The truth about the 1995 RWC final

What if they were all just hungover to balls?

And then 2019 happened. Sorry about that. :laughing:

Sick off all these big paragraphs trying to dance around it. The fact is that Saffa head of security for Manela who was assigned to the All-Blacks investigated it wrote "I had to endure accusations of complicity in this, from New Zealand officials, and I was very angry that this was allowed to happen in my country – to people in my care. South African rugby fans remained skeptical of this theory and preferred to put it down to sour Kiwi grapes. To my fellow South Africans I want to say this: Stop all those cheap jokes about Suzie, the food poisoning and whingeing Kiwis. It happened. There is no doubt that the All Blacks were poisoned two days before the final." The All Blacks were food-poisoned, so were the Wallabies earlier in the tournament. You just have these dodgy things happen when you travel to countries that aren't first world, you'll know if you travel.

This is pure observational rhetoric with no factual basis. I happen to know the All Black Doctor at the time of the RWC, and he has told me that a certain food was undoubtedly poisoned the lunchtime two days before the final. The players that got sick all ate the dish from the lunch menu - and those that didn't eat that food didn't get sick and EVERYONE that did was puking for two days. Any Doctor will tell you that 100% of people will never get sick from eating bad food - the only way that could happen was if the dish was poisoned. In retrospect though, it was way more important for South Africa to have won the final than the AB's. The biggest play of the World Cup 1995 was by Nelson Mandala.

I'm offended on behalf of all kiwis that you think us so stupid to not get the importance of that game. It was hugely significant post apartheid for not only South Africa but the entire world and racism. It also proved a huge catalyst for the game professionally. However to cloud the controversies of that game with emotional black mail and a one eyed point of view is wrong. As stated above who knows if we would have won had we played our best and un-poisoned team?! The only thing kiwis are agrieved about is that we didnt have our best team for that final and thats hard to swallow when its a wc final and we had been unstoppable all tournament.

Few facts that get in the way of the article: 1. Out of the 35 players staying at the hotel, 27 of them dined at the hotel restaurant while 8 went down to the Pizza hut. 27 of them came down with extreme food poisoning, 8 didn't. Guess which 8? 2. The Saffies were so desperate to win they were resorting to all manner of dirty tricks. The ABs found listening devices in their hotel rooms and on the day of the final all the cars parked around their hotel were synchronised to have their alarms go off at irregular intervals throughout the night. The ref of the French-SA semi-final refused to award a very obvious try which would have won France the game: it was 19-15 with 2 minutes to play. The French scored a try (which would have won them the match by 1 point) but the ref disallowed it and took them back for a 5 metre scrum then immediately called time, despite there still being a minute left of normal time, let alone injury time. The head of SA rugby later gave the ref a solid gold rolex worth a fortune for 'his help in winning SA the cup.' Bearing the above in mind, is it really that difficult to imagine they might also try to knobble their opposition? It is? Well then what if we ask a South African: 2. Rory Steyn, the head of security for Nelson Mandela wrote in his autobiography, 'One step behind' that the All Blacks were poisoned. quote: "To my fellow South Africans I want to say this: Stop all those cheap jokes about Suzie, the food poisoning and whingeing Kiwis. It happened. There is no doubt that the All Blacks were poisoned two days before the final." Is that proof enough? Food poisoning is interestingly pretty common in SA. In 2000, Johnny Wilkinson fell mysteriously victim to pretty much the exact same virus just before the England-SA first test. And I recall a few years ago some international U19 (iirc) cycling competition that went on in South Africa where every team but one (guess which one) came down with a mystery virus just before the competition. There does appear to be a pattern emerging... Regardless of whether it was deliberate or not, that they were able to even field a team and stay competitive for 120 minutes is testament to their ability and character. What they got would lay all of you low for days and there'd be no way you could run onto a rugby field 2 days later and play full-on rugby for 2 hours at high altitude.I remember at the time thinking the ABs had no idea and were just constantly throwing it out to Lomu in the hope he'd do something. But looking back now, I can see they were doing this because he was one of the few unaffected. I once came down with a similar lurgy. It's frightening how quick it hits and how bad it can be. Someone brought some meatballs and spaghetti into work. I ate some at 10am. I lived only 5 minutes walk away from work and went home for lunch at 12.45pm. My flatmate who also worked at the same place was already home vomiting copiously. I was feeling perfectly fine and told him I'd go back to work and tell the boss. I distinctly remember at 1pm suddenly feeling a 'burp' in my guts and jokingly saying to him as I was leaving, Hey perhaps I'll get it too! That was at 1pm. I jgot to the bosses office at 1.05pm when I suddenly realised I was going to vomit and just made it to the toilet - though I had to throw up into the basin because both stalls were occupied with other workers heaving. By 1.30pm I was vomiting copiously every 5 minutes. These weren't nice vomits (if there is such a thing) either: My entire abdomen would spasm. Bloody painful. I managed to walk home, though it took 15 minutes as I had to lie down on the footpath for several minutes trying not to throw up. I got home and me and my flatmate took turns heaving into the toilet. I've no idea how he did it, but he finally said, "fuck this" staggered up, went to the fridge and sculled 2 bottles of beer then smoked a joint. Incredibly this sorted him out. He kept offering me a toke but the smell just made me ill. By then it was coming out both ends and I started throwing up stomach lining and blood. I was a horrid mess, lying on the floor covered in puke, blood and shit. The neighbour phoned the hospital and I was taken there by ambulance. Out of the 50 staff, 20 had eaten the meatballs and all had come down ill. 6 of us ended up in hospital on intravenous drips. I was allowed to go home the next day and spent the next 3 days in bed. I didn't hit the gym for a week. I was bloody fit back then too: I held the national record for 1000m and 1/2 marathon on the rowing machine and could bench press 1.5 times my bodyweight. So I have some idea just how debilitating such a virus can be and are amazed the All Blacks were able to take the field just a day later.

haha BS made up by NZ. All of them give a different number of the players that was ill. But what is strange is that NZ has the highest rate of food poisoning in the world. So they chose something they were familiar with then made up the rest as they go along. Jeff Wilson blowing chunks after playing 80 minutes in the African heat at high altitude? Sore losers

OJ, There won't be an edition on the 1987 RWC. No point. The ABs revolutionized training techniques to the point they had made a quantum leap ahead of everyone else. The difference between 1987 & 1986 might as well have been 10 years let alone one. The Boks in 1987, had they competed, would have been caught up in the same time warp as the Wallabies were. While each of the Boks, Wallabies & France might all have been happy with how they ended 1986, the ABs hit the retro-rocket boosters, & catapulted forward. They caught everyone else napping. The Boks team of 1987 would not have much different from 1986.....a formidable outfit. The major difference is that most of the aging cavalier All Blacks had gone. The ABs had a new, vibrant team. In 1987, ther emight have possibly been a different runner-up. But the champs would still have been the ABs. So you see OJ, I may be tough at times, but I'm fair, or at least I try to be!

Who said the South African rugby team had anything to do with the All Blacks being sick? And who's whinging? Sheek was trying to dispel the story. It's a fact. It happened. Whether it had any bearing on the outcome, nobody will ever know. All you can say is that it screwed up the All Blacks' preparation and that some of the guys shouldn't have played that day, but like Rush said (if anyone bothered to watch that interview), it was the biggest game of their lives and you couldn't tell them they weren't playing. Anyway, it's not really a topic I felt like talking about until Sheek brought it up. Nice barb, though. I look forward to the "Truth about the 1987 RWC Final" article -- the All Blacks wouldn't have won it if the Boks had been there.

Spiro if they were that sick they could not have taken to the field, no amount of motivation could overcome poisoning that severe. The story may still be true but not to that degree.

Gentlemen! Wether they where sick or not is irrelevent, many things happen in tournaments of that nature that affect the ultimate outcome. But to suggest that SA Rugby was involved is more than a little disingenious. Finally, I agree with Sheek, if the Blacks where good enough they'd have found a way to win, this whinging about being sick is quite frankly pathetic, paticularly when you consider that there's always some excuse for the All Blacks failing at World Cups, instead of just being able to accept that they botched things when they mattered. The first step to success is to acknowledge your own contributuion to your failure, otherwise you just keep losing and end up with a variation of the same sorry pity me story every time you fail. Finally, the All Blacks haven't won a World Cup yet, not really anyway, everyone knows invitational tournaments aren't the real deal

I could have won a World Cup if not for food........and drink.....and lack of talent and courage.

It's pretty much a matter of record that the majority of the playing 22 were sick as dogs in the leadup to the final. I've read and heard enough accounts from the players and touring party to accept that it happened. Given that, I think phrases like "Sick or not, the All Blacks were out-thought and outplayed" are laughable. Yeah, they were outplayed. Obviously - they lost. But were they outplayed because they were sick? Who knows? But if you don't acknowledge that it at least possibly played a big part in determining the outcome - well, you're either just ignoring the evidence or South African.

I'm not so serious off the forums, as people who've met me and surprised to discover. Probably a bad habit, but the topic is rugby. Benzzai has often said he was inches from the tryline, but he was a guy who was deeply moved by South Africa's victory in the final (I believe he sat behind the goal posts), and I think he wanted to let sleeping dogs lie. It was great that South Africa won. To be honest, I think that confuses some NZ rugby fans when it comes to the '95 final or at least it confuses me. Had we won, it wouldn't have been anywhere near as memorable, and if you think about taking that moment away, it seems a little hollow.

OJ, I only decided to post this thread after several previous jousts with you. Sometimes, I think you're too serious (however, there's no denying your knowledge & passion for rugby), & I knew you would bite on this one.....naughty me! OJ/Mike, Yes, the semi-final between the Boks & France is one that gets buried. I've seen dozens of less likely tries awarded in the S14 than the one denied to France in 1995. Perhaps Kiwis are the only ones to disagree, but it was great for the game that the Boks won. However, they've now used up their goodwill (winning again in 2007), & we don't want to see another cup victory from them for another 20 years!

I don't know what to make of this article or the last one you posted, but anyway... Here's an interview with Eric Rush, Frank Bunce and Sean Fitzpatrick talking about the food poisoning -- http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=D5iQBLgndTU (the part where Rush talks about playing spacies at Pizza Hutt is classic, 10-1 says Jonah was with them and they were playing Street Fighter.) Here's an article about how Mains' claims were backed up by their security guard, Rory Steyn -- http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=6&click_id=581&art_id=qw961136822629B262 What really led to the bad feelings was Louis Luyt being the mother of all cocks at the post-match dinner, giving a gold watch to the ref who disallowed Benazzi's try in the semi-final and claiming that New Zealand and Australia would've never been World Champions had South Africa played those tournaments. So there's "tragedy" number three, the ungracious manner in which Luyt treated not only the All Blacks, but every other country, including the French who were at the game and wept for the magnitude of it all. As for the game, the Boks knew that Jonah liked to step around his man and get on the outside, so the Boks practiced a defensive plan where Small would maintain a wide position and approach Lomu from an angle that forced him back inside. They practiced this repeatedly with Small and his outside centre, basically herding Lomu inside so that other players could tackle him. The other thing you have to remember is that Lomu in '95 was not the polished article. He often needed prompting about position, and he wasn't fully aware of the options around him. Having said all that, he did come close to scoring or creating a try on a number of occasions. They couldn't go right because Wilson was sick as a dog and shouldn't have played. It was a similar situation to the '91 World Cup semi, where Timu was ineffective on the left hand wing, so they had to try the right hand side and despite Kirwan's efforts, Crowley didn't have the pace to back up the play. Despite all that, they played for 100 minutes, so you're really just spinning this into a story about battleships and your own idea that the smarter, hungrier team wins. Whether the All Blacks could've won if they'd been fit is conjecture. Ellis Park has always been a difficult place for the All Blacks or anyone else to play at, and they had history and a nation behind them. The significance of that moment in South Africa sporting history has not been lost on New Zealand rugby fans and over time many have come to acknowledge that it was more than just a rugby game. Whether that moment has had any lasting effect in South Africa, I don't know, but Jonah himself has talked about all the emotions he felt when the final whistle blew and it was really the NZ media who blew the whole food poisoning thing up.

Tim Horan's made of different fibres though...

I recall in the 99 WC final a certain Tim Horan suffering from a gastric problem. The story was that he could only hold down a piece of toast that day, but still played, and won the man on the tournament. Mick you I don't think Tim was very hungry that day.

Sheek, Smarter, hungrier....??? Both teams were trading drop goals or attempts at drop goals in extra time...I would hardly say one team was clearly dominant over the other. It's one of those games that could have went either way and South Africa at home came out with it....it was great for South Africa at the time. Unfortunately finals aren't often great showcase events but you can't take away the great style of rugby the All Blacks played throughout the tournament and these are my memories of that world cup. The England semi in particular! Btw, what a different story it may have been if France were awarded the "try" in the wet against South Africa in the semi final (now Sheek there's a better story).

Would the same doctor have said that there was no way the world's best player at the time could have played at that level with a debilitating kidney disease?