3 days ago
Rugby World Cup 1995 On this day: Aussies subdue plucky Canada, Italy push England, Japan win hearts and All Blacks beat Wales
JOE Roff scored some nice tries for Australia as they made their come back by beating Canada after losing to the Springboks in the 1995 Rugby Worlkd Cup match. | ArtPhotoLimited
Australia's follow-up game to their shock loss to the Springboks in the 1995 Rugby World Cup was against the tough Canadians and it was an ill-tempered affair in which the Wallabies had to sweat for their 27-11 win.
This was a golden era for Canadian rugby and they had a host of players based at top European clubs. Their flyhalf, Gareth Rees was world class as was their South African-born centre Christian Stewart, the prop Rod Snow and the great flank/lock Al Charron.
The Aussies were still smarting from their defeat at Newlands and they allowed the belligerent Canucks to get under their skins. The North Americans were an abrasive lot — as the Boks would discover at Boet Erasmus Stadium the following week — and there were ugly incidents.
There was also some good rugby, including tries for young Aussie wing Joe Roff, flank Ilie Tabua and flyhalf Michael Lynagh. Australia led 17-6 at half time and could score just 10 points in the second half as the Canadians fought back. They were rewarded with a try by Charron. The balance of the Wallabies' points went to the boot of Lynagh.
In Bloemfontein, over 10 000 Free Staters adopted Japan as their team for their fixture against Ireland. The Japanese were based in Bloemfontein and the locals warmed to them, with the referee being booed each time he awarded Ireland a penalty.
It was easy to like the Japanese because they almost never kicked. They ran everything and were rewarded with four excellent tries.
Ireland won 50-28 and scored just one more try than Japan. The balance of their points came from penalties and conversions by flyhalf Paul Burke.
In Durban, rainy conditions greeted England and Italy at Kings Park for their crunch clash. England were one of the pre-tournament favourites but did not look it as the Italians pushed them close.
This was the era of Red Rose greats in Jason Leonard, Rory Underwood, Jeremy Guscott, Rob Andrews, Martin Johnson, Neil Back, Mike Catt and Graham Rountree.
Underwood's brother, left wing Tony, opened the scoring after a break by fullback Catt and, later, South African-born Catt repeated the act when he put right wing Rory away. The latter Underwood had scorching pace and was famously an RAF pilot at the time.
Italy had an ace kicker in the Argentinian Diego Dominguez while their try was scored by prop Massimo Cuttita, who was a product of Pinetown Boys High School in Durban.
The final score was 27-20 to England.
In the third match of the second round, the All Blacks beat Wales 34-9. New Zealand were massive favourites to win the tournament and were expected to win by more even though this was a good Wales team.
Still, the Welsh could muster just nine points courtesy of flyhalf Neil Jenkins while his opposite number, Andrew Mehrtens delivered a Player of the Match performance for his excellent goal-kicking and his playmaking, with tries going to centre Walter Little, wing Marc Ellis and flank Josh Kronfeld.
New Zealand won 34-9.
