HOW TO WIN A WORLD CUP*
*BY THE MEN WHO KNOW
DAVID KIRK NEW ZEALAND CAPTAIN, 1987
Generally, the best team going in to each World Cup has won the tournament, but in 1987 we came from nowhere.
World Cup-winning teams invariably have a core of senior players ready to take responsibility on and off the field for the performance of the team. That can be about changing tactics during a match or off the field when something might go wrong and you have to deal with it.
It was funny with us because we had a team of players with little experience. a lot of great new Zealand players of that era — Michael Jones, Grant Fox, Sean Fitzpatrick, Wayne Shelford — all of a sudden all emerged at that World Cup. So from the first game I really felt it was a special team because we played with so much pace and precision, which was a step above everyone else.
In the quarter-finals, we faced a very good Scotland team and there was a lot of anxiety about whether we would get through. In the last quarter of that game we finally got on top, scored a couple of tries and won well. That was when I realised we had a talented team who could also dig deep. That made me think we could win the World Cup.
NICK FARR-JONES AUSTRALIA CAPTAIN, 1991
aS our coach Bob Dwyer correctly said: ‘you need five guys who would make it into a World XV, five guys who would be on the edge of that team and five guys who are tried, trusted, proven players’.
you also need a good defence. My team in 1991 conceded three tries in the whole tournament, two against argentina in a pool game and one against Ireland in the quarter-final.
When it came to the final, we had beaten england 40-15 earlier that year and that would have been in the back of their minds. If they had known they’d have 60 per cent possession on the day, they might have played differently, instead of playing an expansive game.
From a captaincy perspective, a lack of ability to change that gameplan was a fault. Good captains have the ability to quickly change the gameplan if needed. I’m not being critical of Will (Carling), because we had to defend bloody well, but if they’d been more conservative on the day, who knows what might have happened?
FRANCOIS PIENAAR SOUTH AFRICA CAPTAIN, 1995
lookInG back, 1995 became a story about the new South africa finding its identity through sport. It was the moment when new South africa took a long hard look at itself and President Mandela showed the way towards reconciliation by putting his trust in the Springboks. It was a healing process.
To most eyes we were probably the underdogs going into the final because the all Blacks were in sensational form. But we had the backing of President Mandela who was wearing the Springboks no 6 jersey and came into our dressing room before the game. We felt the whole nation was behind us.
as we ran out for the anthems there was an incredible roar which seemed to come from all four corners of the country.
after the final whistle, I was operating instinctively and sunk to my knees and the whole team gathered around to quietly give thanks to God for our victory.
a few minutes later I had to do an interview, which was broadcast around the stadium, with SaBC’s David van der Sandt. ‘Francois, fantastic support from 63,000 South africans here today,’ said David teeing me up beautifully. I replied: ‘David, we didn’t have the support of 63,000 South africans today, we had the support of 42 million South africans.’
JOHN EALES AUSTRALIA CAPTAIN, 1999
you’re not going to win a World Cup by just being tougher than everyone else. you need to be an athletically gifted team with talented individuals, but you also need to be a bright team, you need to be smarter than others. That combination of brains and
brawn is important.
The other ingredient which is possibly underrated is that you need to be a humble team, with a willingness to learn. If you don’t keep looking for ways to be better — even in the week between the semi-final and final — then it’s not going to be good enough. you can’t just rely on what you did yesterday.
you need experienced campaigners, calm heads who won’t panic when things don’t go right.
I can’t say I was sure we we’d win the World Cup until owen Finegan scored his try right at the end of the final. There was no moment before then when we thought we’d won it. But there were times when we were proud of how we responded to circumstances — like extra-time in the semi-final.
It was a real challenge and the way we handled that was an impressive team effort to respond to the situation.
PHIL VICKERY (left) ENGLAND PROP, 2003
WInnInG is everything. Four years later I captained england in a World Cup final but we lost and nobody — and I mean nobody — ever mentions it.
What people forget about 2003 is that the match didn’t end with Jonny’s drop goal. We had to catch and safely clear the aussie restart.
We were in a state of disarray and confusion when the ball went to my fellow prop and old mate Trevor
Woodman who I had been playing with and against since we were 11 down in Cornwall.
Trevor was a great player but this was panic stations — he had never taken a restart in his career!
However, great Cornishman that he is, he rose to the occasion, caught the ball perfectly and laid it back without conceding the penalty Australia were desperatley looking for. I was so bloody proud of him.
And then when the final whistle went, it was that moment when your life flashes in front of you.
I thought of everybody who had helped me on the way. Old friends and even people I didn’t know at the time who paid for me to go on England Colts trips, all the coaches and players at Gloucester who had helped me and everybody in the England squad who were going bonkers alongside me.
You will have your own views on how good a team we were, but I know that England squad and the coaches were the finest group of individuals I have ever met or known.
The first thing I did back in the changing room was to phone my mum Elaine. Without her support my rugby career simply wouldn’t have happened. It was her moment as much as mine and I wanted to share it with her.
BRYAN HABANA SOUTH AFRICA WING, 2007
IN 2004, our coach Jake White told the team we would win the World Cup in 2007. He came into the role with a pretty meticulous concept of what he wanted to achieve and did not veer off his path until John Smit lifted the trophy.
You need the bounce of the ball to go your way. I think about Fiji in the quarter-final, when it was 20-all with 20 minutes to go and JP Pietersen’s try-saving tackle that prevented us going behind.
There were also small moments in that World Cup that pushed us on to win it.
We went through an emotional rollercoaster of insane proportions, so it was a massive relief at the end. We were far away from home and I don’t think anyone realised what it would be like when we brought the Cup home.
It was amazing to witness the power of sport and the reception we received. We went into the townships of the Eastern Cape where youngsters were running behind the bus to get a glimpse of their heroes.
Winning the World Cup had a profound impact on us and on a country where sport is needed to bind people together to overcome the intricacies that no other rugby nation in the world has to deal with. It broke down barriers and inspired people.
RICHIE MCCAW NEW ZEALAND CAPTAIN, 2011 & 15
EXPERIENCE is absolutely vital. When it gets tough, it can feel like you have to do something out of the ordinary which is when that experience really counts. You have to execute all the things that have made you a good team in the first place. Experience teaches you to hold your nerve in those situations.
You have to be able to put your faith in your squad, because history shows that you’ll probably need all of them at some point.
In 2015, Joe Moody started the final but had not been in the initial tournament squad. Back in 2011, Stephen Donald and Aaron Cruden weren’t in our initial squad, but both ended up playing in the final.
You can’t reach peak performance every week for seven weeks. In the Pool stages in 2015, we didn’t really nail the intensity we needed for the knockout stage.
We were just wondering whether it was all going to come right when we came up against France in the quarter-final, but within a minute I knew it wouldn’t be an issue.
Then in the final, I remember Kieran Read put the first tackle in on Israel Folau and that made a bit of a statement. That’s how it felt to me anyway. It felt like, ‘Right, here we go, this is how we’re going to be’. I thought to myself, ‘The boys are on it today’.
CONRAD SMITH NEW ZEALAND CENTRE, 2011 & 15
WE knew going into the 2011 tournament that we’d had a lot of failures at World Cups. Not just the loss to France in 2007, but 2003, 1999, 1995, 1991... a whole list of them. New Zealand had not won the World Cup since 1987, so there was a lot of pressure.
Despite that, we wanted to engage with the public.
In other World Cups we’d tried to hide away, but that wasn’t the way to deal with it. We embraced it, stayed in the middle of the cities, did a lot of public events and really tried to use it in our favour. That was smart.
We produced a complete performance to beat Australia in the semi-final, but the blanket media coverage before the final didn’t help my nerves. In the end, we won 8-7 and it wasn’t our best rugby, but it was about holding our nerve. The winning kick came from Stephen Donald, who had been out white-baiting the week before when he got the call-up.
In 2015, we were very average in our pool. We were worried. There were a few meetings when guys were not happy with the planning and coaching.
The coaches were holding a few things back and we felt that was affecting our performance. You look back and say, ‘It was all part of the masterplan’, but I can promise you it wasn’t. Everyone was stressed out.