Brendan Gallagher recalls the biggest World Cup upsets in history
Wales 13 Western Samoa 16 (Cardiff Arms Park, October 6 1991, pool game)
A less than vintage Wales faced Western Samoa first up in this Pool C encounter and the true ‘shock’ around this result was our level of ignorance concerning what was actually a very talented Western Samoa team. When you look at the team sheets now it seems obvious that Samoa, at the very least, were going to run Wales close.
Amidst the “unknowns” in Samoa side were two future All Blacks in Frank Bunce and Stephen Bachop and one of the very best centres of the era in To’o Vaega. Wing Brian Lima was a wrecking machine, captain Peter Fatialofa was a legend around the Auckland club scene and locks Mark Birtwistle and Mattie Keenan had narrowly missed out on All Black honours.
Pat Lam had played Sevens for New Zealand and the muscular Apollo Perelini was to become a major Rugby League player. Almost to a man the team had played club and provincial rugby in New Zealand. They were battle hardened and hungry but for some reason had been flying under the radar.
The European rugby public may have been ignorant of their pedigree but Western Samoa were an extremely competent outfit and remarkably just three days later the same line-up held eventual champions Australia, who were at full strength, to 9-3 in the clawing mud and rain of Pontypool Park. In many ways that was an even better performance, confirmation of their class.
What Wales weren’t prepared for was the shuddering physicality of their opponents and crucially that accounted for two of their key lineout forwards, Llanelli’s Phil May and springheeled Newport backrower Richie Collins. With those two off the field it was an uphill struggle as Samoa built a deserved 13-3 lead although luck was possibly with them when Vaega won a contentious decision for his try in the 42nd minute.
Robert Jones will go to his grave thinking he got a hand on the scudding kick ahead first and photographic evidence is inconclusive but referee Patrick Robin, some distance from the play, had no doubts.
Wales hit back with a try from Arthur Emyr but Western Samoa clinched the game with a penalty from scrum-half Matthew Vaea with a last-minute try by Ieuan Evans offering only limited consolation. After the match To’o Vaega, whose wife had given birth to a son fewer than two weeks earlier in Samoa, announced that the boy would be called Cardiff – he has himself become a very useful provincial player in New Zealand.
Meanwhile the “thank God we weren’t playing all of Samoa” joke was already doing the rounds. My memory is that it was former Wales fly-half Gareth Davies – working as a TV pundit for the day – who came up with that little gem first unless there are any other takers out there?
By 1999 Wales did indeed find themselves playing all of Samoa – the fledgling nation had dropped Western from its name – and the result was the same. This if anything was an even better win for the Pacific Islanders against a confident and competent Wales team that had steadily grown in stature under the coaching of Graham Henry.
Samoa were a stronger all-round team and their dynamic brand of rugby was exhilarating to watch. Lam, Lima and To’o Vaega remained and Bachop had returned from New Zealand duty – you could do that in those days – and was partnered by the classy Steve So’oialo at half-back but there were other serious players to contend with.
Junior Paramore had emerged as a mighty backrow force at the 1995 World Cup, Semo Sititi was starting an illustrious career, Trevor Leota was a one man army in the front row and a certain Inga Tuigamala – another native Samoan who had played for New Zealand – had returned to his roots after switching back to rugby union after a mighty League career with Wigan.
What transpired was a classic attacking contest and apart from France’s memorable semi-final with New Zealand, arguably the game of the tournament. Wales were in good fettle after pool wins against Argentina and Japan and the thought that they had already secured qualification for the quarter-finals, or at the very least the quarter-final play-offs, may have played slightly on their minds. The nation demanded revenge for ’91 however, although on the pitch itself Scott Gibbs was the only Welshman again doing duty.
It was a high-scoring ding-dong affair with Wales’ superior forward power clashing with Samoa’s more rounded game. Proceedings started with a fleeting moment of history when Neil Jenkins converted an early penalty try to break Michael Lynagh’s then world record mark of 911 Test points. Thereafter it was mayhem. Wales built their score through the boot of Jenkins who kicked four penalties and converted a second penalty try, although he could not add the extras when Gareth Thomas crossed.
Samoa, meanwhile, threw caution to the wind and used every scrap of possession to score four tries through lock Lio Falaniko, two from an in-form Bachop and finally a glorious match winner by their veteran captain Pat Lam whose smile as he came up for air after scoring said it all.
Henry, mindful that his side still had a quarter-final against Australia to prepare for, tried to put a positive spin on defeat. “Frankly I hope the boys don’t get over the loss in a hurry,” said Henry afterwards.
“I want them to remember how bad it feels. You develop as a team by absorbing the lessons of defeat rather than pretending it never happened. Losing can often give you a much sharper mental edge and you only need to look at the Samoans for evidence of that.”
Rather like the Wales defeat against Samoa in 1991 you look at the Pumas side that beat Ireland now, with the benefit of hindsight, and wonder what all the fuss was about. It’s stacked with quality – Pichot, Corletto, Albanese, Quesada, Ledesma, Hassan, Contepomi et al – but yet again the ancien regime, if you like, had failed to appreciate how good one of the ‘lesser’ nations had become.
This disappointment was magnified for Ireland because after the ‘formality’ of beating the Pumas in Lens on a drab Wednesday night should have been the prelude a vibrant World Cup quarter-final against an apparently out-of-form France at an already sold-out Lansdowne Road. And after beating the French who knows what glories might lie ahead? The Irish were beginning to dream and think big.
Instead, Ireland made the classic mistake of taking their eye off the ball and, in fact, became the only Irish side never to make the quarter-finals.
And piled upon that misery was the fact that for most of a disjointed but compelling came they had controlled proceedings through the boot of David Humphreys who enjoyed a fine game, amassing 24 points with seven penalties and a drop goal, in an hour as Ireland took a 24-15 lead. He also hit a post with both a second dropped goal attempt and another penalty attempt.
It seemed as if Ireland had the winning of the game but Quesada, one of the best kickers in the world, had kept the Pumas in touch and, with nothing to lose, they suddenly started playing some expansive ‘Hail Mary’ Rugby. Back in Buenos Aries traders on the stock exchange famously downed tools for 20 minutes and suspended business as they crowded around a TV set with the rugby coverage. Quesada kicked a sixth penalty and with seven minutes left Diego Albanese crossed for the game’s only try which Quesada converted. 25-24 to the Pumas. Ireland pressed hard and laid siege to the Argentina line. At one stage they appealed for a penalty try and then they tried a 15-man lineout. To no avail.
The Pumas survived and in the last action of the game moved upfield and Quesada landed a seventh penalty.
“I always considered that defeat in Lens as the nadir for modern-day Irish rugby,” recalls Keith Wood. “There was no ‘disgrace’ in losing to them as such–- the Pumas were a good team – but I was so frustrated that we had failed to close that game out and generally despairing that the big teams in the tournament seem so more advanced than us in their preparations. They were much fitter for a start.
“I found it very hard to stomach but eventually I tuned the disappointment around and used it as a big motivator to overcome some serious injuries and get through to the 2003 World Cup. It was a turning point for Ireland rugby as well. ‘Never again’ was the mantra.
OK France, famously, on their day can beat anybody so strictly speaking this wasn’t a shock. In eight years of searching however I have never stumbled on anybody – journalist, pundit or fan – who predicted a France win against the overwhelming tournament favourites. It was still a result that sent shockwaves through the game.
France had lost their previous seven games against New Zealand and in five of their last six Tests against the All Blacks had shipped 40 points or more. New Zealand, meanwhile, had dominated world rugby since taking the Lions apart in 2005 – so much so that for a while coach Graham Henry virtually ran two first XVs, alternating them from week to week – and had barely raised a sweat when cruising through their pool in 2007.
France, as hosts, had lost their opening game against the Pumas, were underperforming and on a hiding to nothing after suffering the indignity of having to travel to Cardiff for their ‘home’ quarter-final against the All Blacks.
It looked a foregone conclusion but in retrospect there were few clues as to the impending miracle win. New Zealand had scarcely got out of second gear in their pool games and hadn’t enjoyed a proper hit-out since the Tri-Nations championship that summer.
They were also in a curious state of mind. Memories of their capitulation against France in 1999 were still fresh yet such had been their tidal wave of success in the build-up to RWC2007 that, as they admitted afterwards, they hadn’t even bothered to rehearse a dropped goal routine. New Zealand simply assumed they would always score enough tries to win easily.
Meanwhile it was Bernard Laporte’s finest moment.. Everybody assumed that, in extremis, Les Blues would revert to their mercurial free running ‘beautiful’ game but the France coach had correctly decided that was the last modus operandi to adopt against Henry’s all-singing, all dancing All Blacks. What New Zealand would least want to face was a determined grizzly French pack backed up with gritty determined half-backs such Lionel Beauxis and Jean Baptiste Elissalde and the howitzer boot of Damien Traille who he switched to full-back.
Laporte simply wanted to keep in the game as long as possible before he turned to flair in the shape of replacements such Imanol Harinordoquy, Dimitri Szarzewski, Sebastien Chabal, Freddie Michalak and Christophe Dominici. His tactics were Napoleonic in their brilliance.
Referee Wayne Barnes naturally copped plenty of flack afterwards from New Zealand. Yes, Yannick Jauzion’s try probably did come from a marginal forward pass from Traille to Michalak although what goes around comes around. To these eyes Dan Carter’s pop pass to Luke McAlister when he scored in the first half was also fractionally forward. What is beyond doubt, though, is that New Zealand’s failure to even consider a dropped goal in the final ten minutes to win the game as they battered away at the French line was an epic fail.
France 14 Tonga 19 (Wellington Regional Stadium, October 1 2011, pool game)
Tonga had bounced into the game after a useful win over Japan, France were feeling a little sore after losing 37-17 to New Zealand although with victories against Canada and Japan under their belts they were still supremely confident of a quarter-final. As it happened they became the only side in World Cup history to reach the last eight after two defeats.
The French were lacking a little focus but Tonga played very well and their first-half try from Sukanaivalu Hufanga was an absolute beauty coming from Kurt Morath’s clever crossfield kick. They led 13-9 at half time and if Morath had kicked with his usual accuracy and Tonga had accepted a few gilt-edged try-scoring chances they could have clocked up 40 points or more
As it was they added two more penalties from Morath before France finally roused themselves to claim a last-minute try through Vincent Clerc.
“I thought I had experienced everything in terms of shame,” said coach Marc Lievremont. “But this time around, it was an extremely violent feeling again. Each missed pass, each missed tackle, I took them as a deep personal failure. I would have liked for us to gather around a few drinks yesterday, to talk, to share thoughts, to tell each other that it’s a beautiful adventure, all things considered. But I was disappointed.”
And yet just 22 days after this game 13 of the French team which started against Tonga also started against New Zealand in the World Cup Final itself and by common consent – outside of New Zealand anyway – were the better team and should probably have taken the Webb Ellis trophy. How could this be?
Who knows? But clearly this calamitous defeat had a strangely unifying effect on the team even if they remained at loggerheads with the coach whose position was undermined by his declaring in advance that he would be resigning after the World Cup.
“We stopped listening to him after the Tonga game,” admitted Harinordoquy in a subsequent interview. “It was our adventure. It was meant to be the nice experience of 30 men. We had to free ourselves from his supervision. He cast the stone at us too often. When something goes wrong, we’re all in the same boat.
“There are no good or bad guys.”
