I’m trying to track down some history of the Rugby World Cup, specifically player of the tournament and player of the final.
There’s heaps of stuff on most games played, most tries, most points, etc. But it’s so difficult finding info on the two categories above, so I’m seeking the help of fellow Roarers.
Below is what I know and hopefully you can help fill in the blanks.
Player of the tournament and player of the final:
1987 – Michael Jones (both)?
1991 – David Campese and (a Wallaby)?
1995 – Jonah Lomu and (a Bok)?
1999 – John Eales and Tim Horan (or other way around)?
2003 – Jonny Wilkinson and Richard Hill?
2007 – Bryan Habana and (a Bok)?
2011 – Richie McCaw and Thierry Dusatoir?
2015 – Dan Carter (both)?
Any help appreciated.
sheek
Roar Guru
Thanks for your help so far guys. So here's a recap. 1987 player of the tournament - Michael Jones. 1987 player of the final - Buck Shelford? I think, from my hazy memory, Shelford might have been player of the final & Jones player of the tournament. 1991 player of the tournament - David Campese. 1991 player of the final - John Eales? No-one on either side really stands out from memory, above all others. Some Wallabies each did good things. The English backrow was outstanding on the day, as I recall. 1995 player of the tournament - Jonah Lomu. 1995 player of the final - Ruben Kruger? I remember Kruger as having a whale of a game. But so did some other Boks. Maybe Joel Stransky's cool kicking was the difference? Or VDW's sniping runs, or the midfield defence of Le Roux & Mulder. 1999 player of the tournament - Tim Horan. 1999 player of the final - Toutai Kefu? Kefu wasn't far behind Horan in overall effectiveness. I think David Wilson also had a fine tournament. Ben Tune ran powerfully in the final. 2003 player of the tournament - Jonny Wilkinson. 2003 player of the final - Richard Hill? For some reason, Hill stands out in my memory as being the player of the final. 2007 player of the tournament - Bryan Habana? 2007 player of the final - Victor Matfield. Matfield is the first official man of the match from the final. For some reason, I thought Habana was player of the tournament. 2011 player of tournament - Richie McCaw. 2011 player of the final - Thierry Dusatoir. 2015 player of the tournament - Dan Carter. 2015 player of the final - Dan Carter. Is it true Carter won both awards in 2015? Hopefully others can help confirm this. So far we have had one player of the tournament not from the winning team - Jonah Lomu (1995). We've also had one player of the final not from the winning team - Thierry Dusatoir (2011).
red son
Guest
Hi sheek The information I have on "player of the tournament" is taken from books edited by Ian Robertson on each world cup from 1991 to 2015. "Player of the final" is more difficult to find. I have only one. World Rugby (IRB that was) in its 2016 Yearbook actually names a player of the RWC final - Dan Carter. In all their other preceding yearbooks no one is nominated that I can find. In 1987, there was no official book on the RWC, but the "BBC Rugby Special" book of 1987 nominates Wayne Shelford as their individual player of the tournament. So my list of player of the tournament is: 1987 Wayne Shelford (source: BBC Rugby Special 1987) 1991 David Campese (The Official Book of the RWC 1991) 1995 Jonah Lomu (The Complete Book of the RWC 1995) 1999 Tim Horan (The Complete Book of the RWC 1999) 2003 Jonny Wilkinson (Sweet Chariot: The Complete Book of the RWC 2003) 2007 Victor Mayfield (Sweet Chariot 2: Heroes and Heartbreak) 2011 Richie McCaw (Black Gold: Rugby World Cup 2011) 2015 Dan Carter (Simply the Best: Rugby World Cup 2015) Hope this helps
Dat Mavis
Roar Pro
I found this for RWC 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20120128161329/http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/home/news/newsid=2060306.html
Dat Mavis
Roar Pro
Sheik are you going to write some stuff about this? I was actually pondering last year how much of the games history seems to being willfully lost, because the people in charge don't seem to care for it too much. Might actually write that article some time soon. Anyway, i don't have any answers, just more questions: When did man of the match start to be awarded? Where there even official awards for these categories at the early (pre-pro) World Cups?