play in the Cup due to the boycott.
New Zealand beat England 18-12. England didn’t play well and should have won the game.
Co-hosts Wales came unstuck by losing to Western Samoa and the Welsh comedian and singer Max Boyce famously said afterwards that "it wasn’t even the whole of Samoa".
In the quarterfinals Ireland played Australia. Ireland took a shock lead with a try from Gordon Hamilton. It was his first try for Ireland and Lansdowne Road went berserk as there was just 4 minutes left to play. Australia then tried a move which they had formulated to expose a weakness they had seen in Ireland's defense. Curl 2 loop and it succeeded to break the Irish fans hearts.
England managed to beat France in Paris in another quarter final which was a very physical game. They now had to beat Scotland in the semi-final but just the year before Scotland had taken the grand slam from them. England won by a drop goal (after Gavin Hastings missed a conversion kick) to book a place in the final.
Australia vs. New Zealand played in the other semi. Australia won the heart of the local Irish fans. Campese was playing excellently and he eventually became player of the tournament. In the end Australia knocked out the world champions.
It was an Australia vs England final. Campese criticized England’s style of play in the press. England changed their style for the final but still couldn’t outwit Australia’s defense. Australia, which had again entered the tournament as favorites, lived up to expectations as it defeated England in the final at Twickenham 12-6.