1995 Rugby World Cup

[Mr. TM]

An interesting story behind it, and it will soon be hitting the big screen with Matt Damon (Attracts Sly) and Morgan Freeman (Attracts GD) will star in Invictus. But this isn't about the film, take that shit to the Film and Television section. This is for the event itself.

16 nations would compete in South Africa (including Canada (Canada's rugby interest boomed in the early 90s (Now it has died down))).

Now I am not an expert of Rugby, but it was an interesting final. The All Blacks of New Zealand (Attracts Shadow) faced off against the home nation of South Africa.

This would go down as a very important Rugby Union World Cup, being the third one, and being held in one country, a country that had just began to regain unity. Not only that, but it would become a unifying event, as the tournament was a success, and the home team won, building nationalism.

So what are your thoughts on the 1995 Rugby World Cup?

 

[Tastycles]

I'm not hugely into rugby either, but I do follow international events. This one was most definitely not a vintage year for the mighty Wales. Drawn in a group of death with Ireland, New Zealand and err.. Japan, they lost the game that mattered with Ireland and went home.

The thing that was important about this event though was the South African team overcoming the traditionally white supremacy view of the sport and win with black players on the team. The image of Mandela giving Francois Pienaar the trophy is one of the most iconic post Apartheid images.

 

[Loveless]

I was in hospital for the entire tournament so ended up watching pretty much the whole thing. Johna Lomu was a beast, totally unstoppable, at least until New Zealand did what they do in every tournament and bottled it. After a great tournament that final was so horribly disappointing, I don't think there was a try in it.