The 1999 World Cup was a curate’s egg of a tournament, combining the crass with the truly historic. This was the one World Cup for example when we had the quarter-final play-offs experiment featuring the five pool runners-up and the best third placed team, a lunacy never to be repeated.
After the blazing success of the single nation South African tournament in 1995 there was further lunacy when the suits decided that a World Cup in five nations was just what the doctor ordered although Wales were officially designated host nation.
The Millennium Stadium was built with almost indecent haste a...