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Friday, 9 December 2011

New Zealand Rugby History 1995-1998

New Zealand National Rugby Union Team known as the “All Blacks” represents New Zealand in circuit of International Rugby Union Completions. All Blacks have rated well amongst the best in the world for over 100 years. The first New Zealand team was selected in 1884, for a tour to New South Wales. The team played its first match at home, against a Wellington XV. New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) was formed on Saturday 16 April. New Zealand Rugby Football Union or NZRFU was officially shortened in 2006 with the removal of the world “Football”.

New Zealand National Rugby Union Team competes annually with Australia and South Africa in the Tri Nations competition, winning the trophy a record ten times in 1996, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010 in its 16-year history. The All Blacks have won over a record 75% of all rugby matches they have played since 1903. All Blacks won International Rugby Board (IRB) Team of the Year award in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010 and a record fifth time in 2011. New Zealand captain, Richie McCaw, was the International Rugby Board Player of the Year for a record third time. New Zealand National Rugby Union Team is the current holders of the Rugby World Cup 2011 and wins their second Rugby World Cup title after 24 years.

New Zealand were again favourites to take the title of Rugby Worid Cup 1995. Rugby World Cup 1995 was the third edition of Rugby World Cup and was hosted by South Africa. Rugby World Cup 1995 was the first time that all matches were played in a single country. It was also the first time that South Africa participated in the tournament following the end of their international sports boycott due to the apartheid regime and had a fairytale ending. Rugby World Cup 1995 was the last major event of Rugby Union's amateur era. New Zealand was in pool C along with Wales, Ireland and Japan. New Zealand won all the games in their pool matches defeated Ireland by 19-43, Wales 34-9 and Japan 17-145 and reached knock out stage. New Zealand won quarter final from Scotland by 48-30 on11 June at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria. New Zealand deteated England in the semi-final by 29-45 on 18 June at Newlands, Cape Town. A young Jonah Lomu scored four tries in semi-final against England. A confirmed favourite New Zealand team suffered an outbreak of food poisoning before the final.

World Cup 1995 Final New Zealand vs South Africa

Rugby World Cup 1995 final was held at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on 24 June 1995. South Africa defeated New Zealand 15-12, with Joel Stransky scoring a drop goal in extra time to win the final. The allegation of food poisoning was later publicly backed by Rory Steyn, a former head of security for South African president Nelson Mandela. He was the security liaison for the All Blacks and reported in a book that a Far Eastern gambling syndicate was responsible for the outbreak by bribing a waitress.

After the two months of Rugby World Cup 1995 the sport of Rugby Union turned professional, spelling the end of the amateur era at the top level, a new window of commercial opportunity was opened for the governing bodies of rugby playing countries around the world. As a result, the Rugby Football Unions' of Australia, South Africa and New Zealand came together to form the governing body of SANZAR, which was formed with the purpose of selling TV rights for two new competitions, the domestic Super 12 competition.

SANZAR

The Tri-Nations who in turn initiated the idea of a an annual test competition between all three teams, similar to the Northern Hemisphere's equivalent the Five Nations, which has since become the Six Nations Championship. SANZAR took full advantage of the new professional rules of the game to negotiate a multi million dollar television deal which would see the newly founded Tri Nations Championship broadcast around the world. Television has played an important role in the growth and popularity of the Tri Nations Series, allowing rugby supporters around the world to watch all the action live. This has firmly put the South African, New Zealand and Australian brands of rugby on the international map, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere, where audience figures have grown year on year and bookmakers in countries such as Britain and Ireland now report huge betting interest on the Tri Nations Series.

Whilst the rugby playing nations of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have played each other in competitive rugby matches for over 100 years. The Wallabies, Springboks and All Blacks had regularly gone on tour to their Southern Hemisphere rivals throughout the twentieth century; however, it was not until 1996 that any formal structure was applied to the meetings between the three teams.


First Tri Nations South Africa vs All Blacks

The first ever Tri Nations game was played at Athletic Park in Wellington, where New Zealand beat Australia 43 - 6 and since that game it would appear that New Zealand rarely loosened their grip on the Tri Nations Championship since. The All Blacks won the first two Tri Nations Championships in emphatic fashion, going undefeated in the competition until the opening game of the 1998 series when they went down 24 - 16 to Australia at the MMC in Melbourne. South Africa went on to win the 1998 Series and In 1998 New Zealand lost all five Tests in the Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup series (two to South Africa and three to Australia), the first time they had lost four Tests in succession since 1949.

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Scotland vs England Tickets -Murrayfield Stadium Edinburgh, United Kingdom - £120.00 GBP
Italy vs England Tickets -Stadio Flaminio Rome, Italy
England vs Wales Tickets -Twickenham Stadium, London
France vs England Tickets -Stade de France Paris, France
England vs Ireland Tickets -Twickenham Stadium London, United Kingdom

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