Greatest XV: Matt Burke's balls of steel and how one word from John O'Neill sent the Wallabies 'nuts'

By Christy Doran / Editor

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.

Get your hands on the wonderful new ASICS Wallabies RWC strips which is available to purchase in-store, and online now at asics.com.au.

The Roar’s Greatest Wallabies Rugby World Cup XV

The Crowd Says:

2023-08-25T12:14:34+00:00

Busted Fullback

Roar Rookie


He kept me out of the Reds. :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

2023-08-25T11:35:03+00:00

Jez North

Roar Rookie


I’m not saying he wasn’t quick, just that he did not have the blinding acceleration which can bust open a defence like a Habana, Jason Robinson, Davies, Toole etc. He certainly needed more space to beat a man than his teammate Tune. An indisputably awesome player, probably our greatest fullback but I think you’d have to be pretty parochial to throw out ‘best ever Wallaby’ nonsense.

2023-08-25T10:58:22+00:00

Jez North

Roar Rookie


:laughing: You really should have studied in school little fella :stoked:

2023-08-25T04:22:27+00:00

Olly

Roar Rookie


"Don’t need to watch highlights" translates to "have no idea what I am talking about" :thumbup:

2023-08-25T04:09:12+00:00

Gary Russell-Sharam

Roar Rookie


I'm a great fan of Matt Burke, However there was one better and its not Marty Roebuck either. Just a bit before their time was Roger Gould, He toured with the wallabies at 19 years of age to Argentina. He was probably the longest hoofer of the ball from Fullback and a great runner of the ball. He played his club games for Wests Rugby in Brisbane and played numerous times for Qld. A big very mobile that broke the line and man could he tackle.

2023-08-25T00:54:21+00:00

Dusty10

Roar Rookie


Mate, that is absolutely brilliant. You've had some amazing experiences. It's so good when clubs, which mean so much to people, are recognised and celebrated by players at the top. In Jindabyne it was the Bushpigs, and it's always great to see commentators and chat-show hosts wearing a Bushpigs jumper or beanie. Buddha Handy and Simon Poidevin used to give the pigs a shout-out during commentary pretty regularly. A cheer would go up with a mention :)

2023-08-25T00:08:19+00:00

Big Dave

Roar Rookie


Nice. His dad died a couple of years ago and I'd just finished scanning in the photos from that tour (20 years later...) so we were able to send Owen a couple of nice ones of his dad. Plus one or two of Owen and his teammates wearing our signature club beanie, replete with green wallaby head sticking out the front and a maroon and blue tail out the back. One of our beanies made its way onto the field as the wallabies did their lap after the win, and there was a single frame on the TV coverage where you could see Bernie wearing it with someone holding the World Cup next to him. Long lost VCR recording unfortunately.

2023-08-24T23:37:45+00:00

Hoy

Roar Guru


Bloke was a high school sprint star.

2023-08-24T21:46:53+00:00

Harty

Roar Rookie


The thing about Chris Latham is he kept getting better and better. If you watch his early games for the wallabies there were mistakes. However he continued to work and develop his skills. By the end of his career he was clearly the best fullback in the world. And still with the ability to score tries that left you wondering how on earth that was scored. Burke was a fantastic player too. And he was a world class goal kicker.

2023-08-24T21:34:09+00:00

Jez North

Roar Rookie


Don’t need to watch highlights as I watched his whole career. Serge Blanco and Christian Cullen had Xfactor and Latham more dangerous with ball in hand. Burke was absolutely world class but his highlights reel is more a reflection of the length of his career than how often he sparked a breakout or broke a game open.

2023-08-24T21:08:19+00:00

Dusty10

Roar Rookie


Haha, mate there's a great episode of Northern Exposure where the dentist comes to Cicely for his monthly visit and all the locals lock themselves away and avoid him like the plague. Very funny episode.

2023-08-24T20:49:24+00:00

Riccardo

Roar Rookie


Really good player who gave all in the gold and green. That whole team was something else actually; arguably the best Wallaby team. Thanks Christy...

2023-08-24T15:49:39+00:00

Rusty

Roar Guru


:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

2023-08-24T10:57:11+00:00

jeznez

Roar Guru


Melon great for a chat. I met at a rugby dinner in Singapore, great to have a beer with.

2023-08-24T10:52:17+00:00

jeznez

Roar Guru


Welsh. "Just go for it man" was John Taylor Had the great pleasure to hear him at our club annual dinner a few years ago. Cracking to chat with after as well. https://www.theroar.com.au/2014/04/09/tales-from-a-rugby-dinner-review/

2023-08-24T10:33:41+00:00

Check-side for the boundary

Roar Rookie


I mainly played AFL , too, but love my rugby

2023-08-24T10:30:41+00:00

Check-side for the boundary

Roar Rookie


Natural progression from St Joeys

2023-08-24T10:22:47+00:00

Derek Murray

Roar Rookie


It wasn't Gordon Bray. Was an English commentator I thought

2023-08-24T10:17:25+00:00

Check-side for the boundary

Roar Rookie


Sing . “There’s only one Gordon” .

2023-08-24T10:15:09+00:00

Check-side for the boundary

Roar Rookie


God bless him

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