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The Wallabies’ path to the 1999 Rugby World Cup Final is remembered in one moment: Stephen Larkham’s on-the-run drop goal for the ages.
Yet, the highlights reel that has been played forever and a day since often looks over an integral figure: Matt Burke.
The Roar is counting down the Wallabies’ Greatest World Cup XV of all time from No. 15-1 with thanks to thousands of votes from our readers
As it so happens, it took more than a decade for Larkham to admit their World Cup semi-final success came down to more than his 48-metre drop goal. Much more, in fact.
“I always have a chuckle at it. It’s very funny. He [Larkham] actually said years later, Gordon Bray’s pumping out and ‘You kicked the field goal to win the game’ and he goes, ‘Burkey did kick eight’ and I said ‘finally, finally you’re recognised me’ and he just started laughing,” Burke told The Roar.
Burke, who said he “looks in the mirror now” and thinks he’s “just old” recalling the golden moment from last century, knows just how important his teammate’s drop goal was, especially given Jannie de Beer, who destroyed England in the quarter-final with his boot, missed four drop goals, to their overall success.
“That’s a moment in time though, isn’t it,” Burke said.
“A 45-metre field goal on the fly and it sailed by 10 metres easily. It was unbelievable.
“Then you sort of dive into it and go man, he’s never hit a field goal in his life. We used to muck around at training. But just for that one moment, the stars aligned and he knocked it over.
Matt Burke lines up for a shot at goal during the 1999 Rugby World Cup final. (Photo by Sportsfile/Corbis/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
“The commentary if I remember right, ‘Larkham has de Beered de Beer.’ I just think that was just one of the great lines.”
Burke, who played in the 1995 and 2003 World Cups, showed balls of steel throughout the1999 World Cup.
Of course, his eight penalties, including two in extra time, against the Boks helped lead them into the final, but his ability to accrue points in the final against France and apply scoreboard pressure was at the heart of their second World Cup triumph.
As Burke says, it was his job.
“It’s one of those ones where you’ve just got to kick your points,” he said. “It’s your job to tick the box for everyone who has done the hard work.”
Nerves? Nope.
“No, no, no,” he said. “It’s like a cricketer going out to bat, there’s nerves going out to bat, but once you’ve done it, you’ve done it a million times.
“If I remember right, we played at Ulster [against Romania], it was really wet and I put the wrong studs in because it was so wet. I put 15s in, I used to always wear 12s and they were too long for me. I was tripping myself up. I got a couple that day but I missed a couple.
“Ireland was in difficult conditions, Wales was better, South Africa was better. And then you just get into a zone. For the French, you just find a zone and you’re in it. Sometimes you’ve got to muscle the ball over. It’s like golfers and other times it’s just a rhythm that knocks it over. You’re working incredibly hard to make it look easy.”
But surely in the final?
“My role as well as doing that fullback job was to kick goals,” Burke said.
“I used to run up to Ealesy [John Eales] and the first thing I’d say, ‘let’s put points on the board, let’s put pressure on.
“He’d say, ‘Are you a chance?’
“I’d say, ‘I’m a chance every time.’
“You’ve got to be confident in that role, I’m not sounding arrogant at all, but let’s go. Scoreboard pressure. In that final, we went I think 3-0, 3-3, 6-3, 6-all, 9-6, 12-6, 15-6, 15-9, 18-9 and then I think we scored twice and that was it.”
So for us mere mortals, how did drinking out of the William Webb Ellis Cup taste?
“It was sweet because it was full of rum and coke I think at the time,” he said.
While Burke was voted as The Roar’s Wallabies best World Cup fullback of all time, he knows he was surrounded by teammates that rolled up their sleeves and loved working for each other.
“In a way, I love it that our team was so fondly remembered,” he said.
“You’ve got still people talking about the names of [George] Gregan, Larkham, [Tim] Horan, [Jason] Little, [Daniel] Herbert, back three, me and Roffy [Joe Roff] and Tuney [Ben Tune], to then talk about that forward pack led by Ealesy with an incredible front-row. As you said, it’s a piece of history that we all will love and all remember so fondly.”
Yet, their campaign at some stage threatened to fall off the tracks.
“I suppose the whole mission of it was a catalyst from the tour to Argentina in 1997,” Burke said.
“I wasn’t there, I was crook, but we got beaten by Argentina, so basically it was a re-think and a re-think of everything of where you want to go and what you wanted to do; a new coach coming in and changing up a few bits and pieces.
“In the meantime, the players had to buy into it. We weren’t fit enough. We weren’t strong enough. We weren’t tactically smart enough.
“But going through that campaign, I remember the first 10 days, and we just bashed each other. We had a good time doing it, but we just bashed each other for 10 days. We couldn’t wait to get that first game out of the way, which was Romania at Ravenhill and once we got that out of the way we started to sort of get a bit of a roll on.
“That semi-final game was epic. That was one of the best games I’ve played in without a try being scored.
“I think what changed our focus more than anything else was when New Zealand got beaten by France. I think that just narrowed it down even more. If we were to play New Zealand in the final, not that it would have been blasé at all, but it would have been we’re playing New Zealand again. And we sort of know what to expect. But this time, now we’re playing France. It became a case of forgetting the All Blacks and zeroing in on the French and having to refocus.
“I think it was a great thing for us that the French one, knowing that we had to sort of really knuckle down and work out all the bits and pieces throughout the week.
“I look back on the World Cup with just great memories, great memories of good blokes coming together.
“That celebration afterward in the changeroom…
“I can’t remember if we got paid or not.
“There certainly wasn’t a winner’s bonus from the IRB at the time. But I remember we had John O’Neill in the changeroom, we started chanting ‘Double the bonus.’ It may have gone from 15 to 30. ‘It was double the bonus, double the bonus’ and he went ‘yes’ and the place went nuts.”
Matthew Burke is your choice of No.15 for The Roar’s Greatest Wallabies Rugby World Cup XV, powered by ASICS, the Official Performance Apparel and Footwear supplier for the Wallabies. Burke won with 54.8% of the vote, followed by Chris Latham and Israel Folau. Check back tomorrow to find out who was selected at No.14.
The Roar’s Greatest Wallabies Rugby World Cup XV
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