With Australia facing England on Sunday 8 November in a historic rugby test that forms part of the very first Nations Championship, it has made me reflect on Australia's first 1991 Rugby World Cup victory over England at Twickenham, which took place 35 years ago on 2 November 1991.
Bob Dwyer and the 1991 Rugby World Cup
Bob Dwyer, who coached the Wallabies during the 1991 Rugby World Cup, is regarded as one of the first people to view rugby as a science. As a coach, Dwyer told his players that if any one of them could get their hand on the ball and touch it, they must be able to control the ball. Dwyer's coaching philosophy is also reflected in the famous quote from American football coach Vince Lombardi, after whom the NFL trophy is named: "Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect." Dwyer regularly shared this quote with his players and it emphasised the way they prepared for matches.
Bob Dwyer called Wallaby captain Nick Farr-Jones exactly one year before the 1991 Rugby World Cup final and told him to pour a glass of champagne. When Farr-Jones asked why, Dwyer said: "because a year from today we win the World Cup".
The path to Twickenham
Australia arrived at the 1991 Rugby World Cup in the United Kingdom with the goal of winning the tournament for the first time, and told the media so from the outset. In the group stage, the Wallabies recorded victories over Argentina (32-19), Western Samoa (nine-3) and Wales (38-3). In the quarter-final, the Wallabies defeated Ireland 19-18 at Lansdowne Road in Dublin, with a try in the corner in the dying moments by halfback Michael Lynagh in the 79th minute. In the semi-final, the Wallabies defeated the All Blacks 16-6, where Wallaby wing David Campese sent his teammate and centre Tim Horan over for a try with a famous over-the-shoulder pass.
In the final, Australia faced a strong England team that included a top centre partnership of Will Carling and Jeremy Guscott, as well as future English points record holder Rob Andrew at halfback, who before the final had scored the third most test points in England's history with 155 points. The team also included a young Jason Leonard, who would later in his career set the world record for the most international rugby test matches. The team also included wing Rory Underwood, who after the 1991 World Cup semi-final held the records for both the most tests (50) and test tries (32) for England.
12-6 at Twickenham
Australia won the final 12-6 at Twickenham in London, with Wallaby prop Tony Daly scoring the only try. Aussie wing David Campese finished the tournament as joint leading try scorer and was also named player of the tournament. The team's vice-captain and halfback Michael Lynagh finished the tournament as the second leading points scorer with 66 points, just two points fewer than Ireland's Ralph Keyes. This victory was also commemorated by the documentary The Wonderful Wallabies! Australia's World Cup Victory (1991), which was released on VHS.
The 1991 Wallaby team is regarded as one of the best rugby teams in history. The halfback partnership of Farr-Jones and Lynagh, who were respectively captain and vice-captain, already held the world record as a test halfback pairing during the tournament and eventually extended their record to 47 tests together at the time of Farr-Jones's retirement in 1993. The team also had one of the game's best centre partnerships in Tim Horan and Jason Little. Wing David Campese had been test rugby's leading try scorer since 1987, when he surpassed Scotland's Ian Smith's record of 24 tries, and eventually retired in 1996 with 64 test tries in 101 tests. Halfback Michael Lynagh also in 1991 surpassed legendary Argentine halfback Hugo Porta's record of 530 test points, and Lynagh retired after the 1995 Rugby World Cup with a world record of 911 test points that stood until 14 October 1999.
Five double World Cup winners
The 1991 Australian team also produced five double World Cup winners, with John Eales, Tim Horan, Jason Little, Phil Kearns and Dan Crowley also part of Australia's 1999 Rugby World Cup victory, with Eales as captain in 1999 and Horan as player of the tournament. These five players were also the first five players to be crowned rugby world champions in both the amateur and professional eras. They are part of a group of only six players who have achieved the feat of a world title as both amateur and professional rugby players, with South Africa's Os du Randt achieving it in 1995 and 2007.
The Wallabies can rightfully be seen as test rugby's team of the 1990s, with two Rugby World Cup victories and four Bledisloe Cups as honours during that decade. But one thing is certain: Bob Dwyer and his 1991 Wallabies were definitely the catalyst that launched Australia as a force in world rugby during the 1990s. This team also laid the foundation for Rod Macqueen and Eddie Jones's success as coaches during the period from the late 1990s to the early 2000s.
André van Eck, Worcester
This article is an automatic English translation of a Nuusflits article originally published in Afrikaans. Read the Afrikaans original.
